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It is a common strategy of manufacturers in China. You, as the designer, get ripped of by the very people that you pay to produce your product. The quality can
by tqkxzugoaupvwqr 10y ago
It is a common strategy of manufacturers in China. You, as the designer, get ripped of by the very people that you pay to produce your product. The quality can match the original because they use the same factory, same tools, same processes that are used to produce the original product. The manufacturers simply work another shift, e.g. night shift, or do a few more runs. In some cases, manufacturers clone the whole factory that is used to produce the original product so they can increase output of counterfeit goods.
- jessaustin 10y agoHow could one prevent this? Would it be possible to only program a microcontroller after taking delivery, without which the circuit wouldn't be useful? Or could different components be sourced from different manufacturers, and then assembled in yet another factory? How much collusion between manufacturers should we expect?
- pavel_lishin 10y agoYou could push an OS update that bricks illegitimate phones :)
- kabdib 10y agoThis is why devices like game consoles and at least a few models of cell phones have a "geneology" database maintained by the official manufacturer, with originating key material in the hardware, and additional activating key material provided to the device at certain well-controlled manufacturing stations. You simply can't make a working device without going through that process. [Just bricking Blackphones is a terrible move; letting the users know their phones were counterfeit and leaving them on would have been a far better move, IMHO]
- criddell 10y agoSo if this is a known problem with known solutions, then the fact that Blackphone didn't do any of this makes them look like amateurs. Maybe one shouldn't rely on them for security...