Apple tells site to stop selling iPhone 5 mod kits
Apple's lawyers send a cease and desist letter to a company selling kits to make iPhone 4/4S models look like what the next iPhone is speculated to look like.
If you want to buy a mod kit that will turn your iPhone 4 or 4S into what some expect the next iPhone will look like, you've only got two more days.
iPhone5mod.com, a China-based site selling iPhone 5 mod kits, posted on its blog today that Apple is stopping the company from selling any more its product. A company authorized by the iPhone manufacturer sent the site a cease and desist letter, saying iPhone5mod.com is selling "counterfeit Apple merchandise," according to the blog post.
"We are sorry to announce that we have received a warning letter from some company who so-called authorized by Apple asking us to pull down the iPhone 5 Mod," the post reads. "In order to prevent further troubles we will stop selling the iPhone 5 Mod within next 48 hours. Customers who have already ordered, we will still ship out your order on time and will only debit/capture your payment upon ship out. New customers who want to order, please order within the next 48 hours, we will process your order accordingly."
The site has placed a cease and desist countdown on the product page, showing how many hours customers have left to make orders.
No word from Apple yet on whether the letter is real. Companies often send cease and desist letters to other companies that are allegedly infringing on their copyrights as a warning -- a preamble to an actual lawsuit. Based on the sites photos, it appears the mod kit sports the Apple logo and the word "iPhone" on the case.
This mod kit company, which promises more mods in the future, clearly saw this coming. Its product description explains that the kit is based on "leaked" iPhone 5 designs and is available for a limited period of time.
"This is to prevent Apple from hunting us down, but do not worry, we will still ship out every single order even if Apple do contact us," the product description said.