While it is not likely to be a surprise to many people, counterfeit iPhones are already thriving in China, even though Apple has not yet released the iPhone in Asia, or even outside the U.S. Bloomberg reported Wednesday on counterfeit operations that were selling iPhones as early as six months ago, before the iPhone was released anywhere.

"We can’t ignore iPhone because it’s so hot," an owner of a shop selling "aifungs" told the news service. This shop copied the physical design from photographs of the device, slapped an Apple logo on the back, and the broken-English warning, "Waring. It will break the law without authorized by Apple Inc., if you use ’iPhone’ logo on any electronic pruducts."

The aifung may look more or less like an iPhone, but it is not using Apple’s software. "It’s the exterior we are imitating," the owner said. "If customers want functions, we can offer more and much better functions than the real phone." Still, he’s been able to have them made in batches of 1,000 by a local factory, and has sold more than ten thousand of the fakes at US$270 each.

Counterfeit phones in China are largely as big a problem as everything else that is counterfeited in the country, and it is perhaps the comment of Ni, another maker of fake iPhones he sells for $130, that exemplifies why it is such a problem.

"What I’m selling is a Chinese iPhone," Ni told Bloomberg. "It’s not a fake iPhone. It works perfectly fine."

Apple isn’t alone in dealing with having its phones faked, of course, and the article pointed to Snog Erriccson and Nokian counterfeits that have long been on the market in China.