You are here: Home > China > Nation

Adjust font size:

Even as Steve Jobs' biography flies off the shelves in the major bricks and mortar bookstores in Shanghai, peddlers selling pirated copies of the book are making brisk business all across the eastern metropolis.

Fans of Steve Jobs queue up to pay for his biography in a bookstore in Shanghai on Oct 24.[Photo/China Daily]

Interest in the life of the pioneer of personal computer revolution continues to soar, particularly since his passing on Oct 5. Peddlers in remote corners of Shanghai have made a small fortune from hawking pirated copies of Jobs' biography.

Pirated copies of the Chinese translation of Walter Isaacson's biography of Jobs surfaced in Shanghai within 10 days of the regular version hitting the stores. Pirated versions sold at 10 yuan (US$1.6) each compared to the 68 yuan charged at bookstores. Pirated English editions are selling at around 30 yuan each, compared to the 200-yuan-plus price charged by online stores.

A peddler outside the Hengshan Subway Station said on Friday that the biography sold like hot cakes these days as readers, not necessarily fans of Apple products, are keen to know more about the industry visionary.

"The English version, priced at 35 yuan a copy, sold better than the Chinese version," said the man in his 40s, who declined to be identified. "Most of the readers are well-educated people with a good command of the English language."

The man said he started hawking books 1 pm onwards everyday. On Thursday he just carried a dozen copies, rather than setting up a bookstall, as it was raining. These were sold out.

The picture is similar at Fudan University. A female peddler in her 40s said she sold more than 10 copies of the book, mostly pirated Chinese editions, priced at 18 yuan.

But usually such copies are poorly printed, and often contain typographical errors. Officials at the Shanghai cultural market administrative law enforcement team said residents could call their hotline at 12318 to report the peddlers selling pirated copies.

However, the concerned bookstores are not intimidated by the rampant piracy. All 300 copies of Jobs' biography were sold out within a week's time at a store belonging to the Shanghai Hong Kong Joint Publishing Company, according to the store's manager, surnamed Zhao.

"We were out of stock for about four days. Although we have been selling the book for more than a week now, it is still the bestseller, with more than 20 copies sold every day," said Zhao, adding that 80 percent buyers of the book were people under 30.

Tao Jianmin, manager of Shanghai Book Mall Huaihai branch, said the peddlers do not pose a threat to them since potential buyers of the biography, most of whom are young, will not buy pirated copies.

However, online stores do pose a threat, Tao said.

Zhao Chuchu, a 25-year-old store owner on taobao.com, a major online shopping site in China, said she bought a copy of the biography on amazon.com as soon as the book went on sale on the website.

"It is much cheaper and more convenient to buy online, and the book takes only a day to arrive," said Zhao.

Hui Zhidong, 26, an employee at Citibank Shanghai, has been following Jobs' activities ever since the first iPod came into being in 2001. Although he has not bought the biography yet, he said he would never buy a pirated copy.

"For loyal fans of Apple or Jobs, it is totally impossible to buy a pirated copy of the book. And some 60 yuan for a book is not a lot of money anyway," said Hui.

"Personally, I have never downloaded any pirated applications for iPhone or iPad. If you are really fond of something, you should give support to the real thing," he added.

Print

E-mail