Back in the 1980s, a lot of people wanted to own an Apple II, the first blockbuster product from the company cofounded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. But certain electronics manufacturers based in Taiwan hoped that some folks would be willing to settle for a Pineapple. Or an Orange or a Banana. In early 1985, The New Tech Times , a public TV show about consumer electronics, turned its attention to the scourge of imitation Apple IIs, which stole Apple’s ROM software and then built a cheap computer around it. Here’s the segment—introduced by New Tech Times host Mort Grim and with Hall and Oates’ Yacht Rock anthem “Private Eyes” on the soundtrack: Some of the rouge machines came in cheesy knockoffs of industrial designer Jerry Manock’s iconic Apple II case; others apparently stuffed ripoffs of Apple’s innards into whatever case the pirates had handy. The bad guys also helped themselves to Apple’s documentation, making crude edits where necessary. (I love the bit in the report showing the manual for the Golden II, whose pirated manual claimed the Golden had been invented by Steve Wozniak himself.) You’ve got to assume that at least some U.S. purchasers were aware they were buying a computer of questionable origin. They presumably paid well under the asking price for a real Apple IIe, which cost around $1,500 at the time with two floppy disk drives and a green-screen display. Even if purchasers knew the computers weren’t from Apple, that wouldn’t have made the situation any more tolerable for the company. As the segment reports, it worked closely with the feds to try and shut down the distribution channels that let the fakes into the U.S
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Watch a TV news report on the wacky Apple II knockoffs of the 1980s