Phony iPhone Nano makers guess wrong

Far Eastern chop shops are legendary for their ability to turn on a dime and crank out thousands of fake gadgets that look just like the real thing... even if the software on the inside doesn't quite measure up.

Alas, this time, the counterfeiters missed the boat. Relying on news that Apple would announce an iPhone Nano at this week's MacWorld keynote, the knockoff artists weeks ago began in earnest building lookalike devices -- based on "leaked" specs for the so-called Nano. The only problem: Apple didn't release a smaller version of the iPhone, leaving the counterfeiters high and dry.

Check out the fake Nano in the picture above. That's it on the right. A real, regular-sized iPhone appears on the left.

Knockoff gadgets are infamous for their generally spot-on, good exterior looks as well as their dismal construction quality and questionable software. In the case of an iPhone Nano knockoff, you likely get the iconic globe wallpaper and little more than a rudimentary cell phone, maybe a primitive web browser, too.

Can the counterfeiters just warehouse their Nanos until Apple eventually releases one for real? Unlikely, says one analyst, quoted in the above BBC story, who shrewdly notes, "If I was Apple, with the fastest selling handset in history, and I currently couldn't make enough units to sell, why would I want to make a smaller one?"