If they just went super geek, like the stores they have here in Taiwan and in Japan, and sold only tech components (capacitors, resistors, pcb kits) and tools (other than soldering guns) they should do fairly well...these stores here are TINY yet they pack the inventory in. Sure, any normal "average joe" BestBuy customer wouldn't know what the hell anything inside is ,for but I'm sure there are enough geeks around the whole country to sustain the business. I can find almost all the stuff needed to prototype stuff for my own electronic hobbies and I can't find the fine precision tools anywhere else. I can't even think of anywhere to find T-6 screwdrivers in America except for online stores or specialty cellphone stores.

Heck, even sell cool educational toys like model kits that let you build a tiny solar windmill, programmable arm, whatever. I see all these cool model kits/toys here in Asia that I wish I had as a kid. I just bought my nephew a reconfigurable solar model kit that is 6-in-1: Build a solar windmill, a solar powered car, a solar powered walking bug, solar powered spinner, solar-powered boat/hoevercraft, solar-powered hopping robot (well, it "tries" to walk).

Bought a kit to build a very simple radio and transmitter for another nephew. And I bought for a third nephew (yes, I have lots of nephews) a solar kit that lets him use an empty water bottle as the "chasis" so he can learn the effects of solar-power and also of weight/design/creativity. Yes, there are some DIY educational kits available in the US but they all seem so boring and not inviting to lots of young kids.

Can I get a refund on my MacBook purchase?? It can run windows instead of osx, but it's bundled with it. Is it free? Why doesn't anyone care ? I guess that's one method of winning- stay under the radar instead of being public enemy number 1.

This is old news, there are a BUNCH of Chinese made cell phones being sold on infomercials in China with solar charging capabilities. They've been selling these for years....Here's a nicer looking example I quickly found just searching...not a fair representation of the lot because there are quite a few very repulsive looking ones.

How good are they? I'm not sure as I've never used one but as far as I can tell from the ultra-cheesy infomercials, these phones are light years ahead of what the big cellphone makers are offering (heavy sarcasm). In fact, one ad I've seen mentioned 1 month standby time plus solar charging = no need for conventional wall charger!

Actually, for kicks please read the link I just posted, there's a claim of purporting 40 minutes of talk time when charged by candlelight!

For an example of how outlandish their infomercials are, check out this miracle vaginal cream. Contains English voice-over. I love China!