'Bah, this Apple Shop is full of APPLES'

A cider shop in Norfolk has had to change its name after receiving up to 24 phone calls a week from fanbois with computer problems.

Since an Apple Store opened in Norwich, locals have been calling mistakenly phoning the Apple Shop in Wroxham Barns, with their iPhone and Apple-related woes.

Apple Shop owner Geoff Fisher told the BBC: "My telephone number has a Norwich prefix and so people unawares ring up the Apple Shop. All I can say to them is, 'I'm very sorry, I can't help you, but please do come along and get some proper Norfolk cider to get over your sorrows'."

The Apple shop which specialises in local cider, will be re-named the Norfolk Cider Shop from Easter onwards.

Fisher said that the confusion was mostly funny, but that some callers could get angry when they realised they had dialled a cider company: "Some people are very rude and they slam the phone down."

Other shops with Apple-related names have had to change their names for more serious reasons - in several cases after being sued for trademark infringement by Apple, for example ApfelKind, a family-friendly cafe in Germany taken to court by Apple over its Apple logo.

Mr Fisher said Apple had not forced him into the change and he had "a lot of respect" for the company.

Following confusion over the Apple retail brand in China, Apple recently chose to go further than just trademarking the name of their shops, and have actually trademarked the layout too, granted by the US Patent Office this year. ®