From Apple to Zune — Electronics and Digital Media Available in Olongapo City, Philippines

Ever since I discovered a particular shopping venue, I've pretty much kept my mouth shut about what I found there. I'll tell you why when I wrap this all up. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of different kinds of electronics are all available in one place, from Apple iPhones to Microsoft Zunes. I'm talking about imported products made by everyone under the sun, or so it seems like.

Greenhill Lanes

Although the name bears a striking resemblance to other retailers and malls with the name of "Greenhills", this one isn't related to them in any way. It's basically a huge room with stalls set up along every wall and a whole bunch in the center. I didn't think to estimate the size, but it's large enough to house at least a million dollars worth of equipment and I'm not exaggerating.

I get disoriented easily when I'm walking around downtown (I blame it on my age). The best I can tell you is that this place is on the corner, across the street from the Olongapo City Mall. I can't remember if it's facing Gordon Avenue or Magsaysay Drive.

I can't tell you where they get all this stuff. A lot of it's imported and some of it appears to have been pawned by local residents. There's both new and used electronics sitting in the same stalls. I spotted both an older iPhone and a newer unlocked iPhone, although I can't see why anyone in Olongapo would want to buy either since they can't be used as anything but regular cell phones in most (if not all) parts of the city.

Mobile Phones

Every cell phone brand and model you can imagine is available under one roof. Motorola, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung were the cell phone brands I saw the most of. As for other mobile phones, I saw the iPhones (as I already mentioned), Zunes and other brands I can't seem to remember right now.

My first thought when I saw all of these is that some of them had to be counterfeits from China. I assure, after visual inspection of several phones, these were no fakes. There were Chinese cell and mobile phones mixed in with all the rest and they were easily identified.

Video Game Devices

I didn't see anything large. I saw quite a few Playstation Portable (PSP) devices and some Nintendo DS devices — nothing larger than those, but I wasn't looking too hard. I bought my younger son a PSP for his last birthday at one of the stalls and he found an "on-again, off-again" girlfriend while we were getting it all set up. They have an internal network of computers set up, but I think their network isn't set up correctly because they had difficulty downloading simple files to the PSP memory card.

In regards to memory cards, they had what seemed like a billion of them. They might have every brand and model of memory card available to mankind in this place. It's the place where my son goes back to in order to get more memory cards for his PSP.

MP3 Players

I'm not exaggerating when I say they have every brand and model under the sun and from every country that produces them. In my own uneducated opinion, the iPods were what they had the most of and every model (iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Classic and iPod Touch) ever made. I saw all kinds of iPod Touch accessories. One item they didn't have, and it's not available here (I bought one in the US) is the Boostaroo — designed for amplifying and splitting signals for all MP3 players including the various iPod models.

Honestly, if you need something as simple as an iPod screen protector, this is the place to go in Olongapo. Now, you might think that the prices would be over-inflated and most of the time, they are. In the Philippines, you have to learn the art of haggling. I swear Filipinos are the best hagglers in the world.

I learned how to haggle from my wife and I've used my new-found abilities on more than one occasion. Greenhill Lanes may not have the best iPod prices initially, but they do once you get done haggling.

Computer Equipment

Although I saw computers set up with LCD monitors in several places, I didn't investigate. I should have. You can find anything you want or need in the Philippines if you know where to look.

I examined several USB flash drives and the prices were similar to what you can get at any electronics store in the US. Haggling would make them cheaper. I was tempted to get a couple for backup purposes, but I decided to hold off until I was sure I'd be needing them.

I didn't look for external hard drive cases and I need at least one badly — to replace the case for the external USB hard drive that died on me. I actually have two dead external USB hard drives and I'm hoping that at least one of them will work when I replace the case.

Pirated Movies and Television Shows

This is why I hesitated to write about this. I saw thousands of DVDs, CDs, and what have you containing pirated movies and TV shows from the US. The long arm of the law in the Philippines tends to go overboard when they shut people down — each stall in this building is independently owned and only a few select stalls are responsible for all of the pirated material. I would hate to see the whole building shut down.

I'm guessing that the authorities would look the other way if they knew about this place — it's not the only place you can find pirated material in the city — as long as they don't sell pirated movies and television shows produced in the Philippines. I'm certainly not going to tell them, even though piracy leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I use the word. Filipinos in the Philippines don't make enough money to live on, on average, as it is. I'll be damned if I'm going to purposely take away a source of income as well as a source of entertainment away from people who can't afford to buy original copies (if they're even available here).

Other Electronics Items

I haven't even scratched the surface. I'm going back to take a better look this weekend. I know they have digital cameras, but I didn't look at any. I have to be careful because I don't intend to buy anything. I'm a sucker for a good deal and I could end up buying something I don't really need right now.

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