Violence at Beijing Apple Store Leads to Egg-Throwing, Store Closure

The Chinese retail launch of the latest version of Apple's iPhone was a dismal failure, but not because of lack of popularity, but instead too much popularity.

It's not uncommon to see this sort of ruckus over an iPhone model in China. Earlier models resulted in less furor, though. iPhones are so popular, and lines to buy them so long and difficult to traverse, that often scalpers will wait outside a retail store with their own set of handsets and buyers will buy from them rather than entering the store. In China, official prices range from 4,988 yuan to 6,788 yuan ($792 to $1,077).

Would-be buyers had waited overnight in temperatures that dropped to as low as 9 degrees Celsius (48 degrees Fahrenheit) for stores to open. With a tip of the hat to the reference to scalpers, above, as has happened in the past on launch days, scalpers enlisted migrant worker, working in teams of 20 to 30, to buy iPhones for resale at a markup.

Problems happened. Apple has two stores in Beijing, but it was the one in the posh Sanlitun district that had issues. Stores were scheduled to open at 7 a.m. local time.

By 7:15 at the Sanlitun store, people began shouting “Open the door!” and “Liars!” after an unidentified man said used a bullhorn to tell them that the store wouldn't open to sell the iPhone 4S. He didn't give an explanation, but later reports indicated that police forced the store to remain closed. Apparently, at about 5 a.m. in the plaza, the crowds broke through the barrier surrounding the line and fights began, and several people were hurt. The incident ended up with "profanity and egg-throwing."

Apple, in a statement, said its other retail stores had sold out. The company said that "Unfortunately we were unable to open our store at Sanlitun due to the large crowd and to ensure the safety of our customers and employees, the iPhone will not be available in our retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai for the time being."

That's not to say that buyers won't be able to get their hands on the device at all. However, at least for now, customers can't buy from Apple stores, and Apple declined to say when sales would begin again. Customers can still order iPhone through the Online Apple Store, or buy at China Unicom and other authorized resellers.

You can watch a video of some of the violence below.

Source

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