iPhone 4S Launch Delayed in Beijing as SWAT Teams Respond to Violence

[MacRumors]

Reports coming in from M.I.C gadget and AppleInsider claim that Apple's Chinese launch of the iPhone 4S is not going particularly smoothly, with violence breaking out ahead of the opening at Apple's Sanlitun retail store in Beijing. According to reports, the violence has resulted in Apple delaying the planned early opening of the store by at least an hour, with the company potentially having canceled today's launch there entirely. From M.I.C gadget:

Lines outside the Apple store in Beijing's Sanlitun district show no signs of shortening, causing frustration for the thousands of fans and scalpers desperate to get their hands on the iPhone 4S. Now some of that disappointment is turning to anger, with reports of fights breaking out between gangs of scalpers, and guess what, Beijing SWAT teams arrived. So, the Apple store employees later announced that the launch of iPhone 4S is cancelled at the Apple's flagship store in Beijing, and all scalpers are pissed.

Bloomberg notes that Apple's "main store in Beijing" (presumably the Sanlitun store) is currently being pelted with eggs by customers upset with the delayed opening.

Officers from Beijing's SWAT team arrive at Apple's Sanlitun retail store

Apple has seen similar large crowds dominated by scalpers at many of its major product launches in China, with teams of people working to purchase as much of the available stock as possible for resale at higher prices. Violence has occasionally erupted both between scalpers and between scalpers and those upset with their strategies.

Update: Bloomberg now has an expanded story on the situation.

Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s main store in Beijing was pelted with eggs from a crowd of about 500 people after it failed to open on time for the start of sales of the iPhone 4S.

Apple had advertised that the store would open at 7 a.m. At about 7:15 a.m., the crowd began chanting "Open the door!" and "Liars!" after a man with a bullhorn said the phone would not go on sale today, without giving an explanation. The man also declined to identify himself to a Bloomberg News reporter. The crowd chased away a man who tried to stop the egg throwing.

Article Link: iPhone 4S Launch Delayed in Beijing as SWAT Teams Respond to Violence

[KPOM]

Ouch. I guess I'll stop complaining about the 5th Avenue crowds.

[ipodlover77]

i hate scalpers so much. mostly when they take up all the stock and leave the people waiting behind them with nothing. bunch of **********.

[OceanView]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Just buy online like lazy Americans and forget the crowds.

[SockRolid]

A word of advice: pre-order.

[ArtOfWarfare]

Wow.

Where does violence like this come from, or I suppose more to the point, how do we remove it from society? Initially, I figured we as a species need to promote stronger family ties so that people don't feel the need to join gangs, but then I remembered family feuds and such. I suppose everyone needs to be able to learn how to forgive each other (that doesn't mean forgetting they've wronged you in the past... you can still not trust them, but you should decide not to escalate the violence.)

[CIA]

They should do online only for the first 3 weeks there. Then trickle them out to stores.

[linuxcooldude]

Originally Posted by ipodlover77

i hate scalpers so much. mostly when they take up all the stock and leave the people waiting behind them with nothing. bunch of **********.

Me too. Depleting the stock rather then someone who is actually going to use one and driving up the price.

[OrangeSVTguy]

That looks bad. Sad that's over a phone

[AndyR]

Its a frickin' phone people! Get a grip!

[alphaod]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Can't preorder in China due to lack of credit cards.

Anyways this is normal.

[Eidorian]

I guess everyone wants to be an American consumer.

[Trauma1]

So were they already carrying eggs when they got in line?

[Spencie]

Typical. I bet nobody helped anybody injured in the fight cause they would get blamed.

[candybaws]

.

[haruhiko]

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In Hong Kong the scalpers depletes all Apple Store reserve quota every day. But the people there don't have a target to throw eggs to...

[Peace]

Don't they sell the Galaxy S II there ?

[rdlink]

The next time someone complains about Apple limiting the number of units you can buy, remember this crap. Scalpers all need to die.

[HiRez]

Originally Posted by Trauma1

So were they already carrying eggs when they got in line?

That's nutty buy hey, I'll give them some credit for thinking ahead.

[28monkeys]

This is a natural phenomenon.

People with high hope, expect satisfaction.

[Thex1138]

Chinese iPhone shoppers also just happen to carry cartons of eggs in their backpacks....

[Schtumple]

These guys do know it's only a phone right?

[vartanarsen]

Also Apple needs to make eople sign into an apple id when purchasing in store, and compare that to their id cards.....and then they can pay cash...but the system will intantly know how much they have bought. 2 per person PER MONTH

[filmantopia]

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The incentive to get an iPhone is strong. In NY, Asian "resellers" often wait outside the store overnight in large groups with cardboard boxes for bed and shelter.

[kavika411]

You're either SWAT, or you're not.