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Apple Halts In-Store iPhone 4S Sales in China Over Safety Concerns

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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30,642



Following early morning chaos at Apple's Sanlitun retail store in Beijing that prevented Apple from opening the store for the iPhone 4S launch, Reuters reports that the company has temporarily halted in-store sales of the device at all five of its retail stores in China.
"The demand for iPhone 4S has been incredible and our stores in China have already sold out," an Apple spokeswoman said.

"Unfortunately, we were unable to open our store at Sanlitun due to the large crowd. And to ensure the safety of our customers and our employees, iPhones will not be available in our retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai for the time being," she said.
Click to expand...
The statement noted that customers would still be able to order the iPhone 4S through Apple's website or through carrier partner China Unicom. Apple's Chinese online store is, however, currently out of stock of all iPhone 4S models and not taking any orders.

police_iphone_4s_sanlitun.jpg



Police organizing to handle disruptions at Apple's Sanlitun retail store (Source: M.I.C gadget)​
Teams of scalpers are very active at Apple's retail stores in China, with their efforts to snap up as much of the available supply of popular products as possible leading to significant tensions, particularly at product launches. Disruptions have occasionally forced Apple to briefly shut certain stores and tweak their purchasing requirements as they seek to manage the situation, but this morning's "near-riot" at the Sanlitun store seems to have been the most significant situation yet.

Article Link: Apple Halts In-Store iPhone 4S Sales in China Over Safety Concerns
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/01/13/apple-halts-in-store-iphone-4s-sales-in-china-over-safety-concerns/
V

VicMacs

macrumors 6502
Sep 7, 2003
476
6
Dominican Republic
launch in Dominican Republic

Launch has gone smoothly in our small country, one carrier opened sales at midnight to a very long line of customers while the other waited until 9am and people are getting their hands on their iPhones. Since there are no factory unlocked phones here in the Dominican Republic, there is no scalper gang to fend off, which is a good thing.
 
U

Ulf1103

macrumors 6502
Jan 5, 2011
282
0
Wow, I guess it's a good thing to see that so many people want to buy apple products :)

But you'll never see me standing in such a crowd :D
I would just buy it online :)
 
M

Mitchryan

macrumors newbie
Nov 9, 2011
7
0
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)

The Chinese scalpers are almost just as bad at Apples American retail stores. Relentless.
 
C

CaptainCannabis

macrumors regular
Oct 29, 2007
172
0
China, a country where people hate America, yet, they love their products... Is it envy? Nonetheless, all humanity is this ****ed up, not just China - just look how crazy us westerners go about the launch of a new iPhone or iPad too...
 
100Teraflops

100Teraflops

macrumors 6502a
Mar 1, 2011
618
1
Elyria, Ohio
That photo only includes Chinese scalpers? I doubt it! There are 'regular' customers lost in the sauce. Also, who said that the Chinese people are different than Americans? I have never been to China, but they want good products in their hands just like Americans and Europeans. It's a shame that Apple does not have enough iPhones to go around. IMHO

EDIT: CaptainCannbis beat me to the part that people are the same everywhere in the world! Not sure about them hating Americans though. I had to re-read the post a few times.....
 
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T

TWSS37

macrumors 65816
Feb 4, 2011
1,107
232
Themaeds said:
Yet they continue iPhone 4s PRODUCTION without concern for safety. Tisk tisk
Click to expand...

The only tsk is reserved for you. Quit reminding me about the slave labor like conditions and let me turn a blind eye to these human atrocities so I can play Angry Birds without an ounce of guilt.
 
Menel

Menel

Suspended
Aug 4, 2011
6,351
1,356
Themaeds said:
Yet they continue iPhone 4s PRODUCTION without concern for safety. Tisk tisk
Click to expand...
What does continued production have to do with safety concerns?

Three factors contribute highly to this riot. Low supply, High Demand, and Apple is pricing it below the market value stipulated by those first two factors.

Continued, and increasing production helps with the first variable.
 
zorinlynx

zorinlynx

macrumors G3
May 31, 2007
8,160
17,601
Florida, USA
Apple should just enforce a one iPhone per customer policy for the first couple weeks of sales to reduce the scalping.

I think I heard the limit in China is five per customer; of course you're going to get scalping with that limit!
 
Red Oak

Red Oak

Suspended
Jun 14, 2011
470
2,641
Wow

I think the response is fantastic. Apple will work through these launch issues and put better processes in place going forward

The headline here is the tremendous demand for the phone. Very encouraging to see that it is already sold out (even online). I have to image given the Hong Kong sell-through that Apple had a substantial inventory available at launch

China could really propel Apple's quarter. Especially if they bring China Mobile online
 
D

DamenS

macrumors newbie
May 20, 2011
18
0
Why would Apple not take orders even if they don't currently have stock - particularly after ceasing sales in Retail Stores which is a "public relations" nightmare, menaing there is no currently way to purchase or order a phone other than through 3rd Party stores ? Do they want to drive itchy customers with cash to spend towards Samsung ? Take the order now and deliver the product as soon as you can !
 
M

mutantteenager

macrumors 6502
Feb 26, 2006
258
0
This is just a sad illustration of rampant consumerism, not unlike people rioting over shoes or stabbing each other for sofa's in ikea.

It's remarkable that despite these products quite obviously being mass produced, people still crave them as if they were not.
 
C

crazy4apple

macrumors regular
Jan 26, 2010
127
0
London (UK)
Ooooh i can see samsung use this in their ADs

*Scene opens on rowdy crowd, police in riot gear standing between them and the store. A narrator comes on.*

"Tired of the drama? The stress? The danger? Then switch to the phone for which no one waits in line."

*Cut to 360 spin on Samsung Galaxy X S Pro Epic Elite 4G LTE II+, it's in a white void. Silence.*

"Samsung. The phones for which no one will beat you up, the phones that no one will steal."

:D:D:D:D:D:D:cool::cool::cool:
:apple: for life peeps
 
M

mutantteenager

macrumors 6502
Feb 26, 2006
258
0
Red Oak said:
I think the response is fantastic. Apple will work through these launch issues and put better processes in place going forward

The headline here is the tremendous demand for the phone. Very encouraging to see that it is already sold out (even online). I have to image given the Hong Kong sell-through that Apple had a substantial inventory available at launch

China could really propel Apple's quarter. Especially if they bring China Mobile online
Click to expand...

That's an amazingly cold response. How's your job in Goldman Sachs going?
 
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