Apple halts iPhone 4S sales in China out of threat to staff

Too excited

Apple halts iPhone 4S sales in China out of threat to staff

13 January 2012 15:59 GMT / By Hunter Skipworth

Apple has put a stop to iPhone 4S sales in China following rioting in Beijing over its products. The company saw ugly scenes outside its Beijing store when the new handset went on sale on Friday morning, with crowds nearly rioting as they attempted to get hold of the new phones.

Apple refused to open shop doors out of what they saw as a threat to staff and fans. The result was a rather unhappy crowd of Chinese Apple shoppers, many of whom turned to throwing eggs at the store.

Apple will continue to sell the iPhone 4S online in China and it will be available in some Chinese phone shops, it has, however, yet to announce exactly when it will be in stock at official Apple stores.

Such is the demand for Apple products in China that many pay teams of migrant workers to purchase large numbers of iPhones and then sell them on at greatly increased prices. This is something Pocket-lint noticed at the UK iPhone 4S launch, which Apple had tried to curb by introducing a two-handset limit.

Police were eventually called to the scene outside the Beijing store to try and dissipate disgruntled shoppers. Apple gave no reason to those queuing for the lack of opening.

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Via: pcworld.com

Full tags

Phones, Mobile phones, Apple, iPhone, iPhone 4S