Apple Beijing store egged in botched iPhone 4S launch
Rioting fanbois scramble from cops after egg-stream outburst
Apple closed its flagship store in Beijing after frustrated fanbois rioted and pelted the windows with eggs when they were told the shop didn't have the iPhone 4S.
A crowd of 500 people waited outside the Sanlitun Apple store in Beijing yesterday morning for the Chinese launch of the iPhone 4S, and the mood turned ugly when they were told by staff that the shiny shop didn't have the new mobe and wouldn't be opening that day.
Many had waited overnight in temperatures that dropped to -9°C. The frustrated Apple fans started hassling security guards and throwing eggs at the windows of the store in the high-end mall before they were cleared off by the police.
There is no end in sight for the misery of the egg-throwing fanbois either - the Sanlitun store is shut until further notice and Apple has said it will halt the sale of all iPhone models from its Chinese stores.
There is no information on when they'll start delivering the new talking phone. An Apple spokesperson told the FT:
Unfortunately we were unable to open our store at Sanlitun [in Beijing] due to the large crowd, and to ensure the safety of our customers and employees, iPhones will not be available in our retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai for the time being.
The iPhone 4S can still be obtained from China's mobile network partner China Unicom, or the Apple online store.
Delays and shortages of the iPhone in China have created pent-up demand for the device. Apple has 10.4 per cent of the smartphone market in China. The FT alleges that many buyers at the Apple store were "black marketeers or scalpers" who bulk buy stock to resell it with a 30 per cent surcharge. ®
COMMENTS
Google have Ice cream Sandwich
Apple have an iPhone Omelette
Mine is the one with the yolk book in the pocket.
Things to take to an iPhone launch...
Sleeping bag…check
Thermal undies…check
Another Apple product to while away the boredom and to show the bemused passers-by what they’re missing…check
Eggs…just in case
And....
...if the store had opened and a stampede ensued, Apple would have been in a world of shit
Quite often you see videos of just how barbaric humans beings can be stampeding and fighting with one another over hard to get or much reduced consumer items, so I think this was a case of damage control come prevention.
The difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter.
Depends entirely on two things:- (1) Time (2) The needs of the Author, for example;
In 1985 Ronald Reagan praised CIA-funded afghan mujahideen as "freedom fighters and declared March 21st to be “Afghanistan Day” (Proclamation 4908), however within a few short years Clinton and Bush were referring to the mujahideen as terrorists.
And this is not a particularly an American thing either, in WWII the Malaysians fighting along side the British against the Japanese they were freedom fighters, however when they wanted independence in the early 1950's they were terrorists.
BB for the ministry of truth.
The iPhone does many things besides calls -- but fucking? Must have missed that on the feature list.
