Apple halts store sales of iPhones in Bejing and China, following disturbance

Following a disturbance at one of its stores in Beijing this morning, Apple has announced it has put a halt to all iPhone sales in its Beijing and Shanghai stores, “for the time being”. The devices will still be available, as before, via the carrier - China Unicom, other retail stores, and Apple’s online store.

The disturbance this morning was caused by a 500-strong crowd at the Sanlitun store in Beijing, where people had stood in line for hours in sub-zero temperatures, awaiting the launch of theiPhone 4S. The store did not open when it was supposed to, at 7AM, and the crowd became unruly, with some members even throwing eggs when they were informed that there would be no sales of iPhone 4S that day because of shortages.

The store was cordoned off, while the crowd was cleared by police. The store never did open however, and company later issued a statement, saying it was because of “the large crowd, and to ensure the safety of our customers and employees".

Elsewhere, one Shanghai store opened early, hoping to minimize problems at launch, but instead ended creating a lot of disappointment, amidst those people who arrived ‘on time’ to find the device sold out. Apart from these two incidents, no trouble was reported at any of Apple’s other Beijing and Shanghai stores, so it is perhaps surprising Apple made the announcement to stop iPhone sales in these cities.

The official reason for the halting of sales has not been given, though if the halt was not called because of the disturbances, but because of an iPhone 4S shortage, it would make no sense for Apple to have stopped sales of all iPhone devices.

The crowd outside the Apple Store at Sanlitun has faced problems in the past, when a crowd waiting to buy the iPad 2 turned unruly, evening breaking the glass of store, and causing some injuries to bystanders. Apple has faced other problems in the recent past with the launch of its devices, with resellers purchasing most of the devices on launch day, and selling them at exorbitant mark-ups.

At today’s fracas at Sanlibun, nearly 60 migrant workers were spotted, most hired by resellers to stand in line and buy the devices. According to reports, these workers were perhaps the most disappointed in the unruly crowd, as they would not be able to collect their fee.

China is Apple’s second biggest market for mobile devices, with the company’s products evidently very popular there. Maybe next time, Apple could price the devices in China as high as India, to prevent any such incidents.