iPhone 4 Shortages in China Cause Scuffles Outside Store

[Maura]

MacRumors reports today on several stories about the mayhem that the demand for the iPhone 4 has been causing in China. According to one story in the Wall Street Journal, scalpers are stopping customers as they leave the Apple store in Beijing’s Sanlitun Village mall, then taking them round the corner to a quiet part of the mall and offering them an iPhone 4 in its original packaging that the scalpers bought earlier in the week, often with a mark-up of 10 percent or more.

Another report quoted by MacRumors, on M.I.C. gadget, says that anger over scalpers snapping up any available iPhone 4s as soon as they arrive in store are starting to cause unrest, leading to the store being closed for a short time yesterday, after fights broke out between scalpers and regular customers in the queue.

“The police and Apple’s own security staff appeared to clean up the mess and due to the chaotic crowd, the store needs to be closed temporarily,” the report stated.

Apparently, the situation had been made worse by Apple allowing customers to buy unlimited numbers of iPhone 4s at the Sanlitun store, whereas previously they had only permitted customers to buy a maximum of two phones each. Now, as a result of yesterday’s unrest, all four Apple stores in China have imposed strict new rules, requiring that customers show identification when buying iPhones, as well as limiting customers to one phone each.

Source: MacRumors

 

[Gregoris]

thats crazy? but ppl all over the world have been buying just to sell it...

 

[Stannislaus]

Haha I bought my iPod touch at the Sanlitun store. Last time I was there they had put barriers around some of the tables with iPhone 4 accessories and had police at the register!

There was just no way I was buying an iPhone 4 in China, cost is about 6000 CNY (about $900). Plus not having to deal with all of that nonsense going on with scalpers and such.

However, I have a note to anyone looking to buy an iPhone 4 in China. There are already many fake versions of it. Make sure you buy it from the Apple Store if you are planning on getting it, otherwise you will almost certainly get ripped off. I saw a very poor imitation at the Silk Market with a starting price of roughly the same as it sells for in the Apple Store. I was tipped off that it was fake because (aside from it not being in a box) the "Silent" switch was very poor and seemed spring-loaded, as opposed to being able to switch on or off. Just an FYI.

 

[An72]

The iPhone 4 is proving significantly more popular in China than its predecessor. Early demand for the device has already exceeded initial supply, with China Unicom reportedly struggling to fill the more than 200,000 preorders it has received since September 17. The carrier said it sold 60,000 iPhone 4s on Saturday, the day it went on sale, and the line to purchase one at Apple’s new Beijing store reportedly numbered about 1,000. Considering the high demand and extreme shortage of iPhones in China, it's understandable how a grey market develops. This was an unfortunate circumstance.

 

[iPhoneAddict]

Dang that's intense.