A brawl broke out on Friday outside the flagship Apple Store in Beijing, as hundreds lined up to buy the company's latest smartphone, the iPhone 4S. Police swooped in to clear the crowd, and Apple halted retail sales of the new phone. WSJ's Angela Yeoh reports.
BEIJING—Apple Inc. said it would temporarily stop selling the iPhone in its five retail stores in China after unruly customers in Beijing led police to seal off a store there and after the newest version of the phone sold out elsewhere.
An Apple spokeswoman in Beijing said on Friday that the iPhone 4S, which made its debut on Friday in the country, won't be offered at its retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai "for the time being." She said, however, it would still be available online, through local partner China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. and through resellers. She cited the disturbance at the Sanlitun store in Beijing, where hundreds of customers waited overnight and where frustration boiled over Friday morning.
Apple Beijing Store Pelted With EggsView Slideshow
Associated PressPeople looked at egg stains on the Beijing Apple store's glass wall as they waited for the store to open to sell the iPhone 4S model Friday.
The company made the move "to ensure the safety of our customers and employees," she said. Apple has two Apple Stores in Beijing and three in Shanghai, though its products are widely available through other companies.
The move came after the debut of the iPhone 4S at the Sanlitun swank shopping district went awry on Friday morning.
Apple fans waiting overnight in the freezing cold turned angry and at least one pelted the store façade with eggs when it failed to open Friday morning as expected. The store never opened, and by midmorning authorities wielding megaphones roped off the store and told the crowd of hundreds to disperse to break up the tense scene.
The state-run Xinhua news agency said many who were waiting in line were scalpers, though those reports couldn't be immediately confirmed.
The world's No. 2 economy has become a major source of growth for the Cupertino, Calif., maker of iPhones and iPads. Apple's sales in China and Hong Kong surged nearly fivefold in the fiscal year ended Sept. 24 to $12.47 billion. The U.S. and China were the only countries that accounted for more than 10% of the company's net sales in 2011.
Associated PressHundreds of customers line up to purchase a new smartphone iPhone 4S at an Apple Store early Friday in Shanghai.
Apple's logo is a familiar presence in the well-to-do areas of major cities like Beijing and Shanghai. The biography of late co-founder Steve Jobs is a popular read, and ads for the book make his photograph a common sight on streets in Beijing.
But the enthusiasm has resulted in frustration at times. In May, in the gleaming Sanlitun Apple store, shoppers lining up for sales of new, white iPhones scuffled with store employees, leading store managers to lock the doors. One of the plate-glass windows was smashed in the process.
Apple fans hoping to buy the new iPhone 4S began lining up outside the Sanlitun store on Thursday. Temperatures dropped overnight to well below freezing, and by Friday morning the crowd was growing impatient.
One immediate problem: It wasn't clear when store doors would open, according to those in line, despite signs telling shoppers where to line up. Many were expecting the store to open at 7 a.m. local time. It didn't.
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