Delayed iPhone launch sparks fury in China

An Apple store customer looks at the new Apple iPhone 4Gs on October 14, in San Francisco, United States. The new iPhone 4Gs went on sale today and features a faster duel core A5 chip, an 8MP camera that shoots 1080p HD video, and a voice assistant program. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP

BEIJING–Thousands of Chinese shoppers queued for hours in freezing temperatures on Friday as the new iPhone 4S went on sale, sparking angry scenes when staff at the Beijing Apple store refused to open its doors.

Customers threw eggs at the glass front of the store in Beijing’s upmarket Sanlitun shopping district, and shouted at staff to open the doors so they could buy the new phone which was supposed to go on sale at 7:00 am Friday.

An AFP reporter at the scene saw frustrated shoppers attack a security guard outside the shop after police with megaphones shouted at the 1,000-strong crowd to go home and said the new iPhone would not go on sale.

“IPhone 4S is Steve Jobs’ best, that’s why I want one. I will be really upset if they don’t open the doors,” said Li Tianye, 29, who had travelled for two days by bus to get to Beijing for the launch.

Some of the 1,000 or so people gathered outside the store from the early hours on Friday said they had been paid 100 yuan (around $15) each by touts to stand in line and wait for the doors to open.

Calmer scenes were reported in Shanghai, where an AFP reporter said Apple stores had opened to large crowds and the phone was on sale.

While not officially available in mainland China until Friday, the new model has been on sale for months at a premium on the black market, after being smuggled in from neighboring countries and from Hong Kong.

Apple, which had said the latest version of its hot-selling iPhone would be released in China and 21 other countries on January 13, did not immediately return calls for comment on why the launch was delayed in Beijing.

Die-hard fans in China, which has the world’s largest online population with more than 500 million users, have been known to line up for days to get their hands on the latest Apple products.

Greater China — which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan — has become Apple’s fastest growing region, with revenue there second only to the United States.

The California-based company has recently expanded aggressively in China, opening its first store in Hong Kong and its third in Shanghai last September, which brings the total to six in Greater China.

In July, an American blogger uncovered fake Apple stores in the southwestern city of Kunming, where even staff working there did not appear to know they were fake.