The Apple store in Beijing went crazy yesterday when the two per customer iPhone 4 rule was dropped allowing scalpers to get their grubby hands on up to 30 each!Imagine waiting in line at the store for hours, only to see people coming out with up to 30 iPhone 4’s while you’re stopped from even getting in the shop, and when you do finally get in, guess what? They’ve sold out, and it just so happens that the guy who bought 30 will happily sell you one for a $70 mark up. Great.
As you can imagine, the actual customers weren’t happy and a fight broke out and the police came and cleared everyone out of the store.
Why this happened is still unknown and now if you want to buy an iPhone 4 in any of the China Apple stores, you’ll need ID, you can only have one and an Apple employee will activate the phone in the shop. Much more sensible.
If you’re wondering why the customers didn’t order online, then here’s an explanation:
Since the Chinese citizens do not wish to sign a two-year contract when buying an iPhone 4 (they have their own phone numbers already), the local Apple retail store is the only place for them to get one. There are only 4 Apple stores in China now, two at Beijing and two at Shanghai. For Chinese citizens who are from other provinces of China, they need to travel to Beijing or Shanghai to purchase a contract-free iPhone 4… You may ask why they do not order it from the Apple online store, well, there’s no online purchasing on China’s Apple site. They could try the Hong Kong Apple online store, but they want their iPhones to have warranty in China, not Hong Kong.
[via Gizmodo]
