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Subscribe to RSSBEIJING– Question for Siri: What to do when you have egg on your face?
It’s a question Apple officials in China must be asking themselves today after fighting outside a Beijing store forced the company to close its stores nationwide, leaving hordes of outraged Chinese out in the proverbial cold.
Outside one store in Beijing’s Sanlitun entertainment district, Chinese buyers had been lining up outside of Apple stores around China since yesterday in anticipation of the official launch of Apple’s new iPhone 4S. By 1 a.m. Friday, the line had devolved into a thrall of people gathered around the front of the store.
Many of those in line were scalpers intending to resell the phones at inflated prices to impatient consumers.
Between 4 and 5 a.m., scuffles broke out in the line, first between groups of rival scalpers and then later between scalpers and police. Perhaps fearful of a repeat of the violence that occurred at the same Beijing store just eight months prior at the release of the iPad 2, the store remained closed past the pre-announced 7 a.m. time.
Finally an Apple representative with a megaphone came out at 7:15 a.m. and announced the store would not open for iPhone 4S sales without any additional explanation.
The announcement drew immediate boos and chants of “Open the door!” and “Liars!” from the crowd who had been waiting in subzero temperatures throughout the night. At least one customer left and returned with a bag of eggs which were promptly thrown at the glass walls of the Apple store.
David Gray / Reuters
A man yells at a security guard after the guard tried to remove a member of the crowd at the Apple store in the Beijing district of Sanlitun January 13, 2012.
Apple security who attempted to apprehend the egg throwers were instead chased away by throngs of irate customers. Unverified home video of the incident shot and posted on Chinese video sites show some of the security guards being manhandled and beaten by the crowd.
Police later cleared the mob out from the square and a security cordon manned by dozens of uniformed and plain-clothed police was formed around the Apple store. A police officer outside the store told NBC News that iPhone sales in Beijing were being suspended, but believed the Sanlitun store would be open again tomorrow.
Apple later released a statement stating that “to ensure the safety of our customers and employees, iPhone 4S will not be available in our retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai for the time being.”
“Americans do make good products. Much better than ours.”
Meanwhile in Shanghai, lines were more peaceful, but iPhone sales were just as brisk outside the Apple stores as inside.
An NBC news crew outside the Apple store on the popular Nanjing road shopping street found hundreds milling around outside waiting for their chance at an iPhone 4S.
Chu Shanshan, a 25-year-old nurse who jubilantly walked out of the store with phone in hand said she had been waiting since midnight and had finally bought her dream product after 9 hours of waiting.
"Yes it's expensive. I spent a whole month's salary to buy an iPhone 4S. It's just so cool!" she said proudly.
Suddenly chaos broke out around the entrance of the Apple store. Two policemen, obviously well-prepared, could be seen yanking a man – possibly a scalper – away and disappearing into a nearby alleyway.
"Where are you from?" asked a middle-aged woman from the edge of the crowd.
"Ha! Americans must feel great to see Chinese people fighting to buy their products, right?" crowed the woman before adding, “Well I can't blame them. Americans do make good products. Much better than ours."
Big business for scalpers
For the scalpers who lined up outside of Apple stores today in Beijing and Shanghai, the iPhone’s highly anticipated release is potentially huge business. Apple restricts buyers to two phones each, so to get around those rules, scalpers hire people – often migrant workers looking to make a little extra money – to wait in line with them to purchase more phones.
Some scalpers hired scores of people to line up with them, easily identifiable by the matching ribbons they wore around their arms. They were preceded by the scalpers themselves, who wore identifiers like a balloon to help his or her buyers keep track of their whereabouts.
On Sina Weibo, China’s twitter-like service, a user representing one of the ubiquitous Apple fan clubs talked to one group of 42 buyers who had been hired by a scalper for $27 each to wait in line to purchase iPhones.
For those buyers, it’s extra money to sock away in an increasing inflated economy, but for the scalpers themselves, it’s a small price to pay for the potentially huge profits they can make selling the new phones at exorbitantly marked up prices.
Just 100 yards away from the Apple store in Shanghai, two men in worn, silvery suits held a sign over their head offering the new iPhone 4S 16gb for $918, a significant markup from the $790 listed price on Apple’s China website.
When asked why people would buy from them when they can walk half a block down and purchase the exact same phone for $128 less, one of them said, “Well first of all they don't have to line up and wait if they buy from us."
"And they can only buy a phone at the Apple store,” chimed in the other scalper, “with us we can install a lot of Apps for them."
NBC News researcher Ting Zhao contributed to this report
Leave a Comment:
Eggs? Wow, John Lennon WAS prophetic. Starts off with "And if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow." Then wraps it up wih..."I am the egg man...I am the Walrus...coo-coo-ca-choo." Damn those I-phones...
Me Chinese....me play joke.....me trade iphone for some coke ....Ah,so!
Reminds me of Black Friday when people trample on top of others to get inside WalMart or Target.
Great example of how to brainwash the masses. "Hey you need a cell phone, because after all, one day you might find yourself under a pile of rubble crying "help".
Suckers.................
Americanism will destroy China faster than China can destroy America!
Mark i totally agree! took me 5 years to finally get a vcr when they came out!
i didn't NEED one! young people today NEED everything NOW and they keep
upgrading and making things every new improved updating same with cars
you need a car that parks itself? the radio is the thing they push on the commercial?
the gps? what about a good cheap car that runs without all the extra crap that breaks
down? this country is in deep trouble if this attitude doesn't change!
Ah, capitalism. Gotta love it. Let's see now, hopefully the free market system takes over and with the current demand for the phone Apple should raise the price to about $1000 to balance this pent up demand for a superior American made product.
It's a far better product than they can produce with slave labor so make them pay a much higher price as payback for the cheap crap they dump on us. Labor will demand better wages to make the phone 'affordable' and voila - the cycle is complete.
About time I'd say. You want fries with that?
Wonder who the one oddball round-eye with the smirk on his face and camera in his hand is in the middle of the crowd photo?
John Dalton
"ah-so" is a Japanese word.
They're still wearing those SARS masks?
Such biblical, man will do anything for that Apple...
Robin Steele; how did your mind get to that place at 8 am?
Why don't these companies just sell the product on-line for a month or two and let the drama die down...Air Jordans, iphones, xboxes, sports fans who rush the court in their painted faces then beat up rival fans in the parking lot - people are emotional basket cases these days...and over the dumbest stuff. Are people really this out of control or is it just an act like reality TV?
This by far....the best, easiest, and funniest, "Where's Waldo" puzzle ever!
There is no consumer product in the world that is worth standing in line for at 4am.
Unless you are starving in a third world country waiting for a food handout, this sort of mentality escapes me.
Sirlafalot; since Waldo always has a hat, you must be speaking of the Swedish China-man to the right.
Love my iPhone but do not understand the Chinese going wild over the 4s. They will find out soon enough.
Drain - it was 10:30 dude....My brain only stops for TV.
Gee, China has a cell phone idiot fringe just like we do; and here I thought the USA was losing our global influence!
And this is a bad thing how? Young people wanting the newest toys are forcing companies to constantly innovate. And in case you didn't notice, innovation is a good thing. My worrying would start when people no longer care about progress and are content with a decadent and stagnating society, happy with the status quo.
OMG. now the truth. Watch this and tell me China is not a threat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S35PZJDFsOw
Chris from Yucaipa,
Progress is great, but profit shoud not be the sole motivating factor. And that's the problem with America: always trying to sell you something you shouldn't ought to buy.
Take the Hummer, for example. Where the hell are you going with a Hummer? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm? What do you need it for? You bought it because a comic book hero told you to buy it. So now you are stuck with a tank that gets about 12 feet to the gallon and while everyone complains about the rotten, deteriorating infrastructure, your Hummer is to heavy for our roads which speeds up the deterioration. So by owning one, you have contributed greatly to a BAD situation. Nothing good ever came out of owning a Hummer. Nothing.
Now on the other hand, you and I can have this chat today, but 20 years ago we could not. The internet is a good thing, a good example of progress.
If corporations are people too, do they worship Christ, Muhammed, Budda, or Bhrama? Or do they worship Mammon?
Don't answer, just rhetorical question.
I thought China had a long, distinguished history of rising above the barbarisms of the West. Now it appears that its citizens are not so different from America's gadget-seeking ghouls ready to pepper-spray one another over the latest electronic trinket.
So Chairman Mao didn't killed millions of his own people? What then do you call barbarism?
Awwww.... learned it from us, we are so proud.
They must have watched video of Black Friday at the local Wal Mart for inspiration . . .
Optimist, have you every BEEN to China? It is not (nor has it ever been), the idyllic Shangri-La of legend. It is dirty, polluted, crowded and shouting, pushing and fighting just to get on a bus in the countryside are the norm. This event happened in Beijing, where the noise, population, pollution and general rudeness (by Western standards) is inconceivable by most Westerners. Just look at the picture -- THOUSANDS of people lined up to get a silly phone.
Hardly.
but it is a cool silly phone. A billion Chinese can't be wrong.
iphones are made in the USA? Who knew.....I guess she lost track of her 12 year old cousin who now (thanks to daddy selling her into a sweat shop) makes those phones.
Oh but they can. You see, China's growing fast--which means people are likely to buy things as status symbols. It explains why the iPhone 4 sold so well, despite the large number of negative reviews.
Hang on, the exact same thing happened over here...
Really! Who the hell brings eggs with them when buying a cell phone. These people are truly dumb.
"Ha! Americans must feel great to see Chinese people fighting to buy their products"
Isn't this manufactured at the Foxconn plant in China? The same plant where hundreds of workers recently threatened mass suicide to protest salary and working conditions? This isn't "our" product. It's a Chinese product with an American user interface.
It's the same way that we call Honda and Toyota Japanese products despite a lot of them being manufactured in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
James82- Not manufactured --- Assembled here, BIG diference. That is where the jobs went. If we would produce AND assemble cars here, we would have lower unemployment. However, the younger generation have NO CLUE on how to make anything.
333 - Like that is our f-ing fault? The boomer generation closed down all the factories and sent the jobs to f-ing China. At least some of the assembly plants are coming back.
The younger generation, 30 and below, will have to fix your mistakes, while worrying about your Medicare and Social Security.
My father would use the phrase "Civilizations who fail to take care of their poor and elderly are doomed to fail."
With comments like yours, you seem to forget that the people who will decide your generations future, will also decide the fate of your country.
But in your ignorance, you would rather put our generation down. I guess it doesn't matter because you are old and probably will be fine regardless of the future. Read: Selfish old person.
Very good point. Its the baby boomers that brought in outsourcing and gutting the middle class for profit, go on needless wars and keep raising the national debt so they can stick it to the younger generation to take care of.
No, the mass suicide threaten was at a facility that works on the X-box.
Foxconn had a crisis where several employees per month were committing suicide. Don't know if that's still going on. Maybe there was a mass suicide threat there also, but the one one this past week was Microsoft's issue.
Big talk. Let's see you do better.
Yeah, and its the baby boomers that spoiled this younger generation by giving them everything they want and not teaching them to respect others and think for themselves. That same device you used to post your comments is a result of the baby boomer generation. The things you take for granted are also the result of the work and imagination of boomers. So quit whining about the poor pitiful lives you've been handed and try making something of yourselves.
It has nothing to do with "generations". It has to do with corporate profit mongering which ALL generations take part in. You won't meet a lot of working 20 somethings out there without a 401k so stow your hypocrisy. It's unbecoming and it doesn't solve the problem. Quit whining about your parents and grandparents, and stop shopping at Walmart for everything. Unfortunately most 20 somethings are spoiled to death and are shocked to learn that CEO is Not an entry level position.
Not to mention gleefully holding out our hands and taking the Reagan and Bush tax cuts instead of paying our debts. But you will still take care of us... won't you?
Sigh... China...
Foxxconn builds XBox 360's I believe.
@3 -- Mike, are you kidding? Yes, iPhones are assembled by Foxconn in China -- an assembly process that is mostly automated, but still requires human labor. The hardware and software design, the industrial design (look and feel), the management, the marketing, etc. is all done in Cupertino, California.
The fact that it is assembled in a factory in China does not make it a Chinese product with an American user interface. Suppose Apple brings up another assembly site -- say in Thailand -- and starts manufacturing iPhones there too. Would you then say that some iPhones are a Chinese product and others are a Thai product?
As others pointed out, the recent threat of mass suicide by Chinese workers was not at Foxconn, although Foxconn did have a big stress-induced suicide problem back in 2009-2010. Workers were allowed to work as much overtime as they wanted, and many took advantage of the chance to make as much money as possible -- some were routinely working 18 hour days for about $1.00 an hour. Management's response to the suicides included limiting the allowed number of hours of overtime and also a 50% pay increase -- yes, a huge raise from $1.00 an hour to $1.50 -- so workers would feel less financial pressure and less desire to want to work an inhuman number of hours per day or per week.
That level of raise didn't really put much of a dent in Apple's costs, nor did it compel them to raise prices. Foxconn is making less profit, but still doing quite well, with labor costs that most westerners would describe as slave labor, even after the pay increases.
@ moogley - lord help us try.
@ skeeterhawk - I grew up relatively poor by comparison. I bought my skateboard, bicycle, and paid for my college. Moved out at 18, and have been on my own since. I have no respect for people who use your statement as there are many more like me who weren't spoiled.
@ amused in the midwest - Only uniformed and underpaid people shop at Wal-mart. See my previous post about Home Depot. The same rule applies.
@ ir12 - with every means available. As long as we get some freaking respect in the process.
The line between Made in USA and Made in China, or anywhere else, has been dramatically blurred due to global off-shoring varying aspects of product manufacture. A global dilemma or realization? Foreign car manufacturers have assembly plants here, does that make their cars more 'American'? If designed in American, does assembly elsewhere make it 'foreign'? Would we label a Toyota made here a 'Product of the USA'? Do we need a new definition for advertising as 'built in America'?
What will be the new criteria for 'Made in USA'?
To all the above: What was the 60's about then? Isn't that where the idea of not accepting responsibility and disrespecting elders got started. What generation was that again? LOL! You baby boomer are hilarious. You guys disrespected the "Greatest Generation" whom, by the way, we can thank for all the technology we have today. The baby boomers just rode the wave. I hear a lot of complaining from Baby Boomers about lay-offs and retirements lost - we all know this was all a result of the greedy/entitled/spoiled attitudes of unions and CEO's which resulted in all the manufacturing jobs moving over seas.
I'm in my twenties and I build stuff for a living. I've been promoted twice. No credit card debt and almost no college debt. I grew up in a working class family. I grew up with "NO Child Left Behind" and trophies to every kid even if they lost, but am successful because I refused to accept that "political garbage" spewed out by the teachers of the Baby Boomer generation.
@J-Doggin: You must not live in the rural South or Midwest. The Wal-Marts there put Target to shame. I know millionaires who will shop at these kinds of Wal-Marts. But the ones in the east coast metro areas, if the exist, are absolutely atrocious - I know because I've lived in both types of areas.
oh my, the drama. This is an interesting argument though, I agree with Mike. A bit ironic that the iphone is manufactured in China. It is obvious who the Apple lovers are here, they argue that fact to the ground. sure the product is devoloped in the US in Cupertino, but the fact is, the product is put together and assembled in china, by chinese labor, PERIOD. They also try to justify by saying "what if it was in Thailand", HAHA I guess that is one way to justify it.
my opinion, Apple has made a huge, EPIC FAIL with the decision to outsource and have their assembly plants in China. I mean, really, why do they have to do that, is Apple having such a hard time making money that they must cut overhead and have the products assembled off shore ?
to quote JustSlapMe, "foreign car manufactures like toyota have assemply plants in the US", so why the hell can't Apple do the same ?
Apple is an American Icon, to say the least. Please keep it American, I find it disturbing and almost decietful that they are assembled off shore, ESPECIALLY in China. What an epic fail.
Dont get me wrong, I am an Apple fan too, and I find the products to have the highest quality, not without their own problems though. I really hate the fact that they are assembled in China though, pretty much a deal breaker for me.
oh and by the way, very childish that someone had to actaully try and push some blame over to Microsoft, I can't believe they were even brought up, but that is typical of Apple lovers, transfer responsibility, or point out faults in others when they are under the gun...
@Sanford - paragraph one and two I agree with in full. As far as Wal-Mart goes, living in the Midwest, they suck. They suck tremendously! Even one in which the local zoning board (NKAPC) put every barrier in place to prevent it from happening, but to which Wal-Mart begrudgingly stepped up to and fulfilled, albeit nice, still sucks via merchandising. The product is cheap and poorly made. Of course I can only speak of between Nashville, TN to Cleveland, OH
Actually it was, regardless of what people are claiming.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/12/chinese-foxconn-workers-threaten-mass-suicide-over-xbox-pay-dispute/
When using someone else's posted info to make a claim, it's always a good idea to look the sh-t up yourself.
Not to mention they do have a history of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides
Thanks Chris!
You took the words right outta my keyboard!!
Peace
This is just silly - over a phone. I'm very happy with my iPhone 4S, but certainly would not have fought over it...
These people were fighting for the potential profit that the product will bring when they resell it on the black market. What's silly is the people willing to pay extra $$$ on the black market or camping there just to be able to use the product a few days earlier than the rest.
No standing in line for me. I don't do that crap. I pre-ordered the darn thing, and UPS brought me two of them on the first day they were available, Oct 14. I wouldn't stand in line for any darn phone. Apple or otherwise.
Notice the white guy in the center of the picture, he's clearly teasing them
Thats funny, almost like a "Wheres Waldo"
That is so Funny! I had to go back and look!
LOL good call, had to go back and take a look and the Sesame Street song "One of these things is not like the other" popped in my head! ha ha ha haaaa
He thought he was in line for the retro Air Jordan shoes...
Great catch! Love the look on his face!
He looks like a young Steve Buscemi
"LOL good call, had to go back and take a look and the Sesame Street song "One of these things is not like the other" popped in my head! ha ha ha haaaa"
For some reason while I was doing the dishes last night I was singing that song over and over! What a coincidence I should run into it the next day in the comments!
I wonder if that guy is a scalper?
In a country where there are shortages of virtually everything, how can this come as a surprise? What the Chineese consumer fails to realize is"THEY"LL MAKE MORE"!
Stories like this make me wonder what would happen in this world if/when electro-magnetic fields go haywire...a huge solar flare, the proposed alignment of earth-sun-center of galaxy where it knocks the planet off it's axis. What would become of us if technology comes to a grinding halt? We've become so dependent on it...holy hell would ensue.
The younger generation would immediately disconnect (kinda like that corny robot on the cheezy Lost in Space show where the robot would flail it's arms..."Danger Will Robertson..." then when it got zapped it would go limp, arms falling by it's side, lights out. "uhhhh."
wow... more great front page apple news! thanks for the scoop! really interesting stuff here!
I like my gadgets as much as the next guy but this is pretty ridiculous.
I dont even like the iPhone......the Android market is MUCH better. My Droid does everything an iPhone will do.
Jesus still loves you too - you're very special.
The wise man waits a few months and then just walks in and buys one. Idiots.
Patience is a virtue.
Especially when the product cost as much as 1 month salary? I rather wait til the prices cool down and drop in prices if it cost as much as 1 month salary.
We are dealing with the instant gratification generation, when they want something they want it NOW!
@Pammy - and where did we learn that from?
Oh great, it's not just the US (sarcasm). What is wrong with people?!? It's a stupid freaking phone! Get a life, and some priorities! I can never understand why people will line up and spend tons of money to buy (or watch something, because they do it for movies too) when if you wait a bit the hype will die down, and often so will the price. You lived several decades without something but another six months would be a disaster? Get a grip!
Keep giving the Communist China all that modern technology so they can kill you with it.
I knew it! The Chinese master plan of DEATH-BY-CELL-PHONE!
LMFAO!
It 's really nice to see that the USA has boosted the Chinese economy to the point where a woman can spend a months salary on a cell phone.....
does the navigation in the 4s give you audio instruction?
Often corporates love to create these artificial hype to garner more media action. They could have rolled this out in multiple outlets so such event would not not occur. However that would not gather any media attention.
I think most North Americans don't "feel good to see Chinese fighting over their products" it's like boxing day shootings or something. Most people probably feel more solidarity with the Wukan village protest - as those big corporations won't stop until the world is their sweatshop - and the consumer class is once again, a robber baron with slaves.
I know what they mean, I think its a great product too :)
It's very obvious that Apple products have a psychological effect. How can people be so out of control over a chunk of chips. I wish they would bring back rotary phones. I rather NOT be so connected. Unless you are a business person why would you need all that technology ?
"Need" is a relative term. However I gotta tell you that the iPhone4 has really worked well into my situation. I carry around far less "stuff" than I used to. I'm pretty information intensive and this little guy pays for itself every month. It really is pretty cool to have an entire library of books, all your music, calculators, weather, communications, games - the lot, all on your belt. I'm not a heavy gamer and I don't watch much video on the thing (I.E. I'm not "plugged in" to it all the time) but boy it sure is nice to have all that capability in your pocket. It is so well implemented and "idiot proof". I'm a software developer of 35+ years and this is the slickest gadget I've ever owned. I can't imagine doing without it now. Oh yeah ... it's also a REALLY good phone too! ;-)
" . . . the line had devolved into a thrall of people . . . " Really? According to Merriam-Webster:
1
a : a servant slave : bondman; also : serf b : a person in moral or mental servitude
2
a : a state of servitude or submission <in thrall to his emotions> b : a state of complete absorption <mountains could hold me in thrall with a subtle attraction of their own — Elyne Mitchell>
Perhaps the writer meant throng?
Technically these people are in a state of Mental and Moral Servitude to both the Communist Party and to Apple.
21 deleted, racism, JohnSmithThe3rd banned, rereg of post613.
"Yes it's expensive. I spent a whole month's salary to buy an iPhone 4S. It's just so cool!" she said proudly.
Thats sad. She called it a "dream product." China may technically be a Communist country, but they are rapidly turning into a Consumerist one like ours as their middle class expands. And how is this any worse than a woman pepper spraying people on Black Friday?
Time to buy more apple stock.
I don't think that word means what you think it means, writer.
(But then again, a thrall IS
So perhaps I'm the one who is wrong here.)
I don't understand what all the hype is over these phones, I look at cell phones as a huge pain in the butt that is turning people into rude unsocial idiots. Perhaps I feel this way because I don't have a cell phone nor do I want one, but it is very annoying when you are face to face with someone and their phone makes a noise and next thing you know they are texting away ignoring the face to face convo they are having to type on a tiny keyboard with someone that isn't there or even bother to just call. What would happen if all the cell phones just stopped working?
"I don't understand what all the hype is over these phones, I look at cell phones as a huge pain in the butt."
The technology puts a lot of potential power in the hands of people, that's why. But like any potential, it needs to be tapped.
In a country like China where freedom of speech is curtailed, a communication device in the hands of the people is a big deal. In some countries they are literally able to step out of the stone age and right into the 21st century....skipping the decades long process of building a telecommunications infrastructure, skipping the development of computing technology from building sized computers with tube driven mainframes to and going straight to mobile communication and access to information that was previously unavailable to them and wouldn't likely have been available for generations.
As a westerner it's easy to be jaded about the technology but in other parts of the globe it's literally changing lives and putting power and the access to knowledge in the hands of people to a degree that's mind blowing.
As for people being rude with their cell phones...rude people are rude people. If cell phones magically stopped working, they'd still be rude people.
True enough. However, like an automobile, a cell phone is an enabler for rude people.
Rude people aren't enabled to be rude...they'll be rude in the middle of nowhere in any period of history...and there will always be people who blame the technology instead of the people who use it.
That's not the technology's fault. People don't need a smartphone to be rude, they'll do that anyway.
No, if you don't own one you don't understand.
Smartphones are like any other tool. They can be enormously handy or they can be misused. Don't blame the tools.
The new status quo huh? It's sadly dissapointing watching people worshiping technology to the point of losing their self respect and control. I started to say "I guess we really are just animals" but then I though of my pets and realized they are more generous and caring than most humans.
The behavior at the Apple store is intensely silly, but no different than the kind of mob behavior you see at a rock concert. Both are examples of herd mentality. They may or may not "worship" the object of the herd's stampede. It's simply stupid behavior.
Anyone reasonable stayed home and will wait until the din settles down and will then walk into the store and buy one.