Apple halts iPhone sales in China after Beijing revolt

APPLE is to suspend sales of all iPhones at its stores across China, after the iPhone 4S launch at one branch in Beijing had to be abandoned for safety reasons.
 
Eager to get hold of the new phone, an excitable crowd had started queuing the day before, with many spending the night outside in freezing temperatures. Then, just before dawn today, the news was broken that the shop would not be opening.    
 
The crowds started throwing eggs at the store windows and scuffles broke out between Apple fans, security staff and police. 
 
The Guardian reports witness Huang Xiantong, 26, as saying: “Around 5 am the crowds in the plaza broke through and the line disappeared entirely. Everyone was fighting, several people were hurt.”  
 
The company reacted by announcing a countrywide suspension of all iPhone sales via its dedicated retail outlets, although the phones will still be available through its online store and via select second party dealers.
 
China has rapidly become the world’s biggest mobile phone market, and Apple’s second biggest. CEO Tim Cook began the October 2011 unveiling of the iPhone 4S by boasting of Apple’s sales momentum in China, bringing up a photo of large crowds at the opening of a new Shanghai store and making quips about “a few people” having come along.
 
The size of Apple’s potential profits in the country makes the decision to halt retail sales a bold one. It suggests the company is keen to avoid negative press at any cost. 
 
The suspension could give an unexpected hike in profits to the fake Apple stores that have been springing up around China as the black-market responds to China’s thirst for the latest must-have gadgets.   ·