Apple closed its flagship retail store in Beijing yesterday and said that it would not sell iPhones there ‘for the time being’ after customers became aggressive while waiting to buy the iPhone 4S.
Customers, some of whom had queued overnight in freezing temperatures, became angry when they learned that the iPhone 4S, which went on sale in China for the first time yesterday, was out of stock.
Eyewitnesses said that two men started pushing a security guard and threw eggs at the store. By noon, the store was empty and had been cordoned off. A sign on the window explained that no more iPhones would be sold there in the immediate future.
‘Unfortunately we were unable to open our store at Sanlitun [in Beijing] due to the large crowd, and to ensure the safety of our customers and employees, iPhones will not be available in our retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai for the time being,’ said Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu.
Last year, a fight between customers and security guards at the same store, on the day the iPad 2 went on sale, left one man injured and caused a pane of glass to be smashed.
