Launch of Apple iPad 2 in China turns ugly; four are hospitalized

posted by Alan F. / May 07, 2011, 3:14 PM

Launch of Apple iPad 2 in China turns ugly; four are hospitalized

With a big crowd lined up outside an Apple Store in China for the launch of the iPad 2, a fight broke out between an employee of the store and scalpers standing outside the location. The glass door of the Beijing Sanlitun Apple Store was shattered and four people were sent to the hospital. It is not known what started the fight.

Those waiting in line to purchase the sequel to Apple's highly successful tablet had to follow new rules Apple had put in place for the launch, including issuing numbered wristbands that iPad 2 buyers had to wear. The store has been closed since the altercation while employees cleamed up the leftover mess. According to Chinese site MacX, the store looked like there had been a riot inside while several customers had blood on their faces. An unconfirmed report from Chinese blog Sinatech quoted a police source as saying that an Apple Store employee had beat up a jobless man who was acting as a scalper.

With a population of 1.2 billion, China is seen as a very important area by Apple. The country currently hosts 4 Apple stores and the company plans on building 25 more over the next few years.

source: Sinatech (translated), MacX (translated) via AppleInsider

Long lines wait outside an Apple Store in China for the Apple iPad 2

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31 Comments

1. adasdasdas

Posts: 6; Member since: May 07, 2011

Stupid people, brainless people

posted on May 07, 2011, 3:19 PM 3

3. Lucas777

Posts: 2137; Member since: Jan 06, 2011

well, you sure dont see this for anything but an apple product...

posted on May 07, 2011, 3:38 PM 7

7. Whateverman

Posts: 3295; Member since: May 17, 2009

So what are you saying? I'm not sure if you read the article or not but this doesn't sound like a "Yay, Apple makes great products" kind of story. Four people were sent to the hospital because of scalping... That's not good.

posted on May 07, 2011, 4:08 PM 4

8. Lucas777

did i ever say it was good? All i said is that this would only happen for an apple product...

posted on May 07, 2011, 4:19 PM 5

14. Whateverman

Did you not see where I asked "so what are you saying?" I wanted to be clear on what it was you were implying.

posted on May 07, 2011, 4:41 PM 1

15. Lucas777

okay great? im glad u understood? cause u kinda went off on apple more than ask me whatever u wanted to ask me

posted on May 07, 2011, 5:14 PM 6

17. Asr unregistered

So wait, let me get this straight... The original comment was "stupid, brainless people" to which you replied that this happens ONLY for Apple products. Did I misunderstood or did you mean that people who buy Apple are stupid and/or brainless?

posted on May 07, 2011, 5:20 PM 3

18. Lucas777

u misunderstood me. hahaha the people who wud go through a window to get an ipad 2 obviously are, but nowhere did i say that all apple people are.

posted on May 07, 2011, 5:22 PM 3

23. BobbyTaba

Posts: 316; Member since: Aug 11, 2010

Is there like nothing to do in China? They should be building iPads not waiting in line for them.

posted on May 07, 2011, 8:29 PM 3

2. Sniggly

Posts: 7305; Member since: Dec 05, 2009

Lol. So where are Taco and Gemini? I want to see them try to give this a positive spin.

posted on May 07, 2011, 3:38 PM 3

33. taco50

Posts: 5506; Member since: Oct 08, 2009

Let me guess you blame Apple?

posted on May 08, 2011, 11:44 AM 3

40. Sniggly

Not at all. I blame the stupidity of people who would fight over a tablet.

posted on May 08, 2011, 9:47 PM 2

4. joey18

Posts: 648; Member since: Jul 20, 2010

the problem are big line they have only 10 ipads same black friday in best buy i want 5 morning to get my comput ouside in the store asian people saling thos tickets for 100 dollars what scam for best buy

posted on May 07, 2011, 3:48 PM 1

5. renmas unregistered

What is wrong with you and why can't you type?

posted on May 07, 2011, 4:03 PM 6

29. biggles

Posts: 269; Member since: Oct 15, 2009

It's because he's typing it on his iphone.

posted on May 08, 2011, 6:16 AM 1

6. luis_lopez_351

Posts: 951; Member since: Nov 18, 2010

LMFAO they are like mosquitoes to an electric light trap

posted on May 07, 2011, 4:05 PM 3

9. Lucas777

And why do we not have cool apple stores like this?

posted on May 07, 2011, 4:21 PM 1

10. box unregistered

that store looks cold and corporate..... why is that in any way appealing?

posted on May 07, 2011, 4:26 PM 0

35. cellgeek82

Posts: 518; Member since: Dec 20, 2009

More like futuristic and high-tech :)

posted on May 08, 2011, 12:29 PM 1

11. IOS5 unregistered

Kung Fu his ass or something XD

posted on May 07, 2011, 4:27 PM 3

25. Eingild

Posts: 203; Member since: Apr 19, 2011

Why the hell do you need to fall in line and fight with others just to get a tablet? It's a tablet for goodness sake! Will they die if they weren't able to buy one? I bet if you rip off the apple logo from the back, people won't even care if it's already in the market or not. Stupid people! Killing each other for a tablet.

posted on May 07, 2011, 11:54 PM 2

26. IOS5 unregistered

And who the f?$&! Asked you to buy Apple product adasdasds! Go and buy your butter and cheese this the only thing you known about it cheese boy lol.

posted on May 08, 2011, 12:29 AM 0

27. weirdfisher

Posts: 51; Member since: Mar 31, 2011

I live in hong kong. We dont like the 'mainland chinese people' because what they do are like locusts. Ironically today's 'high end techs' are made by these people

posted on May 08, 2011, 1:05 AM 0

28. Spadow unregistered

androids stop hating on this article. your just jealous chinese people dont go crazy over your fully customisable brillant androids. because everybody knows an apple a day keeps droids away.

posted on May 08, 2011, 5:52 AM 1

30. momo2 unregistered

What ever happened to ordering online?

posted on May 08, 2011, 10:35 AM 1

31. taco50

From what I've gathered there was a lot of scalpers trying to buy up the iPads and resell them. The Apple store was trying to prevent scalping and that's where the confrontation happened.

posted on May 08, 2011, 10:49 AM 0

32. Sniggly

Yeah, that's what I gathered from this article. Sucks that the scalpers were doing that, but it wasn't the job of the Apple employees to do anything about it.

posted on May 08, 2011, 10:59 AM 1

36. iwebdroidberry7

Posts: 230; Member since: Jan 17, 2011

Yes Sniggly, we get it, Apple is evil. GTF *rolls eyes*

posted on May 08, 2011, 7:50 PM 0

41. Sniggly

I didn't blame Apple. I blame the store employees who got into the altercation. Apple would probably agree with me that their actions did the opposite of helping the situation.