China too eager for the iPhone 4S Apple suspends sales

The much-anticipated release of the iPhone 4S in China stumbled out of the gate in Beijing, after unruly crowds kept the store closed on release day.

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Scuffles in front of the Beijing iPhone Store • Large crowds gathered prior to opening

Apple’s main store in the Sanlitun district of Beijing, the first of its kind to open in the country, was pelted with eggs and minor scuffles broke out after an unidentified store representative announced that the store would not be opening.

Apart from the Apple Store in Hong Kong’s IFC Mall, which started selling the iPhone 4S back in November, you would assume that the largest mobile-phone market in the world would have slightly more Apple retail points than the meager two in Beijing and three in Shanghai.

To avoid such incidents in the future, Apple has decided to restrict the availability of the iPhone 4S to online sales and the stores of its local carrier, China Unicom.