Less than a week after the Sept. 25 release of the iPhone 4 in China, demand for the popular smartphone has far outstripped supply. Within a few days of its launch in China, more than 200,000 phones have been snapped up. A waiting list now has some Chinese consumers waiting until the end of October to purchase one of the super hot devices, according to AFP.
But the problem with the quick sale of the phone isn't just a simple issue of supply and demand. According to AFP, after Beijing's flagship store lifted the two-phones-per-customer limit, scalpers were walking from the Beijing store to the Sanlitun neighborhood store with boxes full of iPhone 4s. Sources said fights broke out between scalpers and regular customers inside the store. Police and store security were called on to regulate. But by noon on the first day of sales, the Beijing store had to close its doors.
Even after the store shut down, the bootleggers were spotted peddling the device in the plaza just outside one of Beijing's two Apple retailers. Apple said the 16-Gbyte phone retails for 4,999 yuan ($747 USD) and the 32GB phone is 5,999 yuan ($893 USD). Scalpers on the other hand, were peddling the 16GB version for an average of 300-600 yuan ($45-$90 USD) more than Apple.
The M.I.C. Gadget blog posted some photos of customers in a crush to get their hands on the coveted smartphone, as well as those carrying bags loaded down with multiple iPhone 4's.
The earlier generation of the iPhone was only made available in China last October, two years after its U.S. launch. Although the iPhone 4 was just officially released last week, it had been available on China's grey market for months.