iPad frenzy in Beijing

Don’t tell Noam Chomsky or Michael Moore, but the Chinese aren’t interested in their banal anti-capitalist swill. They’re not even interested in bin Laden… They want iPads!…or iPad 2s, to be exact. The launch of the device evidently created a near-riot in Beijing. From AppleInsider:

Just one day after Apple’s iPad 2 launch drew long lines in China, conflicting reports emerged Saturday regarding an alleged altercation at an Apple Store in Beijing.

AppleInsider reported on Friday that the launch of the iPad 2 in China drew crowds containing both fans and scalpers. In anticipation of crushing demand for the touchscreen tablet, Apple retail staff had instituted new waiting procedures that included numbered wristbands.

Chinese Mac site MacX (via Google Translate) reports that the Beijing Sanlitun Apple Store temporarily closed for business on Saturday afternoon after an altercation allegedly broke out between scalpers and an Apple Store employee, though the specific details of the incident remain unclear.

The apparent facts of the incident are that four people were injured and taken to the hospital, one of the glass doors for the Apple Store was broken and the store was closed for a time for cleanup and a subsequent police investigation.

The report alleges that a near “riot” erupted after retail staff attempted to close the store and usher customers out the back door. A separate unconfirmed report claims that a fight broke out between “a foreigner and a Chinese man,” though MacX notes that the information “is difficult to distinguish between true or false.”

Now there’s a job opportunity: iPad scalper in Beijing.