Long queue in front of the Xidan Joy City Apple Store
Long queue at Apple's Sanlitun retail store
Photo of the Sanlitun site from an internet blogger
Xidan Joy City site
Xidan Joy City Apple Store
Xidan Joy City Apple store yesterday afternoon at 4pm. Hundreds were already lined up for the launch of the device.
China Unicom officially started selling the iPhone 4s!
The iPhone 4S officially went on sale today in the Mainland. The sales started online at China Unicom's website, officially starting at 0:01 am. The website crashed for several minutes due to heavy traffic. At 7:00 am, Apple's retail stores and other channels like the retail stores at Sanlitun, Beijing, Xidan Joy City, etc. also started selling the device. Apple retail stores have been packed with people queuing. Previously, Apple announced that they would start selling the iPhone 4s in China starting on January 13 at a suggested retail price of 4988 yuan for the 16GB model, 5888 yuan for the 32GB model, and 6788 yuan for the 64GB model. The iPhone 4S would sell through the Apple Store online store, Apple retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.Subsequently, China Unicom also announced sale iPhone 4S, launched the "free 32GB/64GB iPhone with a three-year 286 yuan plan", "free 16GB iPhone with a 2-year 386 yuan plan" and other iPhone 4S contract plans. After the countdown to 00:01, China Unicom's website crashed momentarily under the heavy traffic the site received but went back online shortly. Apple's retail stores started selling the device at 7:00 am. This evening, despite Beijing's temperature at minus 8 degrees, Apple Stores located in Sanlitun, Beijing, Xidan Joy City, etc. have been packed with people queuing. The night before the release, 400-500 people have were queuing up in the Xidan Joy City with dozens of police cars and about 100 police officers stationed to maintain public order. In addition to China Unicom and Apple retail stores, Gome, Suning and other channels will be selling the iPhone in China to keep up with the demand.
