Riot! iPhone queues from 5 am but Apple Stores stay shut.

iPhone wannabe-buyers rioted after a Chinese Apple Store didn't open. People had been waiting in line for an iPhone since 5 o'clock this morning. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) says it's stopped all sales from its stores, to protect its staff from egg-throwing -- or worse. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers wonder if The Kaiser Chiefs would have predicted it.
[Updated with more commentary and pathetic jokes]
 
Your humble blogwatcher (@richi ) curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: How do you like you eggs in the morning?..
 
 
Michael Kan can report the unrest:

More than 300 customers waited [this] morning outside the Apple store in Beijing's Sanlitun district. .. At about 7:15 a.m., a security guard announced..that Apple was canceling its iPhone 4S sales at the store for the day. .. One customer then announced he had brought a bag of eggs, and began throwing them at the store.
..
Gang Tieyan, who waited in line since 5 a.m., said Apple treated its customers poorly. .. "The consumers have..wait[ed] outside in the cold for so long..it's not fair. .. I'm very disappointed."   

   
It's now not just that store, as John Paczkowski adds:

Would-be customers, many of whom had waited over night in the freezing cold..became so unruly when the store failed to open its doors on-time that..rather than risk a repeat of the incident..[Apple] has decided not to sell the 4S at any of its retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai.
..
[An] Apple spokesperson [said]..“to ensure the safety of our customers and employees, iPhone will not available in our retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai.”   

But Chris Chang blames scalpers, and has pictures:

[Aple's] decision was reached after fights and scuffles between scalpers and police broke out. .. The crowd was also shouting profanities..“**** off! Apple! You should get out of the China mobile market!”
..
[A] security officer tried to stop the egg throwing. However, the crowd..chased [him] away..and some even tried to beat him up. .. SWAT teams were called in to restore order.
..
There are over thousands of people at the scene and seems like 99% of them are scalpers..[who] have organized into teams..ready to buy the phones in bulk, and re-sell the phones right in front of the store at a [12%] premium.   

Gary Allen is a veteran 'overnighter':

Once again, China’s Apple retail stores have been overrun by scalpers, who pushed ordinary customers out of the way.
..
[T]he iPhone 4s is unlocked, allowing opportunists to employ line sitters and shill buyers. .. Apple stores in China [are] almost-continuously mobbed by scalpers.   

Meanwhile, Emma Haslett pens a horrible pun:

Is this any way to treat your fastest-growing market? .. What’s that? Could it be the sound of Steve Jobs turning in his grave?
..
With a newly-rich middle class keen to splash its cash..you’d think China would be Apple’s dream market. But..one of the biggest problems it’s had with new launches are ‘scalpers’. .. This time [they] were more organised than usual, sporting coloured armbands..and led by someone carrying a balloon of the corresponding colour. .. [T]heir presence was apparently enough to cause fights among the 1,000 or so people waiting..outside the store.
..
Some apparently even had to be stretchered out. .. Let’s hope Siri..has a good solution for a broken leg.   

  
And Finally...
How do you like you eggs in the morning?
  
 
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. He's the creator and main author of Computerworld's IT Blogwatch -- for which he has won American Society of Business Publication Editors and Jesse H. Neal awards on behalf of Computerworld. He also writes The Long View for IDG Enterprise. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com. You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.