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The new iPad is official, with Retina display, LTE and A5X chip, but it’s 0.6mm thicker and 0.07lbs heavier than the iPad 2. Apple announced that the new iPad will go on sale in U.S. on March 16th, with pre-orders open today. Other countries like Canada, the UK, Australia, France, Germany, Japan and Hong Kong are getting it on the same date as well. Another batch of 26 countries will get the new iPad on March 23rd. Surprisingly, there’s no word on a China launch date.
Previously, Hong Kong was gripped by iPhone 4S fever as more than 1,000 fans and scalpers queued outside the Apple store to buy Apple’s latest smartphone. In order to stop the incidents of repeated violence over sales of the iPhone 4S, Apple has recently implemented a new system to fight those pesky scalpers, and the new system makes the scalping business very difficult.
The atmosphere outside the IFC Apple store was extremely competitive, dozens of gray market dealers standby outside of the Apple store awaiting for queuers to resell their iPhone 4S. But thing went ugly when a gray market dealer got robbed by a trio of Africans. More info after the break…
Over three thousand people gathered outside the Hong Kong Apple store for the launch of the iPhone 4S in Hong Kong, but Apple only allow 1,250 people to line up. A scuffle nearly broke out, and police were called to keep everything under control. Here’s everything you want to know about the iPhone 4S launch in Hong Kong.
UPDATE 4: Exclusive video of scalpers outside the Apple Store.
UPDATE 3: iPhone 4S is totally sold out at 12pm noon.
UPDATE 2: The launch of the iPhone 4S resulted in a chaotic scene with scalpers and pro queuers purchasing and reselling the phone outside the Apple store.
UPDATE: 7 hours left on this iPhone 4S launch, more police were called in to try their best to keep everything under control. No Apple employees are seen, but we saw special Hong Kong Police force.
Apple did not announce an official release date for the iPhone 4S in Hong Kong and China, but residents can buy them at retail – for a premium, just one day after the 4S launches in the U.S. You will be shocked, a 16GB model (no-contract, unlocked) costs $10,500 Hong Kong Dollars (around $1350) in the gray market, that’s about twice the U.S. price!!! And we discovered that over a thousand people waited in line for cheaper iPhone 4 in Hong Kong Apple store, and sold it at higher price. Video after the break.
UPDATE: More info and photos.
Steve Jobs did not announce an official release date for the iPad 2 in Hong Kong, but residents can buy them at retail – for a premium, just two days after the iPad 2 launches in the U.S. You will be shocked, a 16GB Wi-Fi model costs about $7,900 Hong Kong Dollars (around $1014) in the gray market, that’s about twice the U.S. price!!!
UPDATE: Video! And more information!
While we are still determining if this is real, we can’t wait to let you see this surprising Apple iPhone 4 64GB. What’s more incredible is that the grey markets of Hong Kong are selling it as “engineering prototype”. What!?
UPDATE: Hands-on plus video!
The iPhone 4 has been listed as “Currently Unavailable” for quite a long time on Hong Kong and China Apple online store. Due to the high demand and the irritating scalpers from mainland China, Apple has treated HK and China as “special case”. Today, both HK and China Apple stores are limiting all iPhone 4 purchases to one per customer, while other countries are restricting the purchases to two per customer.
Maybe you got an iPhone 4 already, but there are plenty of people in Hong Kong failed to get one, even though they have the money to buy it. You would not believe this, some customers do ordered the iPhone 4 from the Apple Online Store (HK), but it took a decade of time to receive the delivery. There’s even a specialty retailer of consumer electronics in HK accepting thousands of orders while they have only hundreds of stocks. The locals are extremely unhappy for this, since they need to pay more than the official price to purchase from these retailers, and buying one is not a matter of “first come first serve”, but of randomly selected. Some customers even called the cops.
The gray market is incredible, especially in China and Hong Kong. We know the China’s gray market iPhone 4 costs up to 12,000RMB ($1770 USD), and customers can get the UK unlocked models with this hefty price. However, there’s a MASSIVE change since the iPhone 4 launched in Hong Kong a few days ago. People who got their iPhone 4 by signing up a 2-year contract through local carriers are selling the iPhone 4s to the gray market, with nearly two times the original price stated on Apple Store…
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