New iPad hits stores on mainland
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, July 22, 2012
Security officers were ready and queue barriers were used at the Apple Store in Shanghai's Pudong New Area Friday to ensure order as the new iPad hit the shelves on the Chinese mainland.
However, the precautionary measures seemed unnecessary as no problems were reported, unlike past Apple product launches in which unruly buyers and scalpers created chaotic scenes.
Apple China described the launch as a "well organized" activity enabled by an online reservation system, which was introduced for the first time on the mainland.
The quiet debut was also in part due to the four-month delay of sales on the mainland. Before its release, Apple agreed to pay Shenzhen-based Proview US$60 million to settle a trademark dispute over the iPad on the mainland.
From 8am to 9am, only about 100 customers with reservation slips, which included set pick-up times, arrived at the store to buy the new iPad.
A man in his 30s, surnamed Sun, was the first buyer at the store. He chose a white 16GB model.
The new iPad starts at 3,688 yuan (US$585) for the 16GB model and rises to 6,288 yuan for the 64GB version.
"Now I can surf the web while lying in bed with this new iPad," said Sun, who is an IT engineer working in Pudong. "It was easy to make an online reservation."
Sun said he has not used an iPad before. He came to the store at 7am and waited for about one hour before making his purchase.
Sun's case was in stark contrast with previous iPad and iPhone launches on the mainland, when the first buyers often had to camp outside the store overnight to pick up a newly released Apple product.
In January, Apple stopped selling the iPhone 4S in stores after unruly customers led police to seal off part of a mall in Beijing's Sanlitun shopping district.
According to the company's new system, consumers can make an online reservation in the morning and pick up their iPad in Apple Stores, three in Shanghai and two in Beijing, the next day.
Thanks to booming iPad and iPhone sales, China is Apple's second-biggest regional market, which contributes 20 percent of its global revenue.
By the end of 2011, iPad had a 72 percent share of the tablet computer market in China, according to Analysys International, a Beijing-based research firm.
Shanghai buyers could also make online reservations for the new tablet computer at Apple Stores on Huaihai Road M. and Nanjing Road E., in addition to the Pudong store.
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