Apple's latest iPad makes low-key debut in China

SHANGHAI: Apple Inc
staged a low-key launch of its latest iPad in China on Friday, free of
the chaotic scenes that plagued the tech darling's previous product
debuts in its most promising growth market.
The calm, orderly queues in Shanghai and Beijing came as a surprise to many Apple fans in China, who are used to standing overnight in snaking queues with scalpers to get their hands on the latest product.
"I'm
very surprised that there is no line. I thought there was going be a
long line so I came over a bit earlier to pick it up," said an IT
worker, Sun Xufei, who was the first in line of a small queue of around
20 people waiting outside the Shanghai Lujiazui Apple store.
The
launch of the latest iPad, which features a sharper display and better
camera than previous versions of the wildly popular tablet, comes weeks
after Apple paid $60 million to a Shenzhen-based company to settle a
trademark lawsuit over the iPad name.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] People queue up to buy the new iPad during its China launch at the Apple store in Shanghai July 20, 2012. REUTERS/Aly Song Apple
adopted an online reservation system that allowed it to control the
flow of people to its stores and avoid a repeat of the riotous iPhone
4S launch in January, when one of its flagship stores in Beijing was
pelted with eggs by scalpers who had turned rowdy.
"This method
is much better because everyone's time is precious," said a 33-year-old
entrepreneur who only give his last name and Zhong.
Apple has
two retail stores in Beijing, three in Shanghai, one in Hong Kong and a
network of authorized resellers. Chinese government officials said the
company is looking to open two more in the major cities of Chengdu and
Shenzhen.
Demand for Apple products is so high that many choose
to buy from unauthorized resellers who peddle smuggled goods or from
online stores that sell parallel imports.
China is a key growth area for Apple, and Chief Executive Tim Cook
has often said that the company has only scratched the surface in the
region. Sales in Greater China - mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan -
increased threefold to $7.9 billion in the second quarter ended on
March 31. - Reuters