(Credit: Francis Bea/CNET)For the first time, China was added to the prestigious lineup of a total of eight first-tier cities that received the first shipment of Apple's new iPads on November 1. Fortunately, the doors opened with no incidence.
Business went about as usual at the Beijing Sanlitun Apple Store, with the brief exception of those who queued up early simply to be among the first to get their hands on the new device -- in time for an early opening for only for pre-order patrons at 8 a.m. local time. For the sake of keeping up the Apple geek pride, some early birds at the Wangfujing Apple retail store stood in line as early as 6.30 a.m.
Doors to everyone else opened by 10 a.m. and the dust settled shortly within the hour with little fanfare. A small trickle of walk-in customers looking to get their hands on the device were pointed to a sign that requested buyers to check out Apple's China site, which noted that second preorders would start November 2 at 6 a.m.
(Credit: Francis Bea/CNET)However, don't take this to mean the tablet suffers from low demand, as appearances may be deceiving. Retail sales at launch have stopped starting with the iPhone 5S and 5C, after Beijing's Sanlitun retail store was the victim of an egging that ended up abruptly halting sales of the iPhone 4S at the time. To prevent such problems, the iPad Air was made available only for pre-purchase and pickup at Beijing retail stores.
Asked how many devices were sold, Apple employees at the stores declined comment. They were also unable to say when Apple would stop requiring online preorders and begin selling the device in stores.
(Credit: Francis Bea/CNET)The iPad mini (Retina) wasn't available for immediate purchase, but the device will be available in China sometime later in November.
The iPad Air (Wi-Fi model), fitted with an A7 processor, retails for between 3,588 (US$589) and 5,688 yuan (US$933), depending on the storage capacity. These are hefty price tags in a country where affordable devices are plentiful and entry-level employees have a starting salary of just 3,000- to 5,000 yuan.
[h=5]About the author[/h]Francis Bea is a technology writer who has written about social media, mobile startups, and the latest tech trends in China for Digital Trends and TheNextWeb. When Francis isn't writing about tech, you'll find him musing about the mobile ad industry by day for AppFlood, a mobile advertising network, and tinkering with startup ideas by night. Francis Bea is a member of CNET Asia regional blogger network and is not an employee of CNET Asia.
Francis Bea, Regional blogger
