Apple makes a low-key launch of its latest iPad in China

After a chaotic situation caused by the launch of Apple's iPhone 4S last January in China, Apple seems to have learned its lesson, as it  has staged a low-key launch of its latest iPad in China on Friday (20th July).


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.

Chaotic situation, last Jan.

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. 

The scene on Friday.

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.