TheStreet

Tech Trends

Despite initial reaction that Apple may have "screwed the pooch" on the iPhone 4S China launch, it's just another verification of the Apple craze and marketing machine.

There are news stories this morning that Apple had to actually suspend sales at the flagship store in Beijing earlier this morning, and the crowd turned ugly, throwing, of all things, eggs.

Apple said that it was suspending sales of all iPhones at all of its 5 mainland China stores for safety reasons, but you can still get them online, through China Unicom (so far Apple's only official partner in China), and other authorized resellers.

Chinese demand for all things Apple is so hot, that migrant workers were actually promised to be paid for waiting on line for scalpers. A lot of them did not receive compensation because they did not get the phones, but it just shows that demand in China is greater than it is in the U.S. for Apple products. At the other four stores in China, the sales went smoothly and sold out so quickly, that plenty of would-be buyers left empty handed.  Despite having just five stores in mainland China, the market is Apple's fastest growing, and accounts for a significan chunk of Apple revenues, around 16% to be exact.

Apple is working on expanding its presence in China, and has been in talks with China Mobile (China's largest cell phone company), so the growth there is only in the very beginning stages.The only mistake Apple has is that it can't produce the products fast enough to keep up with demand.  That is a problem every business would love to have.

So no, Apple didn't screw up in China. If anything, it just shows that everyone want to "think different" and the masses are willing to go nuts to try and do so.