Free Republic

Apple’s strategy of fanning Chinese consumers’ desire for its iconic gadgets has backfired as a riot at its flagship store in Beijing prompted police action. The company stopped sales of the iPhone 4S in its shops in China on Friday and the Apple store in the Sanlitun district in central Beijing stayed closed after a crowd waiting to buy the model pelted the shop with eggs and started fighting with security guards.

When Apple launched the iPhone 4S instead of the iPhone 5 last week, I initially thought it was a disappointment and a mistake. If Apple had launched the actual iPhone 5, I thought, they'd have sold more of them. And that's probably right. If Apple had launched a radically new iPhone 5, more of the folks who currently own iPhone 4s would have upgraded, so Apple would have sold some more 4S units. As it is, the iPhone 4S is likely to appeal primarily to iPhone 3G and 3GS owners, non-smartphone owners, and non-iPhone owners, most of whom (like me)...