On Friday, the iPad mini arrived in orderly fashion for the thriving Apple user base in China. With Apple having required Chinese customers to participate in an online lottery in advance of the iPad mini's arrival, there was no chaos or general retail insanity in China today. But among scalpers... well, that's a different story.
The popularity of the pint-sized iPad is driving scalpers mad. According to published reports out of China this morning, scalpers are going to great lengths to get their hands on the new tablet.
On Friday morning, Apple’s Sanlitun store opened to no crowds, but a large group of scalpers was standing a hop and skip from the store entrance collecting iPad Minis from Chinese customers in exchange for cash. Behind them, on a nearby bench, sat tall stacks of the devices.
As of this writing, it isn't clear what percentage of the Chinese launch inventory of iPad minis went to scalpers. But from the looks of it, these individuals got their hands on more than a few.
Source: WSJ
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