Melee outside Beijing store leaves Apple egg-faced

At first there was a temptation to giggle about this story out of Beijing: Angry would-be customers pelted an Apple store with eggs after learning they wouldn’t be able to buy an iPhone 4S because Apple had decided that the throng outside their store posed a physical risk to employees.

Then we learned the near-riot had prompted Apple to suspend iPhone 4S sales at all five of its official retail outlets in China.

Then we see the pictures, which we’ve put together in this slideshow.

Although at least one woman was taken on a stretcher to an ambulance, there were no reports of serious injuries … which means giggling will no doubt continue unabated for a while.

The episode is also generating calls for Apple to rethink how it manages these ultra-popular product releases.

That would seem prudent, to say the least.

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