China Says Hello to the iPad

Apple’s new iPad finally arrived at market in mainland China today, remarkably without incident.

Gone were the unruly crowds and egg-throwing scalpers that so disrupted the iPhone 4S launch at Apple’s Sanlitun store in Beijing that the company was forced to postpone it. Evidently, the presale reservation system Apple instituted following the Sanlitun incident was an effective deterrent to the long lines and rowdy crowds drawn by Apple launch events in the past.

Indeed, according to reports, roughly 40 customers lined up this morning outside the Sanlitun Apple store. And when it finally opened its doors, it did so without disturbances. The scene was similar at the Shanghai Lujiazui Apple Store. “I’m very surprised that there is no line,” one Shanghai Lujiazui customer told Reuters. “I thought there was going be a long line so I came over a bit earlier to pick it up.”