iScalp, iQueue, iScuffle

Thousands of people were paid to line up at Beijing's two Apple Stores at Sanlitun and Xidan for a buy-off of the iPhone 4S, which are launched on the Chinese mainland this morning.

Scalpers, people hired by scalpers and even some who claim to be Apple employees, started gathering at the two Apple stores as early as 5 pm yesterday, ready for the night-long wait until the stores began to release the iPhone 4S at 7 am today.

A Global Times reporter found hundreds of people had already gathered at the Sanlitun Apple Store at 7:30 pm yesterday. A few police officers stood by with police dogs, watching some people set up chairs outside for dinner. Some of them tried to bring their seats inside the store for better positions but were kicked out by store employees, according to pictures from Web users who were tweeting about their experience waiting at Sanlitun for the launch.

"We have security guards to maintain the line in order when we start the launch tomorrow, and they'll manage those who start fights," said one store employee at Sanlitun, referring to reports of fights between two groups of scalpers last weekend.

Ning Weiping, an employee with Jones Lang LaSalle, the property management company overseeing the Village, said they had not made any emergency plans for possible disorder because the store did not inform them of the new launch.

"They'll have to pay extra money if they want us to enhance security and management," he said, "and normally the police wouldn't have many precautions either." The Apple store does not pay the police for the extra security service so the officers will not step in unless there are reports about crimes or disorderly behavior, Ning said.

"I don't know whether we'll have enough officers tonight to watch out for incidents at the store," an officer with the Sanlitun police station told the Global Times yesterday evening.

It is unclear how many of the new iPhones are available for the morning's launch, but they are so popular that people could fail to get one even if they started waiting in the afternoon, with enthusiastic customers and countless scalpers, said the store's hotline operator.

Quite a few online ads hiring people for the lineup could be found on forums and websites. Working hours started around 8 or 9 pm yesterday to this morning, and the pay is 100 yuan ($16) per person plus dinner, according to the posts.

"We've hired thousands of people already, but the job is still open," said a man who posted an ad on ganji.com, surnamed Wei.

"You can bring as many people as you want, and I'll give you a 20-yuan commission for each one you bring," said Wei when the Global Times posed as a job applicant on the phone. Wei said he was from a cell phone store and they will sell the phones they buy at higher prices.

Another woman who posted online ads claimed she was an Apple store employee, and her team would queue at the Apple store at Xidan.

"More than one thousand people have signed up and more are welcome," said the woman surnamed Zhao. Her team members will take shifts in the line, and they have hired their own security guards to make sure others do not cut in their line.

However, store employees at Sanlitun said it is impossible Apple employees would hire a group of people for a massive purchase.

"It's for an internal sales promotion," Zhao claimed when asked why Apple would hire people to line up for their own products. Before they start queuing, their "bosses" call a meeting and make remarks about their evening campaign, she said.

"Come again after the first launch, or you can come at 3 am and give it a try," said Sun Bing, a scalper waiting at Sanlitun yesterday. The phones will sell like hotcakes and the thousands of scalpers will make sure few genuine customers will get one, he said.