Malaysian Mall Mobbed Over $50 iPhone Offer, Cancels Sale Event

Just to prove that there is still a rabid Apple fan base out there that is only being held back by the expensive prices of iPhone devices, an Apple reseller in Malaysia recently had to cancel its sale event after the mall was flooded with thousands of customers who wanted to avail of the $50 offer for only 10 iPhone 5S units.

The reseller in question is Switch, The Verge reports, which recently promoted a sales event that was intended to clear out its remaining stock of older Apple products. Many of the units being offered are apparently for demonstration, which included iPhone models from 5S to 7, and even some iPad Minis and Pros.

The particular offer that grabbed the most attention, however, was the $50 iPhone 5S, of which there were only 10 units available. The campaign seems to have proven too successful, though, as over 11,000 people showed up to get their hands on the device.

Faced with the prospect of having to turn away the other potentially 10,990 who were also lining up to avail themselves of the offer, the retailer simply opted to cancel the event. It’s a shame too because there were some really good deals with regards to the other devices.

iPad Air 2 tablets with internal storage of 16GB were up for grabs at only $77, for example. A 2011 64GB MacBook Air was also on offer for $128.

As 9to5Mac notes, the 11,000 number might have been a bit inflated since who would bother counting that many people with that kind of specificity? Regardless, the crowd was big enough to actually present a security issue for the retailer and the mall itself, which would have posed a huge problem for everyone involved. Canceling the event was definitely the right move here, especially when dealing with a mob with high expectations.