With the much-awaited launch of the iphone5 in Japan, the honour of being among the first to get their hands on the iPhone 5 has gone a bit awkward as thieves in Japan broke into carrier stores and carted away over $100,000 worth of Apple’s latest smartphone. The Wall Street Journal reports that both
Softbank and KDDI’s au were the victims of
burglaries just hours before the iPhone 5 was
set to go on sale. Three separate incidents
across Osaka resulted in a total of 191
phones being lifted. Police estimated the largest heist, which saw 116 units nabbed
from Softbank, was worth an estimated 7.45
million yen ($95,000). It’s not clear whether the incidents were
connected, though proximity and timing makes
it possible that all three burglaries were
committed by the same perpetrators. The high value of Apple devices makes them
frequent targets of theft. Apple has had
difficulty with smash-and-grab burglaries
that take advantage of the glass doors in
many of its retail stores. One recent high-
profile incident involved a BMW SUV crashing through a storefront in Temecula, California. Friday morning’s burglaries do slightly mar the
launch of Apple’s new gadget, but expected
record sales should more than make up for
the unfortunate incidents. Apple pre-sold
more than 2 million iPhone 5 units in the first 24
hours of availability, and the company’s own estimates suggest new orders won’t be
shipped for 3-4 weeks. In nine countries around the world, legitimate
owners of the iPhone 5 will begin purchasing
the iPhone 5 on Friday. The Next Web obtained
two units for testing the new HD Voice
feature on the Telstra network in Australia.
Call quality was clearly better with the devices, though it could still stand for
improvement. Teardown experts’ iFixit also made their way
out to Australia to get early access to the
iPhone 5. After breaking down the handset,
they found it to be substantially more
repairable than previous versions of the
iPhone.
www.channelstv.com/home/2012/09/21/iphone-5-over-100000-stolen-in-japan-before-launch/

Will they be counted amongst the 2 million sold?