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.
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