Cops seek clues to $1.7m tablet snatch

Thieves made away with $1.7m worth of RIM BlackBerry PlayBook tablets last week in Chesterfield, Indiana. The 7in tablets were being taken to Ontario, Canada from a warehouse and distribution facility in Plainfield, Indiana, local police said. The 22 pallets of kit were in the back of a lorry owned by Brightpoint, a company …

[Hardcastle the ancient]

That'll help cut inventory.

[JeevesMkII]

suspiciously helpful, those crims

Yeah, considering how hard it is to get rid of Playbooks by any other means, I'd suggest the police take a look at this insurance fraud angle.

[Ommerson]

Parallels

It strikes me that there are definite parallels between this theft and the Northern Bank raid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Bank_robbery) in Northern Ireland.

After the Northern Bank raid, the thieves were left with a van-load of cash that was practically worthless.

[Pete the not so great]

someone stole 1.7m playbooks?

Bet they can't sell them on

[Anonymous Coward]

That old chestnut eh?

The "high Value" goods were being driven from site to site. The driver pulls over for a "rest" and and hour later, it is gone. The lorry convenently had no traking and they have vanished with out a trace.

Cue insurance claim for high value goods...Nudge Nudge, say no more.

[mark 63]

bit of a funny market for a trucking company to aim at?

"a company that provides logistics services to the wireless industry."

Got wireless stuff? need it moving? call Brightpoint!

"Hello brightpoint? Can you move all these PC's upstate?"

"are they wireless?"

"no"

"well no , we dont move wired stuff, sorry"

[Peter Gordon]

Brightpoint offer much needed work

for lorry drivers suffering from a crippling fear of network cabling.

[Arrrggghh-otron]

Street value?

Was that the police estimate of street value?

I'd estimate about £20k unless the thieves install Cyanogen mod!

[tmTM]

Only way

RIM were ever going to shift them.

HP must be kicking themselves to have not thought of this ruse.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ontario, Canada

Being RIM's HQ of course. So maybe these were returns?

How convenient!

[JeffyPooh]

$1.7M,or perhaps $678k

The "$1.7M" demands further explanation. Is that figure based on the regular retail price of $499+ each, or the current sale price of $199+ each, or the actual build cost somewhere between the two?

[Anonymous Coward]

5200 tablets

Other reports were saying a total of 5200 playbooks were stolen, valuing each at around $327.

[Julian Taylor]

Wow, luck they renewed their theft insurance in time. It's a bad sign when even the rioters last August wouldn't touch your product.

[b166er]

Yeah, good luck with that insurance claim.

$1.7m in goods and no tracker, I reckon the insurance company will just chuckle.

[David Haworth]

best news for RIM yet!

claim on insurance, call them all sold, your bottom line has improved already!

[Peter Simpson 1]

Lacked tracking tech?

Company short of cash? Check. Insurance scam.

[Anonymous Coward]

(cough)insurance fraud(cough)

[Anonymous Coward]

$1.70 worth more like..

Really have RIM resorted to pay for gangs to steal them to ditch inventory.

Just unlock the bootloader so we can load Android on them if you are that desperate....

[dct]

In other news: RIM report a dramatic increase in their playbook user base...

[Allan 1]

I recon the thieves thought they were stealing iPads or Galaxy Tabs, and have now dumped them all in a landfill somewhere.

[Giles Jones]

They'll never be short of a tea tray in that house.

[Giles Jones]

They actually stand a chance of selling at £10 a pop.

[John McCallum]

Tracker

Hmmm they could not have known what was onboard or they would have waited for the UPS or Fed Ex truck.As for tracker that is the first question the Insurance Co. will ask,from personal experience of having a bike stolen.