Apple's Breaxit scandal: Frenchman smashes up €50,000 of iThings with his big metal balls

A French man has been charged after he stormed into an Apple store and smashed up iPhones and MacBooks using a metal ball that is more commonly used for the traditional game of pétanque. On Thursday, the 30-year-old marched into the Apple store located in Toison d'Or shopping Centre in Dijon carrying the steel ball in a gloved …

[JustNiz]

€50,000? Seems like a very unlikely large and all-too-convenient nice round number to ask for in court, rather than the actual value of a few already used iphones and laptops. I'm sure it includes a large private bonus oops I mean a small allowance to cover "miscellaneous administrative costs".

[Lord Elpuss]

Just from the video you can see that he smashed at least 25-odd iDevices, including iMacs and MacBooks. At the rate he was going, €50,000 is eminently reachable.

[JustNiz]

I counted 11 phones and one macbook. hardly 50,000 worth. 10,000 at most.

[JassMan]

They seem to be confusing "worth" with "retail value". Since they haven't been sold before destruction, the worth of the iphones is the factory door cost, plus transport charges, plus re-order effort. Since they leave the factory at about $16 and shipping cost is in the order of 10s of cents, there is no way he could have done 50,000 worth of damage. OK the macbooks etc., maybe cost 100 to 200 ex-factory but he still would have done more damage to the display cabinets.

Even though all the destryed iThings are velbon goods, the punters are just as happy to buy the next one off the production line. Its not like any of these overpriced pieces of tat are in anyway unique.

[Black Betty]

You broke it. You bought it. EOM

The post is required, and must contain letters.

[John Bailey]

Re: You broke it. You bought it. EOM

Don't know if French law is different, but in the UK, if you break it, you are liable only for the wholesale price. Not full marked retail price.

Shops are not allowed to profit from breakages. Only to recover costs.

[Hans 1]

1. el reg, the idiot filming this is apparently not a mate of the culprit, more of a customer, premeditation is obvious, nobody walks around with one pétanque ball.

2. Obviously, nobody knows how many he smashed, we can quite clearly hear alarms going off in the store before he smashed the first one.

[TeeCee]

....nobody walks around with one pétanque ball.

Except Hitler. There's a song you know...

[404]

'1. el reg, the idiot filming this is apparently not a mate of the culprit, more of a customer, premeditation is obvious, nobody walks around with one pétanque ball.'

There was no crime committed.

You see, this was street performance art and therefore cannot be questioned...

[Wilco]

I don't want to defend the apple tax, or journos using the full retail value of unsold goods, but 16 USD for an iphone is way off

.

According to this reasonably credible sounding thing

http://press.ihs.com/press-release/technology/iphone-7-materials-costs-higher-previous-versions-ihs-markit-teardown-revea

The bill of materials for an iPhone 7 is 225 USD.

To this you need to add manufacturing costs, packaging and shipping - maybe 25 USD

You should also allocate some portion of R&D, marketing and admin costs, Apple spends around 10B USD a year on R&D, amounting to 4% of revenue (234B USD), so we could estimate that around 30 USD of the 650 USD price of an iPhone is R&D.

If we allow similar amounts for marketing and admin, we get to around 100 USD total for overheads.

So my estimate of the cost of an iPhone to Apple is 350 USD, call it 350 euros.

So our lunatic froggy friend would need to smash 140 or so iphones to reach 50K euros - unlikely, though he did smash some macbooks and imacs too, which which will have increased his run rate

[Lord Elpuss]

"I counted 11 phones and one macbook. hardly 50,000 worth. 10,000 at most."

Then you weren't counting properly. There were a number of iMacs & Cinema Displays already broken in the background.

[snozdop]

The video shown here is only one part of a much longer video. He smashes many more devices and iMacs in the full video.

[Sil]

And the value of products that are exhibited in stores is much less than the value of new unopened ones.

[Destroy All Monsters]

But someone in China slaved over assembling them nevertheless...

[Phil Kingston]

They might be including lost sales due to (presumably) having to evacuate the store.

[Martin-73]

I only saw idevices being smashed

That would have increased their value, so what is the cause of this alleged 'cost' ?

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: I only saw idevices being smashed

How's your Samsung pocket warmer working out?

[Bloodbeastterror]

"sang froid"

We rosbifs have a word for this guy which both nations can easily understand - "imbecile"...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "sang froid"

We rosbifs have a word for this guy which both nations can easily understand - "understandable really"...

[ThomH]

Re: "sang froid"

I don't find it all that understandable — the world view that if I feel somebody has done me a wrong then that gives me licence blamelessly to do absolutely anything I want feels very juvenile to me. I hope they throw the book at him.

[nilfs2]

He did what Apple wants their customers do

Trash their iDevices and buy new ones, you know, since you can't fix iThings

[Doctor Syntax]

Dijon

The staff don't seem to have been as keen as mustard to stop him..

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dijon

I'm not surprised - a nutter clutching a solid steel pétanque ball, and clearly happy to use it, is not someone your average shop assistant can safely "have a go" against.

[Velv]

Re: Dijon

Standard policy for most retail environments.

Staff are there to service the customer, not to tackle violent idiots. Phone the Police, stand back and watch, take notes, be a witness.

Goods after all are just inanimate things that can be replaced. People not so much.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dijon

Even if you fancied being heroic, there's not much in an istore you can get a swing with

[P. Lee]

Re: Dijon

>Even if you fancied being heroic, there's not much in an istore you can get a swing with

Nip next door, grab a Note 7 and stuff it down his trousers.

[a_yank_lurker]

Re: Dijon

Also, damage and shop lifting will be covered by insurance. So risking your life for a monitor is not worth it. And as long as that is all he is doing stand back.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dijon

Mr. Orange: What happens if the manager won't let you break iThings?

Mr. White: When you're dealing with a store like this, they're insured up the ass. They're not supposed to give you any resistance whatsoever. If you get a customer, or an employee, who thinks he's Charles Bronson, take the butt of your gunpétanque ball and smash their nose in. Everybody jumps. He falls down screaming, blood squirts out of his nose, nobody says fucking shit after that. You might get some bitch talk shit to you, but give her a look like you're gonna smash her face next, watch her shut the fuck up. Now if it's a manager, that's a different story. Managers know better than to fuck around, so if you get one that's giving you static, he probably thinks he's a real cowboy, so you gotta break that son of a bitch in two. If you wanna know something and he won't tell you, cut off one of his fingers. The little one. Then tell him his thumb's next. After that he'll tell you if he wears ladies underweariWatch during sex. … I'm hungry. Let's get a taco.Big Macque

[Blofeld's Cat]

Hmm...

" ... stormed into an Apple store and smashed up iPhones and MacBooks using a metal ball ... accompanied by someone videoing the scene ..."

Well that's this year's Turner Prize sorted out.

[John Lilburne]

Should have done in a MS store 'cos as Emmeline Pankhurst explained "The smashing of windows is a time on honoured method of expressing displeasure ..." http://strikemag.org/the-argument-of-the-broken-window-pane/

[JohnG]

Like Kristallnacht?

[Destroy All Monsters]

There's nothing like a disgruntled stormtrooper.

[Anonymous Coward]

@JohnG

Like Kristallnacht?

Sorry mate TeeCee got in quickly and stole off with this thread's Godwin Award with a post showing somewhere up the page, about 22 hours before you.

But I tip my hat to you for your effort.

[OliP]

Bonkers yet satisfying

[Andrew Jones 2]

To be fair - he quite clearly told the guards that were holding him that he couldn't breathe and when they ignored him, THEN he put his hands around the guards throat - but not before complaining that he couldn't breathe. (Well according the video with English subtitles on it anyway)

[Anonymous Coward]

To be fair, they clearly weren't doing anything that would have actually impeded his breathing. It certainly didn't seem to affect his ability to struggle, or to run off when given half a chance. I thought the security guard was very restrained in the circumstances.

[Dr_N]

French private "security" guards don't have the right to search you or compel you to accompany them anywhere.

[Anonymous Coward]

But he was violent. So they did what they thought best. Though it may have been wrong at the time.

[bpfh]

They can compel

> French private "security" guards don't have the right to search you or compel you to accompany them anywhere.

No, but they will restrain you until the police turn up, then sort out the legalities later, and if they did stop you from / after commiting a crime, then they were helping to uphold the law and they won't have a blemish against their name.

Also, they can compel you to leave the property or refuse you access to a property - even a shopping mall - for example if you refuse to let them glance into your bags... Refuse to comply then you get nicked for trespassing!

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Lamb à la Dijonnaise

Obviously he is not a French Farmer, as I thought it was de rigueur of protests involving them for sheep to be burned

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Lamb à la Dijonnaise

No tractor parked over the door either.

[Rainer]

Re: Lamb à la Dijonnaise

You forgot the pig-blood and the liquid manure.

[Stretch]

I value the damage at €0. Also, does he need another to pay his bail?

[Richard Jones 1]

Now Watch EBay Sales Start

Slightly used iDevices, some cosmetic damage, sold as seen, but you know they are only to be looked at.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Smashy and Nicey

"He was accompanied by someone videoing the scene, "

[james 68]

Re: Smashy and Nicey

+1 for "...Maximum overdrive!!".

[Fruit and Nutcase]

No iWatches smashed?

Phones and MacBooks are mentioned, but no iWatches. Perhaps he of the opinion that they are not worth the effort

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: No iWatches smashed?

If you mean Apple Watch, then they are all displayed behind glass, so cannot just be picked up and smashed freely. He'd have to grab one out of a sales persons hand.

[james 68]

Re: No iWatches smashed?

Behind glass..... Solid steel ball..... You see where this is going right? No need to grab from a persons hand (who could well retaliate in the belief that they are being attacked), One swing, bye bye glass and he would have freely been able to smash as many as he liked.

I am of the opinion that he didn't think they were worth the (minimal) effort.

[allthecoolshortnamesweretaken]

Re: solid steel ball

No. Pétanque competition boules must meet specifications set by the FIPJP. They must be hollow and made of metal (usually steel) with a diameter between 70.5 and 80mm and a weight between 650 and 800g.

Leisure boules are boules that do not meet the FIPJP standards for competition boules, but are less expensive than competition boules and completely adequate for "backyard" games. Unlike competition boules, leisure boules are a "one size fits all" affair — they come in one weight and size.

[Anonymous Coward]

BREXIT??

Clickbait for all the sore vote losers to read another story and get "very, very ANGRY!!!!!!"

[P. Lee]

Re: BREXIT??

Its knowing they're foreign that makes them so mad!

The English, the English....

--Flanders & Swan

[JohnG]

This nutter claims to have been fleeced by the Apple store at the Golden Fleece shopping centre.

He is previously unknown to police,a 30 year old local man, unemployed and living alone. He was arrested Thursday and remained locked up through Friday and is under psychiatric assessment.

Penalties for this sort of offence could range from probation to two years in prison.

I doubt this episode will increase his chances of finding gainful employment or a girlfriend.

The guy who took the video was just some customer and found to have no connection with the nutter and his metal ball.

[Version 1.0]

For his next trick ...

Try that in a Samsung shop - perhaps on November 5th.

[Anonymous Coward]

I cried from my eyes

I love Apple things so I cried real tears from my eyes when I read this news.

I then noticed you'd nearly used the word 'Brexit' in the title so I cried real tears from my eyes again about the lost generation who might never get born because we betrayed them (although I didn't vote.)

I sent my bestie a heartie on my Apple Watch and we both cried from both of our eyes because it felt so right.

My bestie sent me a heartie back. We cried again.

I am crying now from my eyes as I type this.

I'm going to send Tim Cook a piece of toilet paper with tears from my eyes on it, if I can find out how to do so from my iPhone. Is this possible in iOS 10.0.2?

[I just wish to be anonymous.]

50K of reduced stock. That will reduce their tax bill.

Oh hang on....

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems everyone agrees the €50k figure is ridiculous. Hopefully the judge will the throw the case out based on this ignorant over estimation. And hopefully Apple will start abiding by the EU warranty rules this guy was fighting for.

[Rainer]

Do you also believe in the tooth-fairy?

[Rainer]

It actually made me a bit sad

Mostly for the Chinese workers who had to put these together in their 12+h-shifts.

[JeffyPoooh]

Yes, Apple Stores can be very frustrating places...

Apple has a bizarre and sometimes-inexplicable approach to retail.

But that doesn't justify violence.

[Snake]

A disturbing trend

What concerns me is the apparent premeditation, and more importantly therefore the true motive. He claims his actions were due to purchasing a faulty item but would he have vandalized the store if the video record was not being made?

In other words, was this just truly an opportunity for self-publicity, his 15 minutes of fame, that he simply could not resist?

And, if that is the case, can liberties be taken with said motive and wonder how much narcissism was truly involved in the decision-making process that led up to this rampage?

And I said "disturbing" because in the past few years vandalism is reaching a high, from UNESCO sites to natural wonders (the Oregon coastline and, last week, the Death Valley playa were attacked by vandals). I am personally beginning to feel that narcissism is being fed by the ability of individual persons to promote themselves, and their actions, far more easily than ever before (read: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter et al) and more people feel they can act out their personal wishes regardless of cost to others and expect adulation.

Don't mind me, maybe I'm just being grumpy?

[Destroy All Monsters]

Re: A disturbing trend

No, and shotguns are perfectly fine with dealing with these kinds of noisy "people".

Pollution of the gene pool with bad impulse control neurotics will not be tolerated.

Incidentally, this also seems what "Black Lives Matter" is all about. That and shopping w/o paying. And throwing reporters into fires.

[John Watts]

Re: A disturbing trend

What a load of twaddle.

[Nolveys]

They thought the excitement was over...

...but two hours later Steve Ballmer burst in and, without even realizing he was causing damage, caused €250,000 damage.

[Adam 1]

> the attacker put his hands around the throat of one of the guards

He's holding him wrong!

[John Crisp]

No such thing as bad news....

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

–Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Amazing this happens just as the i7 gets released. Apple must be getting desperate for publicity :-)

[jason 7]

Tsk tsk...

...Les Hipsteurs!

[Dick]

It's

a whole new ballgame!

[Anonymous Coward]

Just after the recording stopped

<<Qu'est ce que vous m'avez dit? Mon Galaxy Note Sept carbonisé n'est pas un produit Apple? Je vous demand pardon, Monsieur. Samsung? Pourriez-vous me diriger vers le magasin Samsung le plus proche? Au'voir.>>

[Frank N. Stein]

Look on the bright side. This episode of stupidity will keep him in jail and out of your path as a Supervisor or Boss on a Technical Job for which he clearly isn't the one.

[Anonymous Coward]

faulty

That happened to me once. They put an extra stick of ram in my new laptop wrong, messed it right up.

I went back to the shop, explained and they gave me new one. The end.

[Marco van de Voort]

Good business for apple

Chance to get the list value for show models.

[Nano nano]

He was beaten to it - by WIll It Blend ...

Nuff said.

[Chris Hunt]

Apple are suing him for breach of patent too

That petanque ball had rounded corners