Apple’s only Berlin store — — located on the city’s lengthy Kurfuerstendamm shopping avenue — has been broken into, with thieves crashing a stolen Opel Corsa through the attractively minimalist (but sadly overly vulnerable) plate glass entrance way this morning, and making off with MacBooks, iPads and iPhones.
Police have noted that the responsible party is is thought to be the same group behind six similar break-ins this year.
“These are not amateurs,” Berlin police department spokesman Thomas Neuendorf noted. “We suspect that we’re dealing with a gang.”
Despite the break-in, things could have been far worse for Apple. A December 9 burglary in Berlin’s Alexa shopping mall saw thieves steal around 100,000 euros ($137,000) of electronics goods. Meanwhile last year an iPad heist at New York’s JFK airport led to the theft of $1.5 million worth of iPad minis.
Staff at the Berlin Apple Store (which opened in May, following more than two years of planning) had locked away their inventory securely overnight — so that thieves were only able to leave with around 20 display pieces.
Let’s hope someone in the store remembered to activate the Find My iOS device functions.
Source: Bloomberg
