An Apple store in Paris was the target of a New Year's Eve armed robbery. An estimated £1m of fruit-themed products were taken, in particular, iPhones and iPads.
In an undoubtedly calculated move, the robbery took place a few hours after closing time on New Years Eve when local police were busy controlling crowds of celebrators. Although the thieves were armed with handguns, only one security guard was "lightly injured", the Daily Mail reports.
A spokesperson told French newspaper Le Parisien that the thieves came "well prepared", adding, "As the majority of police were busy watching the Champs Elysées, the robbers took advantage of this opportunity." Although an official amount is unknown, it's estimated that the total loss is around £1m made up primarily of products, rather than cash.
It's not the first time an Apple store has been the focus of a robbery -- 250 iPhone 5s were stolen by an employee and London's Covent Garden store was the victim of a smash and grab. As they're such hot products, iPhones and iPads will always be the target of thefts, so it's always worth buying your phones from trusted sources -- or from the Apple store -- rather than from eBay or "that guy in the pub".
French police are currently examining CCTV footage to identify the criminals and witnesses are being questioned.
What do you think to the robbery? Did the thieves choose their target wisely, or would the Samsung store down the road have been the better option? Pop your thoughts in the comments below or over on our Facebook page.
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Comments 22
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Patrick Cantellow 2 January, 2013 11:09
Putting the prices down will make them look more cheap so not as appealing.
Patrick Cantellow 2 January, 2013 11:10
*to the robbers but very appealing to the good public
Prince_Raj 2 January, 2013 11:17
Well why doesn't this surprise me, you sure that the robbers are not employees of Apple? Lets not forget that the IMEI on these phones can easily be barred & traced. Are you telling me Apple do not have the codes to bar phones & trace their stock.
This is just another story for people to get brainwashed with Apple rubbish products. All hail Samsung who care about equality & children not working in their factories unlike Rotten Apple.
flyingacedude 2 January, 2013 11:40
Samsung products are made by Foxconn too Prince_Raj, they're no more ethical than Apple. I don't know what that has to do with a store robbery though?
As for 'brainwashing' with Apple products, would you rather they didn't report anything on Apple? As a tech site I can see why they publish stories about the world's biggest tech company.
Peter Hudson 2 January, 2013 11:50
Weren't Samsung in trouble recently for using Child labourers in their production facilities.
CaptainPicard 2 January, 2013 11:55
It sounds like an inside job, the robbers knew that the store was vulnerable at a certain time. Android dominates the French and German smartphone market, so they will try to head to the US, where Apple dominates.
anonymous 2 January, 2013 16:09
aaasaa-1144@hotmail.com
anonymous 2 January, 2013 16:14
aaasaa-1144@hotmail.com
anonymous 2 January, 2013 19:29
£1 million worth of products? So that would be 2 Macbooks then?
anonymous 2 January, 2013 19:55
@flyingacedude Samsung are more ethical than apple!
flyingacedude 2 January, 2013 20:37
@anonymous 2 January, 2013 19:55
No they aren't. They both massive faceless organisations driving only by profits and growth. Neither of them would care if you died tomorrow, neither of them have ethics worth defending.
anonymous 2 January, 2013 23:49
Samsung are a totally evil and corrupt organisation. Read up on it and find out for yourself.
They are far from ethical and the rot is at the very top with the top members of the family having been found guilty of corruption, embezzlement of funds, money laundering etc.
They then bought off the Korean courts and some politicians asnd pardons and reduced sentences were dished out with little explanation.
Is it any wonder that a company headed by a family like that is also embroiled in legal cases where they are alledged to have carried out patent theft?
The comment above about Samsung also using the same Foxconn factories is absolutely true.
The Foxconn factories that make Apple products also manufacture Dell, HP, Intel, Samsung and a whole load of other companies products.
The child labour was found at Samsungs own Chinese factories and at those of some of its other Chinese suppliers. Not at Foxconn.
anonymous 3 January, 2013 01:48
@anonymous 23:49 so really why are samsung so worse than others? I'd say foxconn are the ones that need sorting out! And all these people complaining should really stop or stop buying the products! Everyone's guilty here including the consumer.
Meleagru 3 January, 2013 05:07
I think there is a lot of complacency from Apple about stolen phones, in fact that's the case for the whole mobile industry. If they actually bothered, phone thieves could be tracked in a matter of hours and apprehended easily. The point is that there is more money to be made by closing a blind eye. The bad part is when people get hurt in individual robberies, stores are insured and generally no one acts a hero because of that.
anonymous 3 January, 2013 10:17
@anonymous 3 January, 2013 01:48
"I'd say foxconn are the ones that need sorting out! "
Foxconn (who are Taiwanese by the way and not mainland Chinese, but have factories there) are no different to almost every other manufacturing company in China. If anything, conditions there are at the better end of the scale.
If you want examples of really poor working conditions, look at their chemical and heavy industry, where H&S are almost non-existant and the workplace can be a very dangerous environment.
CaptainPicard 3 January, 2013 11:18
Apple and Samsung are 2 of the world's biggest and most profitable tech manufacturers, and both companies can do more for the welfare of staff in China or that work for Foxconn. Apple is singled out by many people because it has got tens of billions in cash reserve and makes more money than Samsung, and even the PC industry combined.
I'm not trying to justify what these companies are doing, but lots of things in life are unethical. The petrol people buy are topping up dictatorships in the Middle East. The government gave our tax money to criminal bankers and spends billions invading other countries for some reason. What Apple and Samsung are doing is bad, but there are other worser unethical stuff happening in the world.
anonymous 3 January, 2013 15:29
Just goes to show that regardless of what the news title, some people will never fail to start their childish Apple Vs Samsung debate. Its appalling how the writer of this news article decides to ask if a "Samsung store down the road would've been a better option?'. No store should be robbed, regardless of what they do ethically as a business. It is extremely childish and cheeky of the person to ask the question if Samsung would've been a better option, just to gain some heated debate in the comments from Apple and Android fanboys. This is the last time I'm bothering to visit CNET.co.uk.
Damien2501 3 January, 2013 16:00
^ Bye Bye. Its called humour, the editor was joking. Frankly, these childish debates keep CNET alive, Techradar is dead, hardly anyone comments their.
anonymous 4 January, 2013 17:06
Apple= tax avoidance
GDP1GlenG 5 January, 2013 05:33
NNaaaah.
It was just another "ITALIAN JOB"
GDP1GlenG 5 January, 2013 05:39
Maybe Apple organised it themselves as a Low-Cost Publicity Exercise.
GDP1GlenG 5 January, 2013 05:43
Or it could have been the newly-formed, and highly-feared SNRS
"SAMSUNG NINJA REVENGE SQUAD"