Burglars in Japan First to Get Hands on iPhone 5

A group of thieves in Japan got a jump start on nabbing Apple Inc AAPL +0.29%.’s iPhone 5 before anyone else in the world Friday morning.

At a time when thousands of eager Apple fans were already lined up outside outlets around the world, Osaka police said 191 of Apple’s latest must-have smartphone were stolen in the wee hours leading up to the official launch. As of Friday at noon, three stores were hit across Japan’s western metropolis in an unusual string of robberies targeting the hottest tech toy this fall.

Authorities said they discovered 33 iPhone 5’s were missing from one of KDDI Corp 9433.TO +0.52%.’s au-brand shops in Ibaraki city, a suburban nook in Osaka prefecture. The iPhone is available on KDDI’s au network, one of the two Japanese carriers that provides services to the U.S. giant’s sleek gadgets. The police went to check out the outlet after some nearby residents called a little before 3 a.m. saying they saw three men snooping around the store. The men and the phones remain at large. A police spokesman said there was no one lined up outside the store at the time of the robbery.

About two hours later, a Softbank Corp 9984.TO -0.47% store in the western district of Osaka city was wiped clean of its iPhone 5 stock. All 116 devices were stolen, including one store display. The police said they were taken from the locked backroom within a four minute span from 4:24 a.m. as shown on security camera footage. The video recording also showed there were three culprits, all likely to be male. The police said it is uncertain whether the robbery is related to the incident in Ibaraki, located about 20 minutes away by car. The store manager called the police at around 7:45 a.m. when he arrived at the store and discovered the lock to the store pried open. The police valued the stolen goods at ¥7.45 million. The store didn’t open on Friday.

A nearby au store was broken into at 2:30 a.m. where 42 iPhone 5’s were taken. Only two, which were packed elsewhere in the store, were left behind. The police said it is unclear whether any of the people behind the other two robberies were involved in this one. The authorities have yet to see the security footage so do not have an idea of who or how many suspects there may be.

The thefts are an unfamiliar sidebar accompanying the frenzied first hours when Apple’s latest product hit store shelves, which have previously run into technical glitches. But it’ll likely add to the supply stress. Apple said initial sales of the iPhone 5 set a new company record. Pre-orders on the first day topped 2 million units. Since then, Apple has said pre-order customers would have to wait up to one month for a new iPhone to ship.

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