Big rig carrying PlayBooks swiped in Indiana

RIM's slow recovery for the BlackBerry PlayBook was soured Friday after reports that a big rig carrying $1.7 million of the tablets was stolen. A cargo driver in Indiana had his vehicle taken while he had stopped for food shortly off of Interstate 69. The 22 pallets of units were supposed to be going to RIM's home province of Ontario, the Herald Bulletin said, presumably to refill stock now that the price-cut PlayBook was selling at a quicker pace.

Whether or not the truck will be recovered isn't known, but is doubtful. The shipment didn't have tracking, leaving both RIM and the intended shop without a way to easily find out where the PlayBooks went.

The FBI's Interstate Theft Task Force was on the case and heard the tablets might go to Miami, but they didn't have any suspects.

RIM hit a low point of just 150,000 PlayBooks shipped in its quarter ended in November after building a large stockpile of models it couldn't sell at the original $499 and even a discounted $299 price. The $1.7 million won't have the largest impact, but it will compound the hundreds of millions in inventory write-offs from earlier this month.

By Electronista Staff