Man swipes prototype phones from Sony Ericsson, is caught
By Donald Melanson 
posted Jan 14th 2009 6:01PM
posted Jan 14th 2009 6:01PM
Details are still a bit fuzzy on this one, but reports out of Sweden say that a 35-year-old man swiped a batch of prototype phones from Sony Ericsson's Lund offices on Monday or Tuesday and was then promptly arrested on Wednesday after police discovered the prototypes, along with a hundred other phones, at his home. According to Sony Ericsson, the man was not an employee but had a "working relationship" with the company, and apparently used a pass card to gain entry to the building. Police also found a laptop with some unspecified contents at the man's home, and say that the total value of the theft was about 750,000 kronor, or roughly $90,000.
[Image courtesy Skånskan.se, thanks Örjan]
[Image courtesy Skånskan.se, thanks Örjan]
So THAT's how prototype phones end up on eBay...
Hahaha I live in Lund. My friend's dad works there at SE and Thomas(my friend) always shows me pictures of funny phones with digits on them. What if it's his dad!?
Thats one cunning map
so he used a "35-year-old map" to find his way around the building? got-cha!
Dang, I got a 35 year old map to Silver Dollar City. Still no silver and still no dollars, but this is inspiring news.
Probably a map of China.
Holy crap... if Sweden has Walking/Talking Sentient Maps that steal phones... Maybe we should start worrying about them creating a robot army to take over the world...
With GPSs nowadays, the 35 year-old map had to resort to something. Especially in these hard economic times.
"working relationship" heh its wonderful how many things that can be.
Hmm I think I'll let my mind wander now
Uh oh. I wonder if this is Eldar Murtazin? Would explain his status as a consultant to the mobile industry that is able to leak phones continually. Guess we should watch what happens to Mobile-Review.
"...but reports out of Sweden say that a 35-year-old map swiped a batch of prototype phones from Sony Ericsson's Lund offices on Monday or Tuesday and was then promptly arrested on Wedneday after police discovered the prototypes."
Damn, that is one snappy map, especially for a 35-year old one.
It's so old, it still has the Soviet Union on it.
In former Soviet Union, map shows you!
Well while you engadget is busy deleting my comments. How many phones did he steal and I can't really think Phone companies will want them seeing as though most phones will be the same hardware.
swiper no swiping! come on now a map stealing a phone?
Dammit, you beat me to it!
Oh, so THAT'S what the little red minus box is for!
Hah, this shit is so common, i've heard that employees usually steal tons of thrown away prototypes from several sources.
I've even seen one myself, was a while back, but it was when cameraphones where making a breakthrough, and it was a ugly rounded thing.
Are you kidding? I don't know about you, but this is the first time I've heard of a map stealing phones. Map crime rates must be higher where you live
That last comment is what everyone is wishing about you.
Oh NO! Boy Genius is going to jail!!!
ROFL. I think it's Eldar Murtazin this time, not Boy Genius :P
Haha, that was my reaction too. :)
I think that the institution you live in is very progressive to allow you internet access however I do think that they need to monitor your medication a little more closely.
I say this as a long time reader of Engadget, having witnessed many of your crazy comments I think it is safe to say you may be suffering from OCAPD (Obsessive Compulsive Apple Product Disorder)
"750,000 kronor" sounds pretty awesome.
Yeah, kronor would be "crowns" in English, but it sounds better in Swedish.
Steve Jobs is 35?
Wait, I see what they did, they transposed the numbers.
35 year old MAP swiping protos from Sweden, the world is going bollocks
The map is not to blame. The changes in geography over the pasted 35 years destroyed its sense of self worth, and drove it to a life of crime. Truly the map is the victim.
@Plothole HAHA, surely lol
You spelled map wrong in the headline.
good catch! i can't believe the title wasn't correct. i'll understand if there are some typos in the story, but you can't have typos in the title of an article.
But does he own a blurry cam?
"Details are still a bit fuzzy [pictures] on this one"
I guess there is hope for me. I have problems typing most of the time, guess I can get a job here.
"Who is swiping? Oh my god, map is swiping!"
That seemingly harmless map of Helsinki the front desk received from Nokia the other day was a bit more than meets the eye.
Nokia in Stadi (Helsinki)? Wrong, Nokia is in Espoo, the city next door!
That's how desperate some people are to cut and paste.
Thats one smart map...;)
I bet it was someone from engadget, how else do u think they get their stories?
I bet it was sum1 from engadget, how else do u think they get their information?
However did that happen? I mean...'p' is waay over yonder from 'n'...
Now, in what geek's home would you NOT find a "laptop with some unspecified contents"? Isn't that kind of like saying "police also found toilet paper in his bathroom and electricity in his sockets" ;)
Lol you made me pee in my pants from laughing so hard. J/k but i did laugh really hard.
Probably just the media trying to hype up the story a bit.
If its contents are unspecified then he MIGHT have child porn on there!
What an asshole...
Didn't he know he had to post pictures of the prototypes to at least 100 gadget blogs *right* after he got home?
My sentiments exactly.
Selfish bastard deserved to be caught.
I work for a subsidiary of Sony Ericsson in Lund, but we got things more under control here.
The guy probably just stole some of the old prototypes they have lying around in bins there.
Blurry pics or it didn't happen.
Come on, you swipe hundreds of phones and no pics for the gadget blogs?
Not quite. The only good ones are the Japan-market ones.
I'm surprised a regular SIM card or unlock code isn't used to gain entry into SE's offices :) Pass card? How anti-phone :p
This working relationship talk is interesting. I wonder what he did. Obviously not intelligent enough to think he wouldn't get caught. Oh well.
Hi :)
Omg. Maybe my all previous M610i proto were from him ?
BR M.K