Thieves swipe truckload of PlayBooks

Hot property hits the road.

A truck containing 22 pallets of Research in Motion's BlackBerry PlayBooks was stolen last Thursday while its driver stopped to take a shower.

The stolen cargo, worth an estimated US$1.7 million, was headed for RIM's Ontario headquarters in Canada from the Indiana distribution centre of logistics company BrightPoint, according to Associated Press.    

The shipment did not have any tracking devices, but an officer investigating the theft reported that stolen goods of this type usually end up in the Miami area. 

It's unclear exactly how many devices have gone missing, however one estimate on the Crackberry forums placed it just over 3000 devices while others put it closer to 5000.   

The theft occurred the day RIM reported its third quarter shipment figures of 150,000, which brought its total shipments since the PlayBook's launch to 800,000. 

The company has offered significant discounts in recent months to clear out its inventory after lower-than-expected sales.