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Xperia Play US release date announced; shipment to New Zealand stolen (updated)

By | May 17, 2011, 7:59am PDT

Summary: In a rather odd turn of events, Vodafone New Zealand has admitted that an entire shipment of Xperia Play units has been stolen.

In a rather odd turn of events, Vodafone New Zealand has admitted that an entire shipment of Sony Ericsson Xperia Play units has been stolen.

According to the carrier’s official Twitter page, there has been a “major security breach” and the launch of the gaming handheld in New Zealand will have to be delayed. There have been no other official details at this time, including no word on just how many units were actually nabbed.

The Xperia Play, also known as the “PlayStation Phone,” has already faced setbacks in other parts of the world. The most obvious obstacle has been production delays in Japan for the Play, along with the Xperia Neo and Arc devices, due to the tragic events in March. Additionally, the Gingerbread-based handheld was pushed back in the United Kingdom already because of software problems.

While this might seem like a tiny matter in comparison to the global meltdown of the PlayStation Network in the last month, things still just keep getting worse and worse for Sony all around the world.

Nevertheless, there is one bit of positive news on the horizon. The Xperia Play will make it’s long awaited debut in the United States on May 26. Set to launch with Verizon Wireless, the gaming-focused smartphone will retail for $199.99 with the signing of a two-year service agreement. Hopefully those software bugs have been fixed…and none of the delivery crates suddenly go missing.

UPDATE: Apparently the Vodafone theft in New Zealand was a sham, and the company is actually responsible for the hoax. How bizarre.

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Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

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Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

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RE: Xperia Play US release date announced; shipment to New Zealand stolen
tringo007 28th Sep
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RE: Xperia Play US release date announced; shipment to New Zealand stolen
KBot 17th May 2011
These articles came at just the right time, I just got a txt from Verizon saying I'm eligable for a free smartphone upgrade, I know there have been issues with Sony, but that doesn't change that I like their games and Playstation products. I'm getting this phone, I just hope the OS gets upgrades and the hardware's good, not to mention the necessity of the battery being good.
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RE: Xperia Play US release date announced; shipment to New Zealand stolen
tringo007 28th Sep
Fantastic goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you are just too great. I really like what you've acquired here, really like what you are stating and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still take care of to keep it wise. I can not wait to read far more from you. This is actually a great website. apartments for rent in barcelona
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Did Henry Hill go to NZ in the Witness Protection Program?
matthew_maurice 17th May 2011
I guess they "just fell of the truck."
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RE: Xperia Play US release date announced; shipment to New Zealand stolen
jgm@... 17th May 2011
@matthew_maurice I used to be in logistics, and I'm having a bit of a hard time trying to figure out how the ENTIRE SHIPMENT disappeared. The only time I can think of a whole shipment being stolen was when someone with all the right PO numbers and such called a carrier and asked for a shipment of building materials be delivered to a different worksite. Even then, the truck driver felt something was odd and copied down the license plate numbers of the cars on site; this was good because this wasn't a valid change of delivery destination and the folks made off with the flooring tiles that were delivered. That had to be an inside job though since they had all the shipment data.

Cell phones are probably shipped shink-wrapped and palletized and should be delivered to a warehouse and from there to retail stores. I can't believe a shipping employee or warehouse employee would be so brazen and to "lose" what must be multiple pallets and then get them out of the warehouse. Even worse, I just realized these would have arrived by cargo container and might still be in the container! Maybe they were stolen in *customs* at the receiving port. That might make more sense. An inside job there; some doctored paperwork and the cargo container gets put right onto/into the getaway truck and driven away before anyone realizes anything.

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