Here's an iPhone 5 first Apple would be happier without

Burglars in Japan were the first to get the new iPhone after breaking into several stores before they opened.

Shara Tibken Former managing editor

Shara Tibken was a managing editor at CNET News, overseeing a team covering tech policy, EU tech, mobile and the digital divide. She previously covered mobile as a senior reporter at CNET and also wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. Shara is a native Midwesterner who still prefers "pop" over "soda."

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Shara Tibken

Sept. 21, 2012 1:12 p.m. PT

Prior to the door opening at the Cube at 8 a.m. ET in NYC, the line wound all the way down 58th Street. What you're seeing here is the line extending around the block up Madison Avenue around 8:45 a.m. ET. Greg Sandoval/CNET

Some people in Japan found a way around the endless lines for the iPhone 5. They just broke in and took them early.

Thieves took about 200 devices from three phone retailer stores in Osaka in the early hours before the launch, according to the Wall Street Journal. Seventy-five iPhone 5s were taken from a couple of KDDI "au" brand shops, while 116 were stolen from a Softbank store.

What's pretty impressive is how quickly the thieves were in and out. The WSJ is reporting all devices in the Softbank location were nabbed from a locked back room within a four minute span starting at 4:24 a.m.

The thefts are still under investigation, according to the report.

Japan wasn't the only place to see iPhone 5 burglaries. About 250 handsets were stolen from an O2 store in London, as well.

Apple's new product launches are often met with long lines and a mild amount of pandemonium. The latest iPhone is expected to set new sales records, with Apple and AT&T already noting presales were at an all-time high. Ship dates have already been delayed by weeks, and some stores are running out of inventory.