When I first heard of all the craziness that went on in Jakarta, Indonesia BlackBerry Bold 9790 launch I thought it sounded kind of sensationalist but it keeps on getting more interesting. In case you didn’t hear RIM launched the BlackBerry Bold 9790 in Jakarta last week with a sale offering 50% off (about $250 sale price) for the first 1,000 people to purchase the device. This had people lining around the store from the day before. Originally organizers told those waiting that they would need a red bracelet from management to purchase the device but protestors rioted when they realized that the store was no longer enforcing the rule.
The crowd then, I kid you not, surged through the protective barrier to stampede the store crushing many people one the way in to buy the discounted BlackBerrys. It looks like up to 90 people feinted and many were sadly injured. Three even had fractured or broken bones. Still this is the first time I have ever heard of such a thing happening at a BlackBerry sale event.
According to the Jakarta Globe (thanks Ron Ish) The Jakarta police have named one of the event organizers as a suspect:
“We have charged [the suspect] with violating Article 360 of the Criminal Code, for negligence which resulted in severe injuries,” the police chief said. “The suspect did not estimate how many people would attend and did not prepare adequate security to anticipate potential problems”
They also seem to be questioning BlackBerry officials on how they did not provide enough security. Check out the details here and here from the Jakarta Globe.
