“To you, your new iPhone 6 looks like a gleaming sheet of technological magic — but to a thief, it looks like a shiny, worthless brick,” Ellen Huet reports for Forbes.
“That’s because every iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus comes with Activation Lock — Apple’s ‘kill switch’ — on by default. Every phone, if stolen, can be wiped remotely and ‘bricked,’ which makes it worth almost nothing to thieves, who usually want to re-sell stolen phones quickly for profit,” Huet reports. “When Activation Lock is on, an AppleID and password are required to turn off Find My iPhone, sign out of iCloud, or erase and reactivate a stolen phone.”
“The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are the first new smartphones to have the kill switch on by default. Because iPhones are the most commonly stolen smartphone — law enforcement have dubbed iPhone robberies ‘apple picking’ — any reason for thieves to believe their targets are likely to have phones with kill switches should lead to a drop in crime,” Huet reports. “In New York City, iPhone thefts and robberies dropped 29 and 19 percent in early 2014, while Samsung phones became attractive new targets. San Francisco and London also saw double-digit percent drops in iPhone thefts after an opt-in kill switch was offered.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Ha, now even the criminals are settling for iPhone knockoffs!
Imagine, thieves stealing a stolen product designed by thieves! You know what that is? An infinite loop of karma.
And, yes, here’s yet another reason atop a mountain of reasons for not settling for less than the best. With Apple’s all new, 64-bit smartphones, the gorgeous 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the stunning 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, there’s never been a better time to stop settling for chintzy, risky imitations and make the move to the real thing!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” and “WetFX” for the heads up.]
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