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It’s currently far too easy for thieves to sell a stolen Apple Watch

“Here’s the sad truth: the very expensive Apple Watch is now also the easiest Apple gadget to steal,” Chris Welch reports for The Verge.

MacDailyNews Take: Something’s sad about that intro, but it certainly isn’t the truth. If something starting at $349 is “very expensive,” we’d hate to see how Welch would characterize our 128GB iPhone 6 Pluses. How about “potentially very expensive” instead? After all, the vast majority of Apple Watches sold will be $349-$399 Apple Watch Sport models.

“For Apple’s smartwatch, there is no such thing as Activation Lock, the anti-theft measure that makes stolen iPhones useless to thieves,” Welch reports. “The Apple Watch doesn’t have Activation Lock or any equivalent designed for a wrist-worn device. Nor can you locate it with Apple’s “Find My iPhone” app, which can track the last known whereabouts of your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or even a Mac. That second part makes sense since the Apple Watch doesn’t have a GPS chip inside. But the smartwatch can connect to known Wi-Fi networks, so theoretically Apple could offer some idea of where it last held an internet connection, even if there’s no way to guarantee that’s where your Watch stayed. As of now, the option’s just not there. Your Watch can help find your phone, but nothing exists to help recover the Watch.”

Apple Watch’s Passcode screen
“With the product being so new, there haven’t been many headlines about Apple Watch muggings or ugly theft incidents yet, and hopefully there won’t be. But take a look at Craigslist or eBay, and you’ll see Apple’s smartwatch selling for way above its retail value,” Welch reports. “For thieves, the temptation is there. Apple can play a huge part in dissuading them by making sure your Watch stays yours — or at least rendering it useless to anyone else.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote yesterday: “We have high hopes for Watch OS 1.1.”

Related article:
Apple Watch lacks necessary security features to dissuade theft – May 13, 2015

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