According to a report released by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, there has been a marked decrease in the amount of iPhones stolen in the city since Apple incorporated a “kill switch.” This makes it harder for criminals to turn off the “Find my iPhone” feature or erase data. And it’s working:
In New York City, robberies of Apple products fell 19 percent while grand larcenies dropped 29 percent in the first five months of 2014 compared with a year earlier, according to the report. Robberies and grand larcenies involving a Samsung smartphone, which didn’t have a kill switch during much of that time, rose more than 40 percent. Samsung introduced a kill switch in April.
Google and Microsoft plan on doing the same with their operating systems, which along with Apple, will cover just about everyone. “The three systems – Android, iOS, and Windows Phone – are used in 97 percent of smartphones in the U.S.,” reports the AP.
(Photo: @Ed Yourdon)
