Smartphones are probably has the highest rate of theft in public places of all electronic devices and according to Reuters, as published by Times, the city officials of San Francisco and New York, recently announced in a study that since Apple introduced the new ‘kill switch‘ feature in their IPhone in 2013, the rate of theft of smartphone have been reduced from 40% to 25%, a statistic that is quite substantial considering our hand held device is the most sought after item among thieves. The figures for lost phone in London have halved during the same period under study.
The feature enabled the owner to power down their phone once it is stolen, rendering the phone unusable to the thieves, while also preventing them from selling it into the black market. The black market for used phones remain one of the most lucrative markets in the third world countries in Asia and Africa where cheap but compatible quality phones are available.
The numbers mark a continuous improvement over figures reported last June, as “kill switches” became a standard feature on new phones. Apple, AT&T, Google, Nokia and Samsung have signed an agreement to make anti-theft switches available on all phones manufactured after July 2015.
Lawmakers in California have introduced bills to smartphone manufacturers and dealers to make the ‘kill switch‘ mandatory to disincentive the theft of phones, where there is already a thriving market for stolen device in America.
