NEW YORK: The significant decrease has occurred in smartphone thefts since the implementation of kill switch technology is no coincidence. A few years ago apex smartphones were the major lure for thieves. They would steal those beautiful and obviously costly devices and make a quick kick by selling them to unsuspecting individuals in far off places.
The owners of those devices that had spent hundreds of dollars to buy them despite all their efforts could do precious little. A smartphone user in United States could do little if the device was sold in Iran or even in China or India. But things have changed pretty fast.
And those beautiful devices seem to have lost their lure for those thieves due to technical marvels. Kill switches are killing their dream of making a quick buck from snatching and selling them off. This is more true in the case of iPhones and other high end devices.
There is no denying the fact that if an owner cannot find his handset back he has an option to destroy it from far off places too. Kill switch can be actually remotely activated by the owner of a stolen or misplaced smartphone. Upon being flicked on, the kill switch wipes the device in question free of user data. But that’s not the feature which is causing an increasing number of thieves to avoid lifting handsets.
The best aspect of the Kill Switch is the fact that it destroys or actually bricks the handset and the thief or the new owner cannot use the handset anymore. It loses its value and its zero resale value in the smartphone market means it’s only good for scrapping. PCWorld reports that in San Francisco, the theft of handsets dropped by an encouraging 27 percent between 2013 and 2014.
Cupertino based Apple seems to have taken the lead in this respect. To be true it was then the first company to add a kill switch — called an Activation Lock — in September 2013 with iOS 7. Now the two latest versions of iPhone have it and anyone can use it after being sure that his or her device has been stole. Apple was followed by the biggest smartphone maker Samsung Electronics in April last year. “The significant decrease in smartphone thefts since the implementation of kill-switch technology is no coincidence,” New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said in the press release. “Restricting the marketability of stolen cell phones and electronic devices has a direct correlation to a reduction of associated crimes and violence
