Apple on Monday unveiled a new iPhone feature it billed as a potent protection against thieves, seeking to stem a national crime wave focused on its ubiquitous smartphones......
According to the Huffington Post, the " activation lock" feature is designed to render a phone inoperable when a thief attempts to turn off another program that locates missing devices without first supplying an account password, according to Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering.
"We think it's going to be a really powerful theft deterrent," Federighi said Monday at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference.
Apple’s announcement came in the face of mounting pressure from law enforcement authorities grappling with an epidemic of street crime involving iPhones , iPads and other smartphones and tablet computers.
The new feature was publicized just days before representatives from Apple, Samsung, Google and Microsoft are due to meet with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, who have publicly criticized the tech companies for failing to deploy technology that may reduce the incentive for theft.
In a joint statement Monday, Schneiderman and Gascon said they were "appreciative of the gesture made by Apple to address smartphone theft," but declined to comment on the new feature "until we can understand its actual functionality."
Schneiderman and Gascon said they "look forward to having a substantive conversation" with Apple and other manufacturers on Thursday.
"We are hopeful that the cell phone industry will imbed persistent technology that is free to consumers that will make a phone inoperable once stolen, even if the device is off, the SIM card is removed or the phone is modified by a
thief to avoid detection," the prosecutors said.
thief to avoid detection," the prosecutors said.
About 1.6 million Americans had their smartphones stolen last year, according to Gascon. Approximately 40 percent of robberies in major cities now involve mobile devices, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Police across the country say Apple devices are the most popular target for thieves because they hold the greatest value on the black market.
Once stolen, many of these devices are distributed through a global network to buyers as far away as Hong Kong. Apple and other device manufacturers have come under pressure to add a feature that would give people the capability to render their phones inoperable after they are stolen, undercutting the value of a stolen phone.
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