Apple iPhone thefts down 50% in London - How Activation Lock prevents Apple iPhone theft as CTIA moves towards Killswitch

Fans of my blog, stealing a smartphone or any Apple product is totally not cool. Or any other smartphone for that matter as noted in my blog article entitled “How smartphones are stolen and IMEI changed – Uninformed Jamaican Police Tracking Jamaicans even as GOJ ID Registration by Telecom Providers needed”.

This as the Activation Lock that Apple added to its smartphones, which is a hardware and software countermeasure built into Apple iPhones since September 2013 has worked as noted in the article “iPhone thefts get walloped by kill feature”, officials say, published February 11, 2015 8:05 AM PST by Lance Whitney, CNET News.

In fact, this initiative, called the SOS (Secure Our Smartphones) Initiative, has worked so well over the past two (2) years, year-on-year, that thefts have been trending down by the following percentages in major metropolitan cities where Apple iPhone thefts are common:

1.      25% in New York

2.      40% in San Francisco

3.      50% in London

The news was announced by various officials including London Mayor Boris Johnson, San Francisco district attorney George Gascon and New York state attorney general Eric Schneiderman who had supported the SOS (Secure Our Smartphones) Initiative in chief metropolitan cities.

These are of course,  in New York, San Francisco and London that have struggled with Apple iPhone theft as noted in the article “The results are in: Smartphone kill switches decrease thefts by as much as 50 percent”, published February 11, 2015 By Malarie Gokey, DigitalTrends.

US National Consumers League stats before Secure Our Smartphones (SOS) are staggering:

1.      1.6m handheld devices were stolen in the US in 2012

2.      50% of Crimes in California in San Francisco and Oakland are related to Apple iPhone thefts

Clearly, the officials in London are the most pleased as noted in the article “London smartphone theft drops by 50% after 'kill switch' introduction”, published 11 February 2015 10.23 GMT, published Samuel Gibbs, the UK Guardian. Top quote London Mayor Boris Johnson, quote: “We have made real progress in tackling the smartphone theft epidemic that was affecting many major cities just two years ago”.

Apple iPhone thefts down 50% in London - How Activation Lock prevents Apple iPhone theft

Introduced with iOS 7 in September 2013 along with the Apple iPhone 5S as noted in my blog article entitled “Apple has launched the Apple iPhone 5S and 5C on Tuesday September 10th 2013 - Apple iPhone Strategy is to Go Global to beat Samsung”, Activation Lock requires your Apple ID and password before someone can erase and reactivate your device.

Thus, the procedure in my blog article entitled “How to Unlock your Apple iPhone - Backup, Erase and Restore with The Bag Man being iOS Setup Assistant will not work if you cannot provide your Apple ID and password”, making thieves basically unable to resell their stolen Apple iPhone.

These latest stats indicates that Apple has basically locked down security on the Apple iPhone an serves as an attractive bit of new that promotes Apple as being concerned about security not just about just making profits. The fact that they've implemented this on their own without prodding from external forces sets them apart from other smartphone makers using Google Android as well as Microsoft Windows Phone.

By contrast, it was way into June 2014 before Samsung implemented a similar Killswitch, because thieves began stealing Samsung smartphones instead of Apple iPhone as noted in the article “Thieves now stealing fewer iPhones, more Samsung phones”, published June 19, 2014 10:48 AM PDTby Chris Matyszczyk, CNET News.

It was at that point that Google Android and Microsoft Windows Phone committed to adding killswitch software and hardware to their smartphones, rendering useless when stolen as noted in the article “Android, Windows Phone to add kill switch to thwart theft”, published June 19, 2014 7:48 AM PDT by Don Reisinger, CNET News.

Both Google and Microsoft say that they will add kill switches to the next versions of their mobile software as noted in the article “Google, Microsoft pledge to add ‘kill switches’ in smartphones”, published June 20, 2014 By Christian Brazil Bautista, Digitaltrends. CTIA (Cellular Telephone Industries Association) has also strong-armed a whos-who of companies in the Smartphone Industry to commit to this killswitch initiative:

1.      Apple

2.      AT&T

3.      Google

4.      HTC

5.      Huawei

6.      Microsoft

7.      Motorola

8.      Nokia

9.      Samsung

10.  Sprint

11.  T-Mobile

12.  Verizon

This as it's now being made mandatory in states like California thanks to a bill that was passed requiring smartphone maker as well as Telecom Provider to have some kind of anti-theft protection baked into their smartphones as noted in the article “California Senate approves smartphone ‘kill-switch’ bill”, published May 8, 2014 9:58 AM PDT by Richard Nieva, CNET News.

In the case of Google, it's now baked into Lollipop and is called Factory Reset Protection. Samsung has the feature in some smartphones and it's called Reactivation Lock. Microsoft is planning to have a killswitch by June 2015.

CTIA moves towards Killswitch – Jamaican Telecom Provider will have to follow suit

Still, this developments stateside bodes well for Smartphone users here in Jamaica; clearly the Apple iPhone is the more secure, if that's your main concern when buying a smartphone.  But it also puts a lot of pressure on Telecom Provider here in Jamaica, specifically Digicel and LIME, to implement similar features.

That’s a good thing for us Jamaicans as we await the coming of MNP (Mobile Number Portability) and LNP (Landline Number Portability) by Sunday May 31^st 2015 as noted in my blog article entitled “Minister Paulwell affirms MNP, LNP Coming May 31st 2015 - Why NPA TPPR, IXP Deadline and VoIP Registration herald MNP, LNP for NANP Number Ranges and Competition”

Now all we're waiting on is for Telecom Providers in Jamaica to join with an international move to implement a remote killswitch via the Telecom Provider Network to block not just the SIM as described in my blog article entitled “How to Register your SIM Card and get the PUK1 and access Digicel’s Phone Calling Records” but also the smartphone from being used on another Network.