Less sophisticated thieves will sell the phones for parts just like auto thieves. The more sophisticated ones will find ways to reset the phones after shipping out of the country.
"...it is our hope that Activation Lock will prove to be an effective deterrent to theft, and that the widespread use of this new system will end the victimization of iPhone users, as thieves learn that the devices have no value on the secondary market."
You don't believe that's really why law enforcement wants this upgrade, right? They want it so they can gain quick access to your iPhone's contents without a court order.
To their chagrin, they're not (yet) allowed to beat your password out of you... but certainly, that will come soon enough.
"...it is our hope that Activation Lock will prove to be an effective deterrent to theft, and that the widespread use of this new system will end the victimization of iPhone users, as thieves learn that the devices have no value on the secondary market."
You don't believe that's really why law enforcement wants this upgrade, right? They want it so they can gain quick access to your iPhone's contents without a court order.
To their chagrin, they're not (yet) allowed to beat your password out of you... but certainly, that will come soon enough.
As someone who works in law enforcement in a major urban area in the US, I can tell you that, in stark contrast to your conspiracy theory, the only reason I've ever wanted to see upgrades to the Find My Phone application is to catch the perpetrators responsible for iDevice thefts. As others have said, however, a major flaw in the system is the ability to shut down the phone without a password, thus rendering us unable to track the phone for any significant period of time. Often the phones have been powered down by the time we attempt a trace, and that is unfortunate, because otherwise it actually works exceedingly well. Knowing that the phones cannot be powered down would be a major deterrent. This remote verification might be an improvement, but I believe it will be circumvented in due time. As others have said, even in the best case, it still doesn't help us nab the perpetrators and doesn't help us get the phone back to the rightful owner.
In the meantime, keep your ESN/IMEI/MEID recorded somewhere (perhaps even on your person in the event that your phone is taken) and try not to be too distracted while enjoying your Apple devices! I for one am with the others here who would like to see the option of a password protected power down added into iOS. For the poster who expressed a concern about the phone freezing, the reset functionality (home button + power) should remain intact, but a complete should require a password in my humble opinion.
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What if your phone crashes and you need to shut it off but you can't because it's waiting for a pass code but you can't type it in because it crashed.
Crazy glue your SIM card.
Phone will be useless when you travel abroad and want to buy and use a local SIM card. (International roaming is just too expensive.)
"...it is our hope that Activation Lock will prove to be an effective deterrent to theft, and that the widespread use of this new system will end the victimization of iPhone users, as thieves learn that the devices have no value on the secondary market."
You don't believe that's really why law enforcement wants this upgrade, right? They want it so they can gain quick access to your iPhone's contents without a court order.
To their chagrin, they're not (yet) allowed to beat your password out of you... but certainly, that will come soon enough.
"...it is our hope that Activation Lock will prove to be an effective deterrent to theft, and that the widespread use of this new system will end the victimization of iPhone users, as thieves learn that the devices have no value on the secondary market."
You don't believe that's really why law enforcement wants this upgrade, right? They want it so they can gain quick access to your iPhone's contents without a court order.
To their chagrin, they're not (yet) allowed to beat your password out of you... but certainly, that will come soon enough.
As someone who works in law enforcement in a major urban area in the US, I can tell you that, in stark contrast to your conspiracy theory, the only reason I've ever wanted to see upgrades to the Find My Phone application is to catch the perpetrators responsible for iDevice thefts. As others have said, however, a major flaw in the system is the ability to shut down the phone without a password, thus rendering us unable to track the phone for any significant period of time. Often the phones have been powered down by the time we attempt a trace, and that is unfortunate, because otherwise it actually works exceedingly well. Knowing that the phones cannot be powered down would be a major deterrent. This remote verification might be an improvement, but I believe it will be circumvented in due time. As others have said, even in the best case, it still doesn't help us nab the perpetrators and doesn't help us get the phone back to the rightful owner.
In the meantime, keep your ESN/IMEI/MEID recorded somewhere (perhaps even on your person in the event that your phone is taken) and try not to be too distracted while enjoying your Apple devices! I for one am with the others here who would like to see the option of a password protected power down added into iOS. For the poster who expressed a concern about the phone freezing, the reset functionality (home button + power) should remain intact, but a complete should require a password in my humble opinion.
Maybe Apple would have done this without the prodding. Maybe not. But they did it. Where's the blowback on the other vendors for doing nothing.
Considering that one would have to pay a thief to steal their Android phone, it probably isn't necessary.