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Bloomberg: Steve Jobs Behind NYC Crime Wave
theodp writes "Rudy Giuliani had John Gotti to worry about; Mike Bloomberg has Steve Jobs. Despite all-time lows for the city in homicides and shootings, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said overall crime in New York City was up 3.3% in 2012 due to iPhone, iPad and other Apple device thefts, which have increased by 3,890 this year. 'If you just took away the jump in Apple, we'd be down for the year,' explained Marc La Vorgna, the mayor's press secretary. 'The proliferation of people carrying expensive devices around is so great,' La Vorgna added. 'It's something that's never had to be dealt with before.' Bloomberg also took to the radio, urging New Yorkers who didn't want to become a crime statistic to keep their iDevices in an interior, hard-to-reach pocket: 'Put it in a pocket in sort of a more body-fitting, tighter clothes, that you can feel if it was — if somebody put their hand in your pocket, not just an outside coat pocket.' But it seems the best way to fight the iCrime Wave might be to slash the $699 price of an iPhone (unactivated), which costs an estimated $207 to make. The U.S. phone subsidy model reportedly adds $400+ to the price of an iPhone. So, is offering unlocked alternatives at much more reasonable prices than an iPhone — like the $299 Nexus 4, for starters — the real key to taking a bite out of cellphone crime? After all, didn't dramatic price cuts pretty much kill car stereo theft?"
It's not the *cost* of the iPhone. It's the *black market resale value* that drives theft.
It's uncomfortable allowing a third party to be able to permanently brick your phone or other device, but if that were a commonly-used option, the resale value would quickly drop down close to zero.
As always - back up your data, and don't store important personal information on your easily-stolen device...
Interesting statistics, but seriously Steve Jobs died in 2011. And even if he was still alive he personally would not be responsible or connected to any form of crime wave in New York.
So they are saying that it is "unfair" that iWhatevers cost a bunch so making them cheap means nobody will steal them.
So using this jumping-the-tracks train of logic, we should make guns free so no criminal will ever want to steal one. BINGO!
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
Criminals steal overpriced items to pawn them off for a decent sum of money
The way this is written is so absurdly biased; if you want to promote Android devices, just come out and say it. Don't use some arbitrary statistic to promote your agenda. That's like blaming the former CEO of Lexus for making a desirable vehicle that is prone to theft as a result of its desirability or popularity.
If you don't want to have your iPhone stolen stop using it in public.
Great.
If banning guns will cut down on crime, this is absolute proof that banning I-Phones and I-Pads will also reduce crime. At the very least I-product owners need to have background checks and get registed and licenced to carry them. Also I-Pad 2s should be outright banned. Who in their right mind actually needs and I-Pad 2? The retina display isn't that much better and all it is doing is fuleing a crime wave.
Challenge: Tell me why my post is wrong, but banning gus is right.
LOL
Whatever geek.com's writing, I'm sure little has changed in the theft of high-end car-gear from the likes of Pioneer & co.
since nobody will mug you for a cheap ass timex, lel.
Have they issued a warrant for Steve's arrest? Quick, before he flees the country.
Always has been and always will be.
Really? Are headlines like this what Slashdot has become?
I've been reading this site for over 10 years, and posts like this are just sad link-bait.
...Being a lecturing nanny to actually see that the normal functions of a city government are performed.
Note his wars on large sodas and restuarant menus, while bedbugs run rampant.
He wags his finger at Apple because crooks are loose in his city. And he has his PIs make straw purchases of firearms in far-away states, violating federal law for masterbatory political posturing.
Why do New Yorkers elect this clown?
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
Or you could bend over and let them fuck you up the ass, if you
were a Slashdot editor.
At least one lawyer successfully sued Apple and got compensated when his previous toy got stolen. Why take responsibility for your actions when you can blame someone else?
Even for Slashdot this summary is so absurdly written as to bury whatever interesting point it tried to make. I laughed out loud.
If you want to be clever, by all means, be clever, but don't expect the rest of us to take you, your ideas, or anything you'll have to offer from here on out, seriously.
It was interesting to watch its location go directly to Flushing Queens ( biggest chinatown in the city for those not in the know). Called up the local precinct and they told me I had to file the report in the precinct that it had been stolen in. Then I had to track it down myself and contact the precinct where the phone ended up in.
Kojack is a fictional character so I said "screw that" and just wiped the thing out. Getting my irish ass karate chopped ( much higher odds on their end ) and my organs sold on the black market in some Flushing back ally were the last way I needed to die over an iPhone. While it would have made a cool premise for a low budget action pict, I can think of more dignified things to die over.
It was exactly the same when cellphones themselves were expensive gadgets. Their price dropped over the years and now they're pretty commonplace.
bickerdyke
Thieves will steal whatever they can to make some money, especially easy money since people don't keep their phones/tablets locked to themselves. They don't care if its an iPhone or not and I bet if all android type phones were lumped into a single category they would be just as high in theft rate as iDevices and maybe even higher. Sure some criminals might see the iDevice and know exactly how much they can pawn it for and maybe make a bit more compared the numerous devices by other manufacturers but that's about it.
Unbeknownst to Steve, his new liver was infected with zombie juice. He didn't stay buried long. Hordes of zombies wielding iPhones now attacking New York subways, lead by Steve or what remains of him.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
I imagine that most people (such as myself) don't carry any significant quantity of cash on them anymore since most every Retailer and Restaurant will take a Visa Debit card issued from your bank.
So it only makes sense to go after iPhones and iPads since going after someone's wallet will typically net you $60 or less, while you can offload that shiny iGadget for a couple hundred.
If it weren't iDevices, it'd be something else.
The real culprit here is a profound culture shift from cash based shopping to electronic payments.
I'm from the DC area, and we had the same problem. Chief Lanier (our chief of police) along with other counterparts from other major urban centers with a lot of iPhones, have had the same problem...and they pushed the cellular carriers to make it possible (as it already has been in Europe for a long time) to essentially blacklist stolen devices. As we speak, the system is going into use, and soon stolen iPhones will be basically worthless. iPads are a little different, since you can do most of what you want with one using only wifi, but these are also less prevalent and less often stolen.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
Mass immigration and multiculturalism. It never has worked and never will. It always causes horrible problems.
This post is nonsense. The iPhone is expensive in unsubsidized markets. A $400 subsidy doesn't add $400 to the price rather it is a subsidy what consumers pay. As for American phone subsidies. Phone subsidies have been a crucial component of building America's cellular infrastructure. It may be completely irrational but that irrationality doesn't change the fact:
a) The quality of one's total cellular experience is highly dependent on the quality of the handset.
b) The better the cellular experience the more one is willing to pay.
c) Adding the price of the phone to the monthly reoccurring services doesn't change the total amount much (i.e $400/20 = $20 / mo).
So it makes sense to subsidize the handset and add the cost to the monthly bill.
Just another case of Bloomberg blaming inanimate objects instead of the actual people making the decisions.
Is tracking software -- the kind users install named "Find My iPhone" or "Find My Android." In anticipation of the day when their device may be stolen or lost.
Here in Seattle, WA, the police are also responding to a great surge in these theft calls. The reason is simple: if they do not respond, the owner might take the law into his or her own hands (or the hands of their posse, in some cases). The police would rather intervene and not have people get into such risky situations.
Otherwise, the usual response to property crime of such a low value would be to take a report and move on. A detective would not be assigned to a lost $600 item. A recovery would not occur. The stolen item would be gone.
With owner-installed Find My [Property] using GPS + Cloud applications, law enforcement is being moved into a citizen-responsive mode. The "dispatching detectives" are the citizen running a web app, reporting the location of the stolen item. The radio transmission relays some information along the lines of, "victim has tracked the item to a particular building and believes he can hear it ringing upon his command." And the police units are on the way post haste to intervene on that potential scenario.
The same is happening with Android, but to a reduced extent. Some cheap-o Android devices are no doubt not tracked. Possibly the user experience for person who lose their smart phone is discrepant between platforms.
At least one moving "stolen" phone I heard a report of turned out to be in the back seat of a taxi. That is where it had been lost the night before. There were multiple police chasing the location reports around while the citizen in the GPS-web loop called the moves... Eventually the taxi they were following became apparent and the case was solved.
Meanwhile, if I lost a Fluke Scopemeter (hypothetical possession; please send me one), I would be out a $2400 portable meter. It does not have a Find My Flukemeter that I could otherwise use to pursue asset using dynamics.
If the robbery was an armed robbery and the victim can identify the suspect later, the police are proactive in using the same tracking software to collar the perpetrator for the major crime.
If gun crime is at an all time low and iThing crime at an all time high.
Maybe they should ban all apple products and tar and feather anyone who disagree's.
After all, didn't dramatic price cuts pretty much kill car stereo theft?
The general consensus of criminologist is that two factors killed car stero thefts...
First, car manfacturers started putting in better stereos into most cars reducing the market for stolen car stereos.
Second, it was much easier to fence GPS navigation devices in glove boxes than spend the time to rip out the car stereo.
So with this logic, we should force carriers to only give out smart phones for free (you could still get a feature phone for $40) and have people carry easy to fence sunglasses and gold jewelry.
Or stop advertising that you have one on you by wearing it like a fashion accessory.
Who "wears" an iPhone or iPad? Usually they are kept in pockets or jackets or backpacks.
The problem is that the whole point of having any kind of phone, much less a smartphone, is that you can receive calls, make calls, or look up things as you wish. If you lock your device away out of fear until you are in a private space then what is the point of having something portable?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Only if you ignore such pesky things like R&D, salaries, buildings, administrative staff, operating costs, tooling costs, distribution, packaging, marketing and so on.
Apple make a good profit from their handsets, but not the three times that the submission implies. It's also worth noting that whilst the Nexus is impressively priced, the only Android OEM that is really making any money is Samsung - everyone else isn't doing quite so well.
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It's uncomfortable allowing a third party to be able to permanently brick your phone or other device, but if that were a commonly-used option, the resale value would quickly drop down close to zero.
And the Slashdot crowd would be screaming EVEN LOUDER about proprietary "walled gardens".
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
An Samsung Galaxy S3 is almost $600 unlocked as well.
Instead, Apple should SQUASH the black market by making it easy for customers to report a device stolen. Once reported stolen, Apple should brick the phone remotely and contact the service provider to have the IMEI blacklisted.
AT&T and TMobile just started blocking blacklisted IMEIs last month. As other carriers follow suit and companies like Apple make it easier for the average consumer to make the report, thieves will eventually learn that the devices are worthless.
This is an awfully bad summary. There is no need to try to be snarky from the beginning. Also, what Bloomberg's press secretary said is so stupid that is fitting for the Innocent's day, the spanish and latin american version of April's fools that was yesterday.
Of course thieves and muggers will try to steal expensive gadgets. People don't wear expensive jewelry like in past years because it is out of fashion and, unlike jewelry, gadgets can perform an useful function so they are a more common and convenient target than wallets full of credit cards and no cash, jewelry or expensive watches.
Instead of saying stupid stuff to the press the mayor should blame the thieves themselves, the growing income gap that makes easier to rationalize crime for people that don't have anything to lose, or the bad economy for the increase in crime instead of Apple o any other consumer electronics company.
Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
Iphones and Android stuff are "smart phones" in that only dumb people use them (save medical and other professionals who need web/apps to look up things like medications on the go). Data costs are terrible, its cheaper if less convenient to look things up on a wifi network; just like cooking rather than takeout/restaurant food is cheaper (and better for you).
Carry a disposable basic phone costing less than $50 at Wal-mart, no contract, don't keep that much money on it, you're out at most $70 or so. The thug will get less than $5 for it, street value. That basic phone will make calls, get voicemail, get and send texts just as well as a smartphone. You can get a new one whenver you want.
Electronics have gotten to the point where investing any real money in them is a waste. They're all cheaply made in China. Outmoded within a year.
is a nasty city of animals.
It's always someone else's fault for the failings of others. We've removed a lot of personal responsibility in the past 3 decades. Welcome to modern society, where personal responsibility is always someone else's job.
Mayor from 1990 says "don't wear expensive basketball shoes like the Air Jordan".
only outlaws will have iDevices.
It's the American public rushing out to buy 'luxury' 'designer' goods at prices far beyond their worth. Lose the label envy and you'll solve the problem.
If you take out all of the murders from the crime report, NYC's murder rate was essentially zero. Well done, New York.
There are many items which need to be done to stop these crimes and ensure public safety.
1) All cell phones, smart phones, iPhones and other electronic devices need to be registered with the government and local police
2) Owners of these devices must submit finger prints, self-photos, home address, work address, to be confirmed and approved valid before these items can be bought, brought home, used, or transported.
3) Owners must submit to training for these devices as well as medical background checks. This will ensure no dangerous or unauthorized usage of these devices occurs.
4) Devices need to be installed in the cars of the owners of these devices, which will automatically turn off the engine of the car, when these devices are used. This will save lives, as it is proven driving and text or using these devices in anyway causes deaths almost at the same level as firearms.
5) When the devices are no longer required by the owner, it will be surrendered to the government or local police.
6) Police and government will be allowed to search the homes, cars, places of work and any other place the owner of these devices might be or have gone. This is to ensure public safety.
7) Wait periods of 45 days is required for all new or used devices after they are bought.
8) strict guild lines are required to ensure the safe storage of these devices. With these guide lines, public safety is at risk.
9) Names, addresses, place of work and other information will be placed on line to ensure the public knows who has these devices, and where these devices are located at all times.
10) All voice and data transmissions will be recorded, stored, and listed to by the Government and Police. This will ensure there are no miss use of these devices.
Only by creating new laws and removing all privacy and other rights, include the right to protect one self from others including the Government, will the public be safe.
Perhaps there should be an UN resolution to bring these changes to all self-governed countries like the US, Canada and Iran.
This is a nationwide problem and thus not unique to NYC. I live in the DC area and device theft is so much of a problem that DC Metro Transit Police have warnings posted everywhere as well as pretty good prevention tips.
Send the detonate code out and instantly blow the phone up. Steal my phone lose most of your face.
Clearly apple's ploy to reinforce the perception of desirability of their shiny iThings. It works - look at all those iSheep.
Sent from my Tianhe-2 (MilkyWay-2).
Is there some kinda of new dope out there the NY newsies are smoking? Six degrees detached from reality, and 7 degrees from anything resembling 'reporting'. How is a dead man responsible for a crime wave?
Did the NYC get this by scanning Steve Jobs twiitter?
cell phone subsidies drive up cost T-mobile is dropping them and even when you pay full price for a iPhone over 2 years you pay less with T-mobile and get more data.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/12/07/cell-phone-subsidies-rip.aspx
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/12/t_mobile_end_smartphone_subsidies_paying_more_for_your_phone_is_good_for.html
At bars cafes and other places I always see iphones left unattended. Ask bartenders of all phones that get left behind; what kind is it? Why is it usually iphones? Do the owners not care? They are not price sensitive for sure. Short attention spans? Or are iUsers just plain so dumb they can't keep track of a $500 object on their person.
If it was an envelope with $500 in cash, would they leave it out, in the wrong pocket or display it to strangers?
I agree with the Mayor. The nurtured, cultivated and maintainence of user stupidity can't possibly help!
I think you're thinking of the latter, he's talking about the former. Markup is based on production cost and doesn't take into account all of the other stuff.
A cover for an iPhone that makes it look like a Motorola DynaTAC.
Have gnu, will travel.
Even if thieves were blind, and stealing randomly, they'd steal more iDevices than all the other brands added together.
Precisely. BTW I'm pretty accustomed to Slashdot's ever-declining state of "quality" over the last several years, but this story takes the cake - it's 1/2 article and 1/2 ludicrous Fandroid rant that somehow the real cause of the problem of increased theft of small, highly valuable electronic devices in NYC is that Apple charges too much for the 64 GB iPhone and that somehow Google's pricing for the 8 GB Nexus 4 is the solution? Are you shitting me? Can you possibly be serious?
Slashdot, who do do you have at the wheel these days approving stories? Is it someone that actually cares, or are they just looking for the biggest flamebait submissions they can find? Through all the ups and downs, Slashdot have been my homepage for more than a decade. Please don't make this latest acquisition the one that drives me away for good.
"95% of all Slashdot
Tao Te Ching:
Not exalting the gifted prevents quarrelling.
Not collecting treasure prevents stealing.
Not seeing desirable things prevents confusion of the heart.
The wise therefore rule by emptying hearts and stuffing bellies,
by weakening ambitions and strengthening bones.
If people lack knowledge and desire,
then intellectuals will not try to interfere.
If nothing is done, then all will be well
De Beers is responsible for pricing fixing diamonds to the point where they are fashionable to steal.
Really, this story is the most asinine thing I've ever heard of.
turn off the engine of the car so passenger can't use phones as well??
What about makeing a 911 call with the engine on for heat?? or useing them for GPS?? useing a GPS is safer then a big fold out map.
2) Owners of these devices must submit finger prints, self-photos, home address, work address, to be confirmed and approved valid before these items can be bought, brought home, used, or transported.
3) Owners must submit to training for these devices as well as medical background checks. This will ensure no dangerous or unauthorized usage of these devices occurs.
Seems like a lot of paper work and the last thing we need is lot's of 3rd party's with SSN 2.0 also medical tests? drug tests take time and can cost $50 or more pop Bulk rates may be lower.
Names, addresses, place of work and other information will be placed on line just what we need people call you at work with spam calls.
Summary: Nice things have a higher chance of being stolen than non-nice things.
Probably the stupidest slashdot submission in awhile, and clearly the submitter has a (as usual) hard on for the ghost of Steve Jobs. Seriously, anyone that sctually tries to spin this into anti Apple BS is an idiot.
It's the guns that are responsible for the shootings. Forget Constitutional rights, just ban them and problem solved.
It's the iPhones/Pads that are responsible for the spike in crime that makes me look bad as America's Mayor. Blame them, and the dead guy, and I'm in the clear. Without a doubt if there weren't all of these lovely iPhones and iPads all over the place criminals would stop stealing stuff altogether, so spake Mayor Bloomberg (S)*
*(S) = the Stupid Party affiliation.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
It's the fact that you have a population willing to steal things, violently if necessary. Apple shit isn't any cheaper here in Tokyo, and everyone carries it (or the equivalent Sony kit ) - but no problems?
Why?
1. It's not simply socially acceptable to steal shit.
2. If you want it, you can go buy it yourself. There are few people poor enough they can't afford a freaking iPod, and if you steal one, who arey ou going to sell it to?
3. The main places who would buy it are places which specialize in used electronics. They Check IDs, take down names addresses, serial numbers, etc.
4. Nobody likes spending a long time in Jail.
I'm posting in a Troll Thread!
Sick of hearing about all the idiocy he brings into the world. And what the fuck is wrong with the people of NY for keeping him around. Fucker needs to be in jail for his involvement with "Stop and Frisk".
He was referring to the rules liberals keep claiming are "reasonable" for gun ownership and not a hardship to own a gun. Funny how you think it is ownerous to go through the same hoops for owning something that you want to own.
As for the online directory of owners, it was a reference to the NY paper that released a list of all handgun license holders and their addresses about a week ago. I'm sure most people here were ok with that as well, but would be outraged if it applied to owning an I-Phone.
Long story short, people here are a bunch of whiny hipocrites that don't hesistate to make up rules for others to live by while thinking they should be exempt.
Given that it costs the store real money for you to use a bank card there, why shouldn't they pss the costs on to their customers? The alternative is to just price things assuming that some percentage will use plastic, in which case those using cash are being overcharged.
.
Did Mr. Bloomberg actually say that Steve Jobs was responsible for the increase in theft of personal bling devices?
Statistics say that ever since the iPhone was created, iPhone related thefts rose 100% ! Nobody needs an iPhone! Lets work together as a country and enact some reasonable iPhone control! Let's also ban guns! Guns are legal in America so gun related homicides are 100% greater than in other countries where guns are illegal! Lets work together as a country and enact some reasonable gun control! Let's also ban the internet! Ever since the internet was formed, internet pornagraphy INCREASED 100% !!! Let's do all this for the CHILDREN!!!!
-Mayor Bloomberg
These days they're so busy trying to find submissions about and from Australia to accept and post that they don't have time to check the articles from countries about which they don't give a flying fart.
have your ass beat if you own or use anything made by Apple.... Hah hah, just joking.....maybe !!!
According to the very article linked in the summary, car stereo theft is virtually nonexistent because aftermarket car stereos are virtually nonexistent. Auto manufacturers put in good enough radios that practically nobody replaces them, and the original equipment radios only fit in that make/model/year of car.
The cost of a radio has nothing to do with it. There's no market for a radio that only fits a couple years of (as an example) three models of Ford products. Thieves don't steal things that they can't sell.
In some cases, there isn't really even a separate radio to steal; it's deeply integrated into the car rather than being a discrete and easily aftermarket replacable component.
The preferred solution is to not have a problem.
Would Bloomberg prefer the 70's when everyone was getting mugged for their wristwatches and cash?
Expensive things that almost everyone wants, which people just walk around with in their pockets, and fiddle with in public, are prime targets for robbers!
You don't say...
I would guess the black market is probably in China.. And I think back to the craze and stories here on slashdot about china's obsession with these devices. I guess the real question to be asking isn't just price, but even with a price drop, and because of the brand, would the black market slow up due to that or only drop very slightly, as the black market in China would continue to demand the devices?
All due respect, but now that the man is deceased, can we finally stop equating everything related to Apple Inc with its former figure head?
This is happening at the university where I work -- students carrying their phones around and guess what? Someone jumps them and grabs their phone. We try to warn students but can't. Personally, I don't think this should take up government resources, but I'm not a conservative (otherwise I guess I'd be telling everyone to arm themselves with guns. I mean, that's what we need, right?!). I think companies like At&T with their fast 4g LTE, whatever networks should go in with phone manufacturers and work on something to stop the enticements or capabilities once stolen. I'm in real estate and need my phone at all times. I really don't have time for criminals!
Crime is up in New York, because Mayor Bloomberg's city is a toilet.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
What we're talking about here is the risk/reward picture for stealing a phone. It can addressed by either reducing the reward, or raising the risk. If NYC and New York state both quit their obnoxious, irresponsible and unconstitutional practice of depriving innocent people of weapons, it would only take a handful of muggers getting shot before they'd look for better opportunities.
estimated cost to manufacture does not factor in cost to develop and cost of support and distribution. So how do high-end Android phones and tablets justify their prices? Anyway, it was the same with Nike shoes, GPS in cars, and Digital watches, it will all calm down until/when the next big thing comes along.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
Isn't this the trickly down of wealth? The immense profit on top of the r&d of Apple getting redistributed by every theft? If the actual wealth of Apple would trickle down into the (US) society, the iPhone would be the same price, but all having an higher income (given the big profit makers would actually reinvest wealth so all would benefit, e.g. actual trickle down of wealth) - and because this DOES NOT work, the illegal (criminal) way tries to achieve this, skim the wealth from iPhone/Apple themselves, like an artificially overpriced resource (imagine illegal drugs).
There's so much wrong with the notions in this summary, it's even hard to decide where to start. First of all, Apple isn't to blame here, much less Steve Jobs, a dead man. Thieves are to blame in the very first place, and secondarily the people who are so careless with their valuable possessions. You can get your pocket picked in a huge city, who would have guessed? Second of all, reducing the prices of iDevices? Seriously? It's common knowledge that there are cheaper alternatives to Apple products, many of which offer the same benefits; a few which are even better. It's irrelevant. The huge markup in Apple products is due to the perceived prestige of the brand. People don't need platinum Patek Phillippe watches to tell the time, still they want them because they're status symbols. Apple products are entry level status symbols, but that they are nevertheless. The conclusion is that you can't have a society that highly encourages consumerism and not have the downsides that come with it, such as exaggeratedly expensive items and people who can't afford them, and yet feel the need to obtain them by other means.
as they would be probably be stealing something else instead
Empirical evidence tends to support the statistical data.
Including a stereo in every car killed the theft. Once everyone had stereo in their car, there was no one who needed to buy stolen units.
I'll never understand the appeal of iPhones. My wife had one (a 3GS) for three years on AT&T. It didn't work for phone calls most of the time, and data was so slow it was almost useless. She recently changed to Verizon and got an iPhone 5. Doh! The iPhone 5 can't understand her speech input (she has a slight Japanese accent), when she got it google maps was gone and the Apple maps thing was crap. Every time she called me with the 3GS (when it worked), there was about a 3 or 4 second delay before my audio would get through to her. I'd answer, say hello, and wait, and wait, and wait, until eventually she'd hear me and start talking. I'm not sure if the 5 has the same problem.
What is it about iPhones that keeps people buying them even when they have so many problems? It's as if Apple keeps sending out alpha or beta test stuff and people happily pay through the nose to find out what works and what doesn't this time around.
In other news Bloomberg blames women wearing revealing cloths for getting raped. "They should cover themselves up head-to-toe to prevent men from lusting after them." Bloomberg says. He goes on to suggest "if they were fatter and ugly then they wouldn't get raped, its their own fault. Eat more sugary super sized sodas!" In other news, sales of black cloth up.
Well, based on the article, I guess it's time to ban iDevices. That's the only way to solve this, according to our congressional leadership. Rather than attack the heart issues or fix the personal accountability we have to get rid of the item. Then the only people that will have iDevices are the criminals.
I hate to break it to you but they probably don't have those problems.
I've gone through a 3G, a 4, a 4S and now a 5 and I've not experienced any of the issues you describe. My friends don't have those problems either. On that basis, I don't think it's too unreasonable to suggest she's probably got a duff handset - it happens.
My advice is to install Google Maps onto her phone (yeah, we know Apple Maps is rubbish) and if she's still having problems with the 5 then take it back to an Apple store.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
... and everybody knows it.
Bloomberg: Steve Jobs Behind NYC Crime Wave
This is not what he said, and the title of the story being linked is this:
Crime Is Up and Bloomberg Blames iPhone Thieves
But let's not get these significant semantic differences get in the way of publishing mindless, attention-whoring, National-Inquisitor-like headlines.
You just proved the point of the parent post.
I have read of a number of cases now where idiot thieves have stolen someone's iPhone, only to find the cops rock up at their place because the owner has looked up the location using 'find my phone' and reported that to the cops. Typically, in the stories I have read, the cops then find a whole load of other stolen stuff and evidence of further criminal activity. So it begs the question, who would be dumb enough to steal a device that knows where it is and that is capable of sharing that information with its owner? I assume 'droids and 'dows mobiles have an analogous feature.
I used to have a better sig than this, but I got tired of it
Why? So they can sell you a new device. Apple as well as the carriers and other manufacturers could easily stop the proliferation of phone theft, by enabling the tracking of the device in hardware, but they don't. Each device has Unique identifier and most devices have GPS, it would be very easily to build a tracking mechanism that could be activated if the device was reported lost or stolen by the registered owner, that should still work even after a factory reset or in the case of android a new rom was flashed. They could do this but they don't want to. The carrier is happy to sell you a new device at a non-subsidized price and they are happy to activate stolen devices. The same goes for Apple. They don't care if you lose your device or if you get it back, they are happy to sell you a new one though. If this was law, that forced device makers and carriers to enable the device owner or police to track the stolen device, phone and tablet theft would pretty much disappear overnight. It would become too risky for thieves. But once again, that probably won't ever happen.
then we would have low crime?
I have and have had ONE "smart" phone. This is over only 18 months. If I had had 4 Androids (debut Sept 2008) since the 3G came out (June 2008), then that would be a problem for me.
My needs are simple, however. Nor do I seek or expect much residual value for my old devices (e.g., my last non-smart phone is my current shower timer, 911 phone, and "activate" phone if ever I needed an ASAP swap).