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Not that I really want to defend someone who mugged me, but to be fair I don't think he knew it was an iPhone. I keep mine in a case and they grabbed it out of

Not that I really want to defend someone who mugged me, but to be fair I don't think he knew it was an iPhone. I keep mine in a case and they grabbed it out of my hands pretty quick and ran. Even if they knew it was an iPhone and that I was going to lock it once I get home, I doubt he would go "Oh shit, is this an iPhone? Nevermind, you can have it back". Fun fact, when I got home, I of course locked it right away, but I got my wife to call it to see if we could get ahold of the mugger, and we did, and he said he would give it back to me for $300. There was no chance in hell I was going to give him money and reward extortion, and I had no guarantees that even if I did give him the money that I'd get the phone back anyway [1], but I suppose that that's still a market right? I suspect at least some percentage of people do end up paying just to minimize the headaches of having to buy a new phone. I'll admit that while it was never really "on the table", for just an instant I did consider just paying the guy instead of having to buy another expensive phone while unemployed. [1] In this case I am principled to a fault. I have a very strong "I will not be extorted, I will not reward extortion, and I do not negotiate with terrorists" policy in my life. It's one of the very few hills I will actually die on, and it's bitten me a few times.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago
If they targeted you specifically because you had an iPhone to steal (or really, any Apple hardware), that would be dumb. If Android phones were easier to unlock when stolen, and could be confused for iPhones, that makes more sense. The extortion thing also makes sense, but I don't think many victims would take the chance that the situation would become worse after that (when handing over the cash).
- tombert 3y ago
  Yeah, fair, and maybe people wouldn't bother stealing the Vision Pro. It's just not something I would walk around wearing, for the same reason I wouldn't walk around wearing a real Rolex (if I could afford one).
  - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
    A Rolex is much more steal-able than a Apple device, since you can't lockdown mechanical movements. However, most of the people walking around with Rolexes are probably wearing fake ones, so even then its a crapshoot.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago

If they targeted you specifically because you had an iPhone to steal (or really, any Apple hardware), that would be dumb. If Android phones were easier to unlock when stolen, and could be confused for iPhones, that makes more sense. The extortion thing also makes sense, but I don't think many victims would take the chance that the situation would become worse after that (when handing over the cash).

tombert 3y ago
Yeah, fair, and maybe people wouldn't bother stealing the Vision Pro. It's just not something I would walk around wearing, for the same reason I wouldn't walk around wearing a real Rolex (if I could afford one).
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  A Rolex is much more steal-able than a Apple device, since you can't lockdown mechanical movements. However, most of the people walking around with Rolexes are probably wearing fake ones, so even then its a crapshoot.