Kill switches have been available for cars for a while, and now the feature is showing just how effective it can be even for smartphones. Theft of iPhones has gone down significantly in major cities such as London, New York and San Francisco after the implementation of the kill switch.
Just like kill switches in vehicles that cause engine lockdown, the feature works similarly for smartphones - locking down the handsets remotely in the event they are pinched.
Apple Inc. added the kill switch for its iDevices in September 2013 and according to officials, the number of thefts pertaining to smartphones has reduced dramatically in the above-mentioned cities.
This information was revealed on Tuesday, Feb. 10, by the authorities. Since the year of the introduction of kill switches, the number of iPhones stolen is reduced by 40 percent and 25 percent in San Francisco and New York, respectively. In London, the number of iPhone thefts reduced by half.
Boris Johnson (London Mayor) along with Eric Schneiderman (New York state Attorney General) and George Gascon (San Francisco District Attorney) were among the officials who argued in favor of new laws that would mandate new laws for kill switches
According to Gascon, even in California there is a drop in smartphone theft as manufacturers have started installing the switches (which are software based) on the devices being sold. The law which mandates kill switches, however, is yet to be in effect.
"The wireless industry continues to roll out sophisticated new features, but preventing their own customers from being the target of a violent crime is the coolest technology they can bring to market," says Gascon.
Per the National Consumers League, in 2012, nearly 1.6 million handheld devices were pinched from Americans. In California, the robbery of smartphones accounts for 50 percent of the crimes in Oakland, San Francisco and few other cities.
Thus far, Samsung, Google and Apple are the only ones to have introduced kill switches in the smartphones. Microsoft too is expected to hop onto the bandwagon and release a Windows Phone OS in 2015, which will have this feature.
However, this system has a drawback as some systems require that consumers opt in, which basically means that not all smartphones are protected from theft when they are on the default mode. The officials have requested all OEMs to make the kill switch technology default rather than opt-in like Apple.
