Your iPhone: On SFPD's Most Likely To Be Stolen List

each phone is identifiable by the network, it should be so easy to at least disable a stolen phone. Beats me why it hasn't been implemented years ago.

I know, it's curious. I wanted to know more from the cops about how the phones are repurposed since iPhones are so married to the Apple overlords. I think I'll have to dig deeper with the investigative units that have more technical expertise.

If you ride public transit etc. probably a good idea to invest in MobileMe which has a "Find my iPhone" feature. I've read a few stories where people and cops have recovered phones this way, using it to pinpoint the phone (and the perp) to a location. Here's one:

http://gizmodo.com/5349161/find-my-iphone-leads-cops-to-robbery-suspects

I was thinking of the "Find My iPhone" feature, too. Another nice benefit of the feature is the ability to wipe data from the phone remotely, so that if it's stolen all your personal information doesn't fall into the hands of a criminal. Imagine somebody having your entire address book, calendar and email.

Still, I've been fine with my iPhone. I think awareness of your surroundings is the main defense. Street Smarts 101 stuff.

Speaking from experience, neither Apple nor AT&T give a damn that your iPhone has been stolen. Sure, you've filed a police report. Yes, they can easily identify the stolen goods on their network because each iPhone has a unique ID. They just don't care.

On the contrary, it's probably good for both of them because whomever ends up with your stolen phone becomes one more iPhone user, one more user of the service that only AT&T sells. And you probably buy a new one, too. Everybody wins but you.

Yes, MobileMe provides tracking of your iPhone and the ability to perform a remote wipe of its data. That's nice, but using Find My iPhone as a theft insurance policy is about as practical as playing the lottery as an investment strategy. There's a chance it'll pay off, it just happens to be vanishingly slim.