Almost 40 Percent of Products Stolen in NYC are Apple Devices

According to information provided by New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly at the Aspen Security Forum, almost 40 percent of all things stolen in the city of New York has been products made by Apple.

Now, that’s news that’s quite alarming, although some diehard fans might see it as the ultimate compliment.

The figure cited by Kelly may be further supported by studies that that the incidence of thefts of mobile products have been increasing exponentially. Just for the period between January and October 2011, almost 26,000 reports of mobile device theft were reported. About 81 percent of those products are mobile phones.

According to various reports, these mobile devices are just forcibly snatched away by perpetrators. Not a lot of people are able to help because the criminals apparently work in teams. While one person gets the device, others stand as lookouts and will physically attack anyone who tries to go after the thief.

The frequency of Apple devices being stolen has been so rampant that the police have even coined a term for it – apple picking. Apple products are highly sought after devices and a cursory look at various online auction sites will show that used iPhones can fetch up to $400, that’s a lot of money. Used iPads are also as equally expensive.

Some sectors are trying to discourage these thefts. For example, mobile carriers have started compiling a black list of handsets that have been stolen and blocking their access to the network. But this is not a totally effective solution because these stolen phones can still be sold in other countries where these bans are totally useless. Also there are Apple devices that don’t really need network coverage to work – like iPods and iPads with WiFi.

At this point, there is really only one safe way to protect your Apple device. Don’t use it extensively when you’re in public.