Note to crooks: the grab-and-snatch iPhone tactic just got a little more risky now that GPS apps can tell police exactly where you are after you take it.
Horatio Toure, a 31-year-old crook in San Francisco, learned this the hard way.
He pedaled up on a bike, snatched a woman’s iPhone, then rode away. He didn’t know the victim was part of a company’s demonstration of a real-time GPS tracking program called Alert & Respond from Covia Labs, SF Gate tells us.
Just 10 minutes later and only a half-mile from the scene of the crime, police nabbed him. He was booked into jail on suspicion of grand theft and possession of stolen property.
Of course, this is great publicity for the new service, but as we reported Apple’s Find my iPhone program for MobileMe subscribers has also already tracked down another unlucky iPhone thief in much the same manner.
It’ll be interesting to see if these apps become widespread enough to deter thieves in quick-grab operations, which some police accounts say are on the rise.
Via SF Gate