Info: iPhone Stolen? (iJacked?)

iJacking is the act of stealing an apple device. It's kind of silly that society has coined this phrase, however, like anything that becomes popular, abbreviations, or catchy phrases are used to describe it.

I was surprised to hear Dateline running a series on iPod thefts. I was also surprised to see how mainstream iPod theft has become. They filmed people repeatedly taking iPods that were 'left behind' somewhere. With replacing the registration disc with it's own which led to a registration page disguised to be an apple registration page, they tracked the people that 'registered' them. They were actually registering with Dateline, and sent their information right in. Some of the people had purchased the iPod second hand, and had no idea that they purchased a stolen item. (more here: Dateline takes on iPod thieves - Dateline NBC - MSNBC.com)

Although the iPhone isn't at prevalent as the iPod, the same formula could apply to an increasing trend in small electronics being stolen. The iPhone definitely fits the profile of a small, high profile, high priced electronic device that can easily go missing.

Luckily the iPhone is a little different then the iPod and would require the phone to be activated to actually use. The phone would be marked as 'missing' (assuming the user that lost the phone reports it) by AT&T and wouldn't be able to be activated if resold. Could this become a problem for people buying iPhones second hand? What is Apple/AT&T going to do about it?

One solution that Apple is looking into is not being able to charge the phone if you are not verified as the owner. (Apple wants your iPod to stop charging for thieves - Engadget Actual patent document: United States Patent Application: 0070138999)

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