2013.06 News: Does Apple Create Crime?

The new iPhones due out this fall will include a so-called "kill switch" that will render the phone useless if stolen, according to this news story from CNN. In addition to the obvious benefit to the iPhone's owner, this will help to take a bite out of crime, as the article observed:

The overall crime rate in the city increased 3% last year -- but "if you subtracted just the increase in Apple product thefts, we would have had an overall decrease in crime in New York," Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said.

If you think about it, it's kind of amazing that commercial products from a single vendor can have an effect of that magnitude on the crime rate in America's largest city.