New crime data show Apple's addition of a "kill switch" to its iPhones last September has sharply reduced robberies and thefts, authorities said Thursday, according to The Associated Press.
The report by state attorneys general, prosecutors, police and other officials from a year-old initiative called "Secure Our Smartphones" said Google and Microsoft will incorporate a kill switch into the next version of their operating systems on smartphones, the AP reported.
The three systems: Android, iOS, and Windows Phone, are used in 97 percent of smartphones in the U.S., and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is part of the initiative, said the data show crimes meanwhile surged against people carrying phones without switches intended to make them useless to thieves, according to the AP.
"The statistics released today illustrate the stunning effectiveness of kill switches, and the commitments of Google and Microsoft are giant steps toward consumer safety," Schneiderman said, the AP reported.
In New York City, robberies of Apple products fell 19 percent while grand larcenies dropped 29 percent in the first five months of 2014 compared with a year earlier, according to the report, according to the AP. Crime data from police in San Francisco and London, comparing the six months before Apple's switch to the six months following, showed similar trends, according to the report.
The report noted a Consumer Reports estimate that 3.1 million mobile devices were stolen nationally in 2013, double a year earlier, according to the AP.
In San Francisco, iPhone robberies declined 38 percent, while robberies of Samsung devices increased 12 percent, the AP reported.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, also part of the initiative, said that the statistics prove that a technological solution to prevent theft was possible. He called for legislation "at all levels" to make anti-theft solutions mandatory, according to the AP.
"Compared to all of the cool things smartphones can do these days, this is not that advanced," Gascon said, the AP reported. "I believe ending the victimization of millions of Americans is the coolest thing a smartphone can do."