"smartphone thefts accounting for 75% of theft reports in California"

Pretty incredible numbers here.

in San Francisco alone close to 60% of all robberies involve the theft of a mobile device, according to Police Chief Greg Suhr. In nearby Oakland, Mayor Jean Quan added that such thefts are closer to 75% of robberies. . . . With smartphone thefts accounting for 75% of theft reports in California . . . 

These high numbers are being used to push a law that would require a "kill switch" in cell phones.  Yet, if customers wanted a kill switch more than the cost of having them, it would seem that the makers of cell phones would install it.  Meanwhile, cell phone makers such as Apple are competing on how best to handle this problem.

Although Gascon praised Apple for its efforts with their new iOS 7 "Activation Lock" which is designed to prevent thieves from turning off the "Find My iPhone" application, he noted that it's still too early to tell how effective that will be. . . .