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I hate it when MacRumors use the same "words" as Apple's marketing team. Example: magical, slavishly copied, political crap, courage, sharing (video ads).
 
I remember wanting to see if the 6+ would be comfortable in my pocket but never tried it because of the security cable. The cable not only made it difficult but made me feel like I would get in trouble if I tried.
 
i wonder this too. I dont have apple pay in the NL, but the app lets you scan codes and pay instore for a while. I haven't had to use this as i always had questions. But I always wondered, what makes you not just pretend a scan and walk away. How do they know, besides the software not 'unlocking' some nfc/rfid chip bitfield value so it beeps or not.

Never bothered to look into it though, since i dont care about stealing anything. i want to feel happy owning it :p
I've been asked to show my receipt on more than one occasion when paying this way.
 
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Forget about any security implications for a moment, way I see it, it'll be doubly frustrating to visit an Apple Store;
1) Time taken to track down 'free' sales assistant
2) Time taken to track down a free device, 'cause lets face it al the young kids'll have them & be messing about
Only solution would be to have more devices to display ratio.
 
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Also saw this at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, CA. Pretty cool stuff but definitely a security risk!
 
Only costs about $200 to make so for a busy store they can afford the risk plus it's rendered useless if stolen.
 
I visited the Apple store just after the iPhone 7 launch and there were 3 or so bouncers in the store (Not including the likely plain clothed ones). More than the pub!
 
1) Time taken to track down 'free' sales assistant
Amen. The Apple Store model is great when the customer-staff ratio is manageable. But as soon as it gets busy, the no queuing layout is absolutely horrendous.
 
I guess Apple is willing to put time towards deactivating the stolen devices instead of just adding the small tether. The in-store experience is nice, I suppose.
They have tracking on the device. They can find you and recover the device.
 
So many ways this can fail.

1. Arrange for sale of "your" iPhone on Craigslist (or wherever), agree to meet at a Starbucks near the Apple Store.
2. Just prior to the sale, go to Apple Store, secretly walk out with phone and continue down the mall to aforementioned Starbucks to meet your buyer.
3. Profit!

The phone would be sold before Apple invokes the remote kill switch. The buyer would have no idea his phone won't work shortly.

Unless the security system really does sound an alarm when you walk out of the Apple Store, the thieves will have a field day with this.
 
It's fine because they've got Activation Lock + whatever extra security they have in their store (probably an alarm). Sounds worthwhile to me since it may increase sales. That security thing restricts movement and makes the display model less inviting. It has a possibility of setting off for no reason, so customers are scared to play with it, and it annoys everyone when it does go off.

Only problem is it makes those full-scale store breaking after hours easier.
 
"but Apple evidently feels the untethered experience is worth the risk."

hehe... ok.. Whatever floats your boat Apple...

Their jugging against better store for customers, personal feel, over security..

isn't that why many (non-Apple) stores tried this approach, then relied people did exactly that and so they re-secured them?

Although picking up a phone is all good, but then that would mean security would have to be increased yes? Then again, it could just mean "Apple apparently likes to trust everyone who comes into the store."

Gotta draw the line somewhere. Interesting way Apple is handling the alternative by making it unusable remotely.
 
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Looks like they don't want to go through the trouble of removing those tethers from smashed phones.
I keep reading smashed, when I just see purchased. The guy wanted to have everything exactly as he wanted it. He pretty much got it and the sales clerk did a killing that day. Good for Apple!
 
Only problem is it makes those full-scale store breaking after hours easier.
Cannot do anything with an MDM locked device. Turn it on and it sends its location to the MDM. After stealing it the only way to use it would be to keep it turned off and not charged. No chance for a sale for the would be thief. No worries.
 
I'm just wondering how will this help Apple from a financial perspective. If u stole a phone, its un-usuable because apple will remotely put it in Lost mode (based on serial number and/or IMEI, I guess) but Apple will be out the cost of the phone itself.... Maybe they have so much money they are not worried about that? In large quantities it could add up.
 
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Not going to wade through all of this thread but somebody must have said at some point "who cares?"

how many phones will be stolen from stores as a result of this?
 
I don't see why they couldn't use iBeacons (or something) to auto-wipe the phones once they get X feet from the store.
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If iCloud can't be set up on them, how do they use Find My iPhone per the article?
You can do all sorts of nifty things when you're the one writing the OS.
 
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