[NoPicklez]

I'm in two minds about this, I am glad that there is no way around activation lock, but of course it produces waste if nobody else can use it.

It would be great if they could engineer a solution in that the device is activation locked and be factory reset and reused.

There was a discussion around activation lock somewhat preventing thefts due to the risk that the device becomes activation locked. But I don't know how truthful that is. As stolen devices are often sold to unsuspecting users with activation lock enabled.

[itake]

My iPhone was stolen in Kenya. I watched the thief take my iPhone to multiple used iPhone resellers via Find My iPhone, trying to sell my Activation locked iPhone to whatever shop that would accept it.

[theshrike79]

There are anecdotal stories of thieves just dropping a snatched phone when they see it's an iPhone.

It requires very specific skills to dismantle it to resell-able parts - and even those are hard because the components are linked and can't be sold separately.

[thefz]

> My iPhone was stolen in Kenya.

Then as a deterrent, device lock does not work much.

[itake]

I am also happy that the thief does not get much benefit for their crime.

The thief may not have known which phone manufacturer I had before they blindly reached into my pocket. If all phone manufactures had device locks, maybe less people would steal phones.

[zakki]

For the impact someone should compare before and after activation lock is launched.

[nneonneo]

Yes, many studies were already done on this topic. For example, in the six months after Activation Lock was introduced on iPhones, thefts in San Francisco dropped 38%, compared to the 6 months prior. https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/1...

[nicolas_17]

Activation Lock was launched in 2014 with iOS 7. It did reduce theft.

[Nifty3929]

It will as this becomes known.

[manvillej]

I think forcing a factory reset while retaining information that it was stolen is a way better idea than just bricking the device. I have no doubt that apple looked at though and decided this was easier better for them than their customer.

Because now the customer needs to get a new laptop whether the laptop is recovered or not. It also eliminates a secondary market increasing demand.

[seanmcdirmid]

Please no. Making my MacBook less attractive to thieves is something I paid extra for. There is peace of mind in knowing my laptop is just a brick without me, it makes it more possible to recover it.

But I can see thieves making the case that it would be less wasteful to let stolen laptops be more fence-able.

[NoPicklez]

Absolutely not, I don't want my information retained on that device at all, I want it gone if I'm not getting the device back.