There are those who say that thieves are not the brightest folks in the universe, but in this case the thief could not have been unluckier. The bike-riding thief snatched an iPhone out of a pedestrian's hands, only to be captured 10 minutes later; the phone was being used in a demo of a new real-time GPS tracking program.
Indeed, how could Horatio Toure, 31, the miscreant, know that on Monday afternoon, Jordan Sturm had been asked by her boss, David Kahn, CEO of Covia Labs of Mountain View, CA, to take the iPhone out onto the sidewalk during the demonstration of a product called Alert & Respond to his PR staff at their South of Market office.
Now, Apple's own "Find My iPhone" product has been used to track thieves before. In this case, Alert & Respond is targeted for the police and military markets. It provides real-time tracking of officers and others. Phones, computers and other devices and communication between them can also be integrated.
As Sturm walked out onto the San Francisco street, Kahn noticed that suddenly she appeared to be running down the street. However, she rushed in, and all became clear. She called 911 and they relayed directions to the police in real-time.
Kahn even considered using some of Alert & Respond's other features, but that might have given Toure warning, so he decided against it. He could have, if he had wanted, turned on the iPhone's microphone to hear the thief pedaling away, or even taken a photo. Kahn noted the irony.
"What are the odds that you would grab someone's cell phone during a demonstration of the ability to track the phone's location in real time? That's what this unfortunate thief did."
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