A thief accused of stealing an Apple iPhone from a woman in San Francisco was found by police no less than nine minutes after the alleged theft occurred.
The phone carried a piece of software designed by Covia Labs, which allows the software’s user to track a gadget based on its GPS tag. The alleged thief also failed to realise his target was actually an intern for the company in question.
The company’s chief executive had sent the intern around town to demonstrate how it would work. It was then that the alleged thief took the phone and ran away.
The CEO quickly became aware of the situation, and contacted police – who found the phone no less than nine minutes later.
The software is similar to Apple’s own MobileMe service, which allows users to track where their phone has gone.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
