Showing posts with label Smartphone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Smartphone. Show all posts

Calif. governor signs smartphone 'kill switch' bill into law

State Sen. Mark Leno and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon introduced the California "kill switch" bill in February. Richard Nieva/CNET

California on Monday became the first state to require that antitheft security features come enabled by default for every smartphone sold in the state.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed the so-called "kill switch" bill -- introduced in February by State Sen. Mark Leno and sponsored by San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon -- on Monday, after it passed the state legislature earlier this month. A smartphone kill switch enables an owner to lock down a phone if it is stolen, rendering it inoperable. A spokesperson from Brown's office said the governor was not available for comment.

In May, Minnesota became the first state to pass a kill switch bill, but that law does not require the feature come turned on as the default setting, when a consumer initially sets up his or her new smartphone -- a distinction supporters of the California bill deem very important.

"Opt-in does not end the problem. Because it will not be ubiquitous," said Leno on the Senate floor in April, the first time the bill was presented. The idea is that if thieves expect the software to be enabled on all phones, they won't bother stealing them in the first place. After a heated debate, the legislation narrowly failed its first go-around but passed after a second try two weeks later.

"California has just put smartphone thieves on notice," Leno said Monday, in a statement.

Related Stories Smartphone 'kill-switch' bill headed to California governor SF district attorney thinks of smartphone theft differently after leading SFPD California Senate approves smartphone

iPhone 6: Sorting through fact and fiction around Apple's upcoming smartphone

Apple will soon release the successor to its popular iPhone 5S. Sarah Tew/CNET

Apple's iPhone 6 may be one of the worst-kept secrets -- and most highly anticipated devices -- of the year.

Since introducing the iPhone in 2007, Apple has added a new model every year, with seven generations (covering eight models) so far. For the past three years, Apple CEO Tim Cook has unveiled the new design in the fall, which is why company watchers expect this year's update -- dubbed the iPhone 6 because it follows last year's iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C -- to make its debut in September.

The fact that Apple hosts one big phone event a year, while rivals seem to launch new devices every month, makes each iPhone launch a big deal. That's especially true given that the smartphone is Apple's biggest moneymaker, accounting for more than half of sales and about 70 percent of profit, according to analysts.

See also Apple sets Sept. 9 for new iPhone debut, report says Apple posts solid Q3 profit, but iPhone sales don't wow WWDC set the stage. Now Apple needs to deliver CNET's iPhone 6 rumor roundup

Expectations are particularly high for the iPhone 6, which is expected to be a "major" update to the smartphone. Apple has followed a pattern of introducing big new designs every other year, with appealing but modest updates -- like the 5S and 5C -- in between. But Apple investors and boosters are now ready for revolutionary, rather than evolutionary products, and Cook has said he'll deliver compelling new products in the second half of this year.

So what Cook and his team, led by design chief Jony Ive, put into the iPhone 6 matters. The company can't afford to lose defectors to archrival Samsung or have Apple users wait another year before they upgrade. The iPhone's worldwide smartphone market share plummeted from a peak of 23 percent in fourth quarter of 2011 to 12 percent in the second quarter of 2014, according to market researcher IDC. That puts it in second place behind Samsung.

Though the South Korean giant has battled Apple over patents in the courts and is feeling the heat from Chinese vendors including Xiaomi, Huawei, and Lenovo in fast-growing emerging markets, Samsung still ships more than twice as many smartphones as Apple each quarter.

It's far from game over for Apple. In the latest quarter, ended June 28, consumers bought 35.2 million iPhones even though Apple's latest devices -- the 5S, which added a new touch fingerprint security system and faster chip, and the lower-cost, plastic encased 5C -- were nearly nine months old.

The iPhone 6 just may be one of the largest product launches in Apple's 38-year history. Apple reportedly has asked manufacturing partners to produce about 70 million to 80 million units of its larger screen iPhones by December 30, which is about 30 percent to 40 percent more iPhones than it ordered for its initial run of last year's iPhone 5S and 5C.

Apple iOS 8 at WWDC 2014 (pictures) See full gallery

Smartphone 'kill-switch' bill headed to California governor

State Sen. Mark Leno and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon introducing the bill during a press conference in February. Richard Nieva/CNET

A bill that mandates antitheft technology to come pre-installed on all smartphones sold in California is headed to the governor after passing a final California Senate vote on Monday.

The bill, introduced by state Sen. Mark Leno and sponsored by San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, asks that device makers put so-called "kill-switch" technology on every smartphone, though users could choose to opt-out of the security services. The software lets users lock the phone if it is stolen, making it inoperable.

The bill passed with a 27 to 8 vote.

The proposed legislation, formally named SB962, addresses what government officials have called an "epidemic." One in 10 smartphone owners in the US has had a phone stolen, according to the mobile security firm Lookout. In 2013, more than 3 million Americans were the victims of smartphone theft -- nearly twice as many as the year before, according to Consumer Reports. On Gascon's home turf of San Francisco, more than 65 percent of robberies in 2013 involved a mobile device. The rate jumps up to more than 75 percent across the bay in Oakland.

"Our goal is to swiftly take the wind out of the sails of thieves who have made the theft of smartphones one of the most prevalent street crimes in California's biggest cities," said Leno, in a statement.

The kill-switch bill passed the California State Assembly last week. Introduced during a press conference in February by Leno and Gascon, the bill narrowly failed its first vote in the state Senate in April, but passed two weeks later in early May.

Related Stories Smartphone kill switch could save US consumers $3.4B, study says California Senate approves smartphone
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)