iPhone and Thievery
July 1st, 2007 -- Posted in ?:] | 3 Comments »I have not blogged in a while due to being hammered at work. It’s unfortunate since there’s so much that has been going on. Ronnie and Lisa got married. I went on a cool outing with some coworkers (in lieu of going to work and not using a vacation day). And there’s been a lot of tech news.
But there was one thing I just had to blog about because the chances are so slim.
I wanted to blog about this beauty:
Actually, I don’t want to blog ABOUT the phone. I’ve been reading about it for the prior 2 weeks– 2 months. I’ve been really interested in how it’s performing. In short, it looks like it’s been a major success based on projected sales from it’s launch on Friday.
It’s received a fair amount of coverage. In one story I read they had an image from San Francisco’s Apple store:
No big deal right? Well let me take a step back here.
Yesterday, Emily and I were just around here. We were in the Ross that’s highlighted in the photo (apparently it’s down the corner from the Apple store). It looked like this Ross was full of women’s clothes so I found a place against a wall SMS-ing some friends. Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone stare at me. It was this african-american kid (high-school age). I thought nothing of the long stare as he looked away. What I did catch was him stealthy reaching under his shirt as if he were putting something there.
I looked up and noticed the black surveillance domes. I also noticed a security guard near the door who looked very bored.
I didn’t want to make presumptions but I had a few friends in middle school who loved the “five-finger discount” (stealing). Thieves always have that look too. Like they are trying to look TOO casual. It probably didn’t help that he and I were in a section surrounded by products for females (think small jewelry like earrings). I noticed that he was with a friend or brother (also young) and that there was also an older sister figure (slightly older). The sister looked casual but the two guys were constantly looking back and forth, surveying the area.
I didn’t want to be too presumptuous here but I was interested to see if I was right. Don’t let good intentions blind you. I watched from a distance and saw that the older brother asked for an empty bag. He turned and placed something in the bag. My guess was that it was HOT goods. They were carrying some Ross bags like they had shopped there and were openly displaying money like they were ready to purchase something. So it was really hard to tell what was going on.
Anyway, as the older brother left I casually watched him. (What can I say? I was bored and Emily was shopping.) I noticed that by the door the security guard had stopped him and right outside another security guard had stopped the sister. Oooh ooh action! Eventually they were brought back in and I lost them.
Ok. Back to the iPhone. I was reading this article and saw this picture. See the two guys in the lower right. THAT’S THEM! I’m 99% sure of it. It’s a still image but the faces are clearly caught. The older brother figure was also wearing a similar hat in a similar style.
Anyway, I thought was totally weird and coincidental, but interesting. They must spend all their time in downtown SF.