iPad dev mugged at WWDC gets hooked up by Apple
San Francisco isn't the most dangerous city in the world, but like any major city it has its fair share of property crimes. When Chinese developer Stone (just the one name) came to San Francisco to attend WWDC at Apple's request (he worked on QQ, China's pick of IM clients for Tencent), I doubt he thought he would wind up getting mugged. Last week, I saw my share of iPhones being used on the MUNI, but never an iPad. I guess we know why -- Stone pulled out his iPad on the bus and was promptly mugged. He wound up with a broken rib and some lumps on the head, plus a shattered iPad screen. Although the iPad still worked (don't forget, it is magical and revolutionary), the screen was pretty well demolished.
Stone went to the Apple Store and, upon hearing his plight, they gave him a shiny new one. The old one will be wiped and recycled, but before heading home the developer was treated to one of those trademark one-line Steve Jobs emails: "safe travels home." Stone still has to deal with the trauma of what happened, but it's nice to see Apple taking care of this guy. It's sad that he came all this way to be subjected to such violence.
[Via M.I.C Gadget]
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San Francisco isn't the most dangerous city in the world, but like any major city it has its fair share of property crimes. When Chinese...
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On a small note, a "mugging" is not a "property crime." From the description this is an aggravated assault or attempted strong-arm robbery. Both are categorized as "violent crimes."
Sorry to nit-pick.
How do you get mugged on a bus? Particularly that badly... broken ribs. I use my iPad and MacBook Pro on the bus or train all the time in Chicago and see others using theirs too. I'd say it is more likely you would smash your iPad after getting hit by a car. That happens all too often here.
June 15 2010 at 2:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWell I'm glad to hear that someone got the treatment they deserve! I got mugged 2 weeks ago and Apple won't do a damn'd thing about my completely smashed iPhone other than to offer that I buy a brand new one at retail price! I've talked to probably 10 people at the Apple Store on many occasions and even to AT&T but nothing from anyone. This is the most frustrating experience I've had in almost a decade of using Apple products
June 15 2010 at 12:41 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySlappy: Its not made of plastic:
Arsenic-free display glass
BFR-free
Mercury-free LCD display
PVC-free
Recyclable aluminum and glass enclosure
Regardless, your iPad should be backed up on your home computer or at least the data in the cloud, so.... yes give it to the mugger and run.
I'm sorry but this is why I'm an American who would rather live here in Japan. This is wrong and ridiculous by all counts. Same as the person who was killed in New Mexico a few years back because greedy shoppers wanted to get into Walmart on Black Friday for a frickin' DVD player and broke the door down on him. The level of violence and stupidity makes me sick.
June 14 2010 at 7:43 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI know the developer who was mugged was Chinese, but I thought of this very thing when I read this article. I haven't been to any country in Asia, but I've lost track of the stories I've heard about how much safer it is in Japan and even [South] Korea. A friend of mine (a 20-something year old girl) recently spent a year teaching English to Korean schoolchildren in Seoul. She recently returned to her home in Los Angeles and was sad to say she "no longer felt safe walking at night" like she did in Seoul. I've heard people say the same thing about Tokyo, that women can walk around at night without having to worry much at all.
I have no idea what it's like in China, but if it's anything like what I've heard about Japan or Korea, this guy probably had no clue he had to be careful on public transportation.
Sad situation. Glad he was ultimately okay and got a new iPad and all that, but I'm sad my home country isn't as safe as some other first-world countries.
Looks like a job for Epic Beard Man across the bridge...
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/epic-beard-man
I ride every day 1.5 hours each way from my home to Burlingame. iPad and iPhone are out and I see 2+ ipads and 15+ iPhones on every bus / metro line. Never seen a mugging but yes there are bus lines I wouldn't have the iPad out on. So he was from out of town and probably was on a bus line that was sketchy.
June 14 2010 at 6:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyiPad 2 should come with a tazer attachment
June 14 2010 at 6:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyGive the chinese guy a break. He doesn't know San Francisco nor which buses are safe. You can't blame the guy for taking out his iPad. Especially since he was a tourist and wouldn't expect to get mugged in the great US of A. But I bet he keeps a tight grip in the future.
June 14 2010 at 6:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWherever there is transit, there is crime on transit, doesn't change the point that one needs to be aware of one's surroundings and avoid making ones' self a target.
Taking an iPad out on public transportation is a bad idea except in very specific circumstances.
I've had mine out on Muni and Bart many times, but I'm wary and wouldn't use headphones in those situations. Bart feels way less sketchy. I took it out on the platform today to show my son the map (because Muni can't be bothered to post large system maps in convenient location). He looked at me with wide eyes, "are you sure you wanna pull that out here?" he's six, and heard about the iPad/pinky mugging. Sucks that a six year old would even have to be so wary. Cool that Apple hooked the dev up. I've seen the SF store replace out of warranty ipods when the owner cried. True story.
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