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IPILLAGE > iPod Theft in the Big Cities

Words by A. David Cooper
December 2005

In the aftermath of the recent tragic events in London, one survivor appeared on CNN and told the reporter, “I was listening to my iPod, and then I heard something and turned it off…” The fact that the iPod even entered into this unfortunate historic event is testament to the fact that the device is now no longer a product, but a cultural phenomenon, a symbol of our times rather than a mere music player.

Unfortunately, because of the iPod’s popularity, it has also now made some iPod users targets of those who refuse to pay for – or can’t afford – the device. Mostly centered in urban cities, the new rise in iPod robberies has woken up some to the growing class divide in America.

New York City seems to be epicenter of this new trend. Once a gritty city known for its street crime, the 90s changed the city into a safer place where crime plunged dramatically due to the efforts of city government. Yet today, as the income gap in the city widens, incidents of street crime are on the rise again.

In a recent report in the New York Post, a Radio Shack clerk details the new fear by some iPod users. “Others are also playing it safe. More than 20 people have rushed to a Sixth Avenue Radio Shack in recent weeks to get less-identifiable earphones for their iPods,” said a [Radio Shack] worker. “People have come and said that they were worried and they wanted to get a new set,” said the clerk, who did not want her named used. Some iPod users have not only switched to black earbud earphones, some have even gone retro, sporting huge home stereo headphones.

Police in New York have tried their best to advise iPod users against flashing their iPods on the subway, or on the street, but when there are thousands of iPod ads plastered around the city, it seems a certain comfort and pride is hard to resist when many use their iPods in public. One can still easily find iPod users on the New York subway thumbing through their iPod selections in full view of anyone who cares to look. Apparently, recent reports in the media are not enough to deter the most hardcore fans. The most high profile thefts include jogger Benjamin Kim, 25, who was beaten in Central Park by a group of teenagers for his iPod, and a 16 year-old boy attacked at the Beekman School in Manhattan by Emily Wiest, 17, the daughter of former “Law & Order” star and Oscar winner Dianne Wiest. In 2005, from January through May, authorities say fifty iPods were reported stolen on the New York City subway system.

The rash of iPod robberies reached its tragic peak just weeks later when 15-year-old Christopher Rose was stopped by a group of teenagers in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn. The group of teens told Rose to hand over his iPod and he refused. According to witnesses, Rose tried to escape. “You heard him running and they were chasing him, and they were like, ‘Get him, get him,’” one eyewitness told NY1 news. Ultimately, when Rose resisted, he was stabbed, an assault that ultimately cost him his life. The next day police nabbed two of the suspects, Samuel Darran, 16, and Daryl Stephen, 17, but there is still a search in progress for the other assailants. This was the first documented case of a murder attached to such an iPod theft.

As the parents of the slain youth grieved publicly as they called for strict punishment of the murderer, one person central to the drama who had quietly watched from the sidelines decided to step forward. Apple CEO Steve Jobs called Errol Rose, the father of the boy, to offer his sympathies for the horrible event. “He told me that he understood my pain,” Mr. Rose told reporters. “He told me if there is anything, anything, anything he could do, to not be afraid to call him. It really lightened me a bit. Some people talk to you like they’re something remote. He was so familiar. After every word, he paused, as if each word he said came from his heart.”

As many might expect, neither Apple Computer nor Steve Jobs have publicly commented on the series of events. Whether this is out of respect for the family or rather a desire not to shine further attention on the trend of iPod
thefts remains unknown.

Nevertheless, the fact that some people are being attacked for their iPods is no doubt a concern for all CEOs in the digital entertainment business as they look to insert ever more innovative, and usually expensive, devices into the consumer market.