A mugger preying on students near Columbia University has apparently been on the hunt for iPhones, but don’t worry BlackBerry owners – he’ll just toss your phone back at you in disgust. An unnamed suspsect apparently bumped into two students, both of whom had BlackBerry smartphones, and left empty-handed. A smattering of similar reports illustrate similar situations. A recent NYPD report says small handheld gadgets like smartphones account for over half of local robberies in October. iPhones aren’t the only Apple product popular among robbers; elsewhere, thieves recently jacked 125 iPads right from a Best Buy.
Wow, has BlackBerry demand dropped off so much that a thief couldn’t even fence one at a fraction of the retail price? Well, RIM’s U.S. smartphone market share is down around 9% these days, so, yeah. Maybe this guy just has a very specific racket, considering he would just walk away if he couldn’t get an iPhone, and not even demand cash. While this situation might paint a bad picture for the popularity of BlackBerry, at least current owners of RIM smartphones don’t have to worry as much about getting held up. iPhone owners, are you wary about flashing your phone in public places for fear of eagle-eyed thieves? What about you, BlackBerry owners?
[via DNAinfo, pic: grafvision/Shutterstock]