Apple patents the bracket to stop store thefts: is it really different from the others?

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THE software blocks, evidently, they are almost ineffective, probably due to a lack of communication by Apple itself. It is almost paradoxical that a company that has built a large part of its fortunes precisely on the effectiveness of communication has not made the message pass loud and clear: once out of the stores, the products on display become precious paperweights. Not everyone knows this, and it could be one of the reasons why from time to time we have to focus on the phenomenon of theft in the Apple Store.

Some even violent, like the one taken up below in Costa Mesa in 2018, a black year for several Californian Apple Stores due to several similar events (one of which worth 30 thousand dollars). After all Apple boutiques have always been looking for a subtle balance: on the one hand the need to show the customer all the beauty of gadgets without invasive security systems that prevent him from orienting the product to observe it freely, on the other hand that of discouraging thefts.

Apple has tried to protect itself by installing appropriately modified firmware in the demonstration products that make them unusable once out of Apple Storeswhen disconnected from the store’s Wi-Fi network. But for the security system to act as a deterrent it needs to get to the ears of the potential thief, and this does not seem to have happened. Apple intends to run for cover, but for some reason that we will probably never know the solution identified does not seem to be to speak out, but rather to introduce a more effective mechanical lock on the products on display.

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The point, however, is always the same. The greater the effectiveness of the physical deterrent corresponds to one less freedom for the customer to observe the object as he sees fit, unless you find an ingenious and certainly complex system to balance two incompatible needs. A February 2020 patent just approved by the USPTO, the US Patent Office, explains how Apple believes it has found the square.


To be honest, from the images included in the document there are no particular differences compared to the anti-theft systems already used in the exhibition stands of the competition. Apple, as always, professes to be optimistic, and in the patent description explains that its system is safer than the current ones but at the same time leaves the customer the freedom to lift, rotate and above all easily handle the product. without degrading the experience.

A stirrup, however, remains a stirrup, and it is difficult to hide or embellish. While it is clearly more effective than Apple Store’s current anti-theft systems, and as much as the designers have found ways to hide the charging cables, the patent images legitimize a certain degree. skepticism that the product-display system della Mela does not degrade the experience of those who stop and browse in an Apple store. Who knows if the patent will really end up in the Apple Stores from the USTPO offices.