Sorry, wrong number
[Via I, Cringely]
I was in Los Angeles last Friday for TV meetings and lost my iPhone 4. It was on my belt and suddenly it wasn’t. Then in one of those deja vu experiences I noticed that I was only steps from an Apple Store, so I went inside to trace my iPhone using the Where is my iPhone? app. But my iPhone was nowhere.
Understand it was fully-charged and I had been using it less than 10 minutes before. My phone was nowhere to be found.
Sadly the kids at the Apple Store knew far too well what had happened because they hear the story every day. My phone was most likely stolen straight from its clip on my belt by a professional iPhone 4 thief. The moment it was grabbed from my belt the thief handed it to an accomplice. Within a minute the phone was powered-off and untraceable. They didn’t want my data, just my iPhone.
An iPhone 4 can go for $300 in China. They replace the SIM card, spoof the MAC address or sell it for use on a network that doesn’t care. The street price in L. A. for my phone is $100. An industrious criminal can grab several phones per day.
[More]
They are waiting in line to get iPad2 to send to China for $400. An iPhone 4 gets $300. As someone said, it’s amazing more of the iPhones do not fall off a truck in China before they even get here.
Since I have an iPhone 3G no one wants my phone. And I never carry my phone on my belt because it can be ‘lost’ so easily. Out of sight, out of mind. They can’t steal it if they do not know I have it.
I am planning on getting an iPhone 5 though so i might have to do something. Perhaps someone can sell cases that make the iPhone 5 look like an iPhone 3GS.
A Man With A Ph.D. 
I’m thinking the lesson here is not to wear your phone on your belt. It’s apparently a security risk, and no longer just a fashion faux pas…
I often just put it in a pocket or inside a coat. Even in by briefcase. But then, no one will be stealing an iPhone 3G. I hope that by the time the iPhone 5 comes out, they can make enough for China. Then we may not have this problem.