London saw a 15 percent rise in robberies between April and June, and a fivefold increase in the number of muggings and snatch thefts. The cause? Mobile phones and digital audio players. Chief Superintendent Paul Forrester of Merseyside police said the victims were mostly students and teenagers.

Some children carry phones and iPods [worth] over 600 and they are making themselves walking targets, he said.

But iPods are the prime target (just as in New York City), according to the Metropolitan police commissioner:

"In street robbery, our concern has been around the smaller portable pieces of kit — the new generation of mobile phones and iPods, he said. It is very obvious when someone is wearing an iPod. That is what is fuelling this.

Apple's "One More Thing" this week had best include an iPod LoJack.

Street robbery soars as iPod users targeted [The Sunday Times via Addict3d]

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