This is the same problem cybersecurity people deal with: when everything is working the way it should, other people start to wonder why they even have cybersecurity people. Activation Lock reduces the number of thefts, but you can't see things that stopped happening, so you've decided it isn't doing anything. Some thefts will happen, but a lot of them aren't happening anymore, thanks to Activation Lock. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Phone theft used to be a much bigger problem.
When criminals know ahead of time that Apple devices will be bricks if stolen, they are much less likely to try to steal them, which means that a large number of sometimes violent confrontations are being averted. That's how the math works. It's not crazy like you're trying to propose that it is. And no, no one is going to stand there trying to explain to a thief that it will be a brick. The thief either knows ahead of time (and doesn't try to steal it), or they don't and they wouldn't believe the owner anyways. After they steal one, they learn their lesson, and word gets around.
Some people continued stealing activation locked devices because they figured out they could get a few dollars for the parts, even if it is much less than for a functional phone. So, now Apple is starting to serialize those parts to the specific phones, so that those parts are also worthless. That just leaves the value of the scrap metal, which is extremely low, so there is extremely little incentive to steal these devices.
Activation Lock is an anti-thief practice, not anti-consumer, and it has nothing to do with how highly paid "tech workers" are.
That is not true for their laptops.
> because ultimately it's something that will happen regardless of the software or hardware.
No, it will not "happen regardless". Activation Lock has been shown to drastically reduce the amount of theft: https://techcrunch.com/2015/02/11/apples-activation-lock-lea...
This is the same problem cybersecurity people deal with: when everything is working the way it should, other people start to wonder why they even have cybersecurity people. Activation Lock reduces the number of thefts, but you can't see things that stopped happening, so you've decided it isn't doing anything. Some thefts will happen, but a lot of them aren't happening anymore, thanks to Activation Lock. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Phone theft used to be a much bigger problem.
When criminals know ahead of time that Apple devices will be bricks if stolen, they are much less likely to try to steal them, which means that a large number of sometimes violent confrontations are being averted. That's how the math works. It's not crazy like you're trying to propose that it is. And no, no one is going to stand there trying to explain to a thief that it will be a brick. The thief either knows ahead of time (and doesn't try to steal it), or they don't and they wouldn't believe the owner anyways. After they steal one, they learn their lesson, and word gets around.
Some people continued stealing activation locked devices because they figured out they could get a few dollars for the parts, even if it is much less than for a functional phone. So, now Apple is starting to serialize those parts to the specific phones, so that those parts are also worthless. That just leaves the value of the scrap metal, which is extremely low, so there is extremely little incentive to steal these devices.
Activation Lock is an anti-thief practice, not anti-consumer, and it has nothing to do with how highly paid "tech workers" are.