Visitor to this year's CeBIT fair in Hannover demonstrates lack of mobile know-how, attempts theft of Siemens SX1 prototype fitted with positioning technology.
Despite giving off the impression that it might have been a PR stunt carefully orchestrated by Siemens, a tale which demonstrates the benefits - and drawbacks, at least for one of the parties involved - of modern mobile technology has now surfaced from this year's CeBIT fair in Hannover.
 | Siemens showed several iterations of the SX1 at CeBIT; this particular model is the all-black McLaren edition
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At its stand at the fair, Siemens demonstrated a range of concept technologies which the company is developing in its research labs. Among these was a positioning dispatcher for mobile devices - a technology which Siemens envisions will soon guide handset users through cities or help them meet up with their date in a crowded place.
Despite this congregation of the newest and most futuristic of technologies, however, one of the visitors at the fair turned to one of the world's oldest professions as his techno-lust obviously got the better of him: theft. A prototype of Siemens' positioning technology, based on the manufacturer's SX1 smartphone and AGPS, was stolen from the Siemens CeBIT stand.
Likely under the belief that he had pulled off something of a coup, the delinquent was completely unaware that his understanding of the concept of positioning technology may have been somewhat lax. As soon as the theft was discovered, the Siemens engineers responsible for the development of the positioning device were put on the case, sending a series of hidden SMS-messages to the missing SX1 - thus enabling them to start the pursuit of the technology-bandit.
Under ordinary circumstances, users are required to agree to being located when using devices fitted with AGPS (Assisted GPS) technology, but due to the special nature of the prototype SX1 units on display, engineers were able to communicate directly with the stolen device to obtain positioning data without notifying the user.
After Siemens mobile engineers had traced the crook to within an area of approximately 40 meters, the Hanover Police Department was informed of his location. Shortly thereafter, he was apprehended - and it shouldn't take much of an effort to imagine the look on his face after being informed of just how he had been located.
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