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I asked a similar question on android.stackexchange.com and I'd like to see how the answer compares for iOS devices:

If my iPhone is stolen, can I remotely brick the thing, so resale value drops to zero?

For apps like Apple's Find My Phone, how feasible is it for a thief to remove the apps? The answer to this sort of motivates my asking the first question about bricking. The more possible it is to remove the remote tracking/data erasing apps, the higher incentive I might have to just brick the thing, cut my losses, and deprive the thief of any profit from his/her crime.

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You can't brick it, but you can wipe it to remove personal data. I think the ability to find a device is built into the OS, so it is not something a thief could remove or deactivate. – Jason Feb 13 '12 at 20:06

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If my iPhone is stolen, can I remotely brick the thing, so resale value drops to zero?

No.

The best you can do is to wipe the data from the device with an app like Find My iPhone from Apple or the open source Prey application. The device will no longer contain your applications or personal data, but it will still function normally and the thief could then initialize it for their own use.

For apps like Apple's Find My Phone, how feasible is it for a thief to remove the apps?

Without wiping the device? Hard to impossible. And that's the whole point of these applications: to keep your data safe and the cost of losing the hardware. You're essentially cleaning it for them and getting it ready for their use or resale. But you're ensuring that they can't gain access to your personal data, your PayPal account, your bank accounts and anything else you might have your phone connected to.

In the UK, cell phone carriers will blacklist phones that are reported stolen so they can't be used on the network again. The bigger UK carriers do it. Not sure how common a practice it is in North America, or if carriers here are willing to do it all.

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In the US, CDMA carriers (Sprint, Verizon) can blacklist the hardware. GSM carriers (AT&T) cannot (read: won't) do anything - if a thief has your stuff, they can do an iTunes restore, insert a new SIM and have a new phone. It's happened to me twice.

Your idea does sound really good though. I wouldn't be surprised if the jailbreak community has come up with a remote "self-destruct" button in case your hardware is stolen. Find my iPhone is more of a novelty than a tool. Law enforcement cannot use the location to get a warrant, so it still leads to nowhere...unless you're into vigilante justice

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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I would say that I have seen good success working with Law Enforcement in the US to track phones that are not wiped and have credible and actionable location information. You can increase the chance of the police investigating your case by offering to let them sign in to a device for real time tracking for the squad that will be following the device. Of course, whether any of this holds up in a court of law or passes warrant granting status is up to the lawyers, but I have seen more than 10 recoveries here in Minneapolis as the police force is aware of how iOS tracking works. – bmike♦ Feb 13 '12 at 20:55
That's cool...if only Detroit were as progressive in their approach lol. – Thomas Mar 6 '12 at 18:27

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