Kevin Miller, iPhone 3G owner and Lego enthusiast is now an avowed supporter of Apple’s new MobileMe service, “Find My iPhone.” For Miller, it actually worked. We’ve all had that sickening feeling that Miller felt—the feeling of what-am-I-forgetting-oh-no-it’s-my-iPhone. Thankfully, Miller had “Find My iPhone” enabled. With the help of two friends, a Sprint 3G-enabled MacBook, and a bit of time, Miller and his friends were able to locate and retrieve the missing phone, with a bit of adventure to boot. The real upside, though, was for Apple, which got a free, real-life, action-packed, living, breathing advertisement for the new feature.

It all started after dinner at a downtown bar. Kevin Miller realized, not too long after leaving the bar, that he was without his iPhone. Back to the bar for Kevin and Co., only to find no trace of the phone, no clues from guests, and no idea what to do. No idea, that is, until he remembered the just-released “Find My iPhone” feature. The next morning they began tracking the phone, first identified at a stationary location, then cruising down the street on a bus, and finally cornering the thief who sheepishly returned the iPhone with a feeble excuse and without much of a fuss.

The success story draws attention to the new MobileMe feature which was announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference 2009, hosted in San Francisco earlier in June. The handy feature gives users the ability to use their lost iPhone as a homing device, broadcasting its exact coordinates to the user’s MobileMe account, which can be accessed online.

While Kevin Miller’s success story is good news, the iPhone locating program isn’t without its potential downsides. In the first place, users need to enable the “Find My iPhone” feature if they ever hope to find their phone. Plus, MobileMe is a paid subscription (an additional cost to the regular iPhone subscription), which provides users with an online coordination and synchronization of files, e-mail, address book, calendar, photos, etc. Another potential downside is the fateful quandary of performing a mobile swipe. The good news is, a mobile swipe would effectively protect your personal information. The bad news is, if you perform the mobile swipe on a lost iPhone, you’ll never be able to find your phone using the “Find My iPhone feature.”

And then there’s the question of, “What do I do if I find my iPhone in the hands of an angry, armed thief?” That’s an entirely different question, and I’m afraid technology doesn’t have a good answer yet.

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