People keep seeming to talk about how "Apple is not this sloppy".
It wasn't Apple, it was some employee who like all of us, probably had a bit too much to drink and left his phone. Or maybe it got pick pocketed? Honestly, this only a recent occurrence because Apple iPhones are small enough to forget, unlike laptops, and people actually care about them, unlike the latest ipod nano/mini/shuffle/touch.
And it's only happened twice in a period of what? 4 years of iPhones?
My company creates a device the size of an iphone, and we've never left one in a bar, whether a stock production unit, or a super-secret, heavily-NDA'd, jackbooted-police-summoning prototype.
I suppose I ignored the italicization because it seemed entirely irrelevant, akin to useless scare quotes. You didn't think there'd be a focus on the fact that you compared your company to Apple?
In any case, cell phones require real-world field testing. There's only so much care you can put into it without crippling the tests.
Most companies lose mobile consumer electronics prototypes constantly and don't think twice about it. The fact that it happens so rarely for Apple is ample evidence that they're being far more careful than most companies, and it only gets attention because they're incredibly secretive and react to leaks as you describe.
In any case, cell phones require real-world field testing. There's only so much care you can put into it without crippling the tests.
Create a paired bluetooth device (or whatever), one half is a tiny attachment that goes on the prototype, the other is attached to a buzzer on your keychain or somesuch. Out of range or only at half power? Off goes the buzzer: "Hey, I forgot something!". For a company as secretive, innovative, and wealthy as Apple, this kind of 'prototype protection' in the field is easily answered.
Any night that ends with losing a confidential Apple prototype device was probably a heck of a night.
Apple needs some kind of proximity sensor linked to these field testers' keychain or something. Maybe they just need to upgrade Find My iPhone to include a self-destruct feature.
Because honestly, any company with a warchest like Apple's can afford real marketing. Who is this supposed to be targeted at anyway? The readers of Gizmodo and pcmag? Last time I checked, those arent even close to Apple's core market.
These "accidental" losses do not go unnoticed. Every online community, every tech blog, every kid and his dog is talking about the new iPhone. Why spend money when you can do it for free?
I agree with the sentiment that Apple probably wouldn't do this on purpose, but the last lost prototype made it on to the cover of just about every commuter rag in the world... That's a lot of free eyeballs.
Faux Apple mocks and speculation about the new iPhone are on the front of most gadget websites anyway, so I fail to see how they'd gain anything extra from this.
Because in the previous incident they went after gizmodo using lawyers with their claws out, you don't do that if your intention is to gain publicity with a faux-leak. It also is completely out of Apple's character to advertise in such a way. The kicker though is that Apple has absolutely zero motive to do such a thing, they get plenty of hype from their own official announcements. Hell, if Apple announced that the next iPhone was 3G only, had only a single core cpu, and a monochrome screen with 240x180 resolution it would be heralded as a bold new direction in smart phones.
I've wanted something like this for years. I lose stuff all the time. I seriously think that if anyone made this, and also made it small, convenient, and easy to use, it'd be a goldmine. Of course, kind of self-defeating if you end up losing the keychain or whatever. But still, I'd probably still buy and use it.
Not that I actually believe that PakG1's interest in this technology seriously involved an iPhone prototype, but I actually have a test unit of this product clipped to my bag, paired to my iPhone (and not because I sprinkled it with my magic Cydia pixie dust either ;P).
To be honest, it required iOS 4.3, so I didn't install it on my main phone (which is still on 4.0 for various reasons); the end result being that I am not really stressing the thing out trying to determine how well it works (and thereby don't have that much to say). :(
This joke is getting a little old. What is the chance for an employee to own an iPhone 5 and actually lose it? again. Apple is probably the most skilled company at giving out "leaks", because many times people don't even realize the leak was seeded by Apple.
Look, all of this is complete speculation, there is just no way to know if the leak is or is not a marketing gig; so I don't think a lot can be gained by arguing over it :)
Your link shows a photo of the location, which has a man sitting at a bar and a bartender. When you go to their website http://www.cava22sf.com/ there is a big ad for "Happy Hour"
I can't really come up with an existing iPhone model that sells for 200$, so I don't see how one from the future would sell so cheaply. This sounds like a garbage report.
Ugh, anyone know of something along the lines Apple-haters -mailing list or something? I need a place where I can be reasonably sure that people who I am talking with aren't macfags.
Actually it just confirms that people on HN don't want you spouting moronic shit, regardless of our feelings towards Apple (personally I hate their products, and I felt very good downvoting you twice).
It's a bit off-putting that they try and push this kind of thing a second time and expect people to believe it. On the other hand, maybe I give too much credit to human kind.
If this is true I pretty sure that the iPhone 5 is really a improvement to the iPhone 4. If it would look like a new iPhone model no-one would sell it for 200 bucks. Seems that Apple is doing a great job hiding the lost phone.
It wasn't Apple, it was some employee who like all of us, probably had a bit too much to drink and left his phone. Or maybe it got pick pocketed? Honestly, this only a recent occurrence because Apple iPhones are small enough to forget, unlike laptops, and people actually care about them, unlike the latest ipod nano/mini/shuffle/touch.
And it's only happened twice in a period of what? 4 years of iPhones?