iPhone Prototype (PS)

I am assuming that most people have heard about the drop-of-the-year involving the lost prototype of the new iPhone. If not, I will relate some of the details. I learned from an article that the person who happened to lose the priceless piece of equipment was an Apple engineer by the name of Gray Powell. Apparently, he had gone out to a bar about twenty miles from Apple’s base site, and was testing it while having a drink. Well, according to the article I read he said, “I underestimated how good German beer is.” This was because, he happened to simply leave the prototype sitting on the table when he left. If someone has not said this yet I will, “Epic fail!” Seriously though, I feel a little sorry for the guy. I did not really check to see if Apple gave him the boot, but maybe they did and maybe they did not. Though, I think it might be safe to say that if they didn’t Mr. Powell got a pretty good reprimand, but who knows. I mean, to be trusted with a prototype of the new iPhone says a lot about his position and capability. Anyway, after Mr. Powell left someone noticed the prototype, and an unknown person claimed it was theirs. At this time no one suspected that it was a prototype because it was in a cleverly designed case made to look like an older iPhone. However, once this person found out what they had I hear they actually tried to call Apple and give it back, but because customer service, obviously, does not know anything about prototype iPhones they wrote the call off as a joke. Thus, the guy takes his offer to the people who run a site called Gizmodo, and they pay him five thousand dollars for this thing. Now, at the time they do not know if this is the real deal, but they still paid the guy a good chunk of cash. Once in their possession they dismantle the device, and play around with it for about a week before posting an article on their site. The article goes into pretty good detail about the device, and some speculations about new features. Needless to say, Apple is most definitely not happy. Another article I read talks about the police investigating on behalf of Apple to see if they have grounds to take legal action over the issue. According to the article there is a law that calls what happened theft because they knew whose property it might have been.

Personally, I think Apple has legitimate excuse to prosecute, but at the same time I do not think they should. I say this because they got the item back. Sure, I see they might have lost some edge on the competition because of the leaked information, but that happens all the time. I do not think it is worth giving someone a hard time over, especially after they gave the item back. Besides, Apple is most definitely got some hardcore publicity for free from the Gizmodo website. Really, the real culprit is the person who played the finders-keepers game, and got 5k out of the deal. Then again, I guess he did try to give the prototype back according to what I was told.