CNET reports that an Apple employee lost a prototype of an unreleased iPhone in a San Francisco-area bar. No, you haven’t fallen through a wormhole and woken up in 2010 — it happened again. The prototype was reportedly lost in July, and Apple’s efforts to recover the device have not succeeded thus far.
Rather than immediately remote-wiping the phone as it did with the iPhone 4 prototype last year, Apple used the Find My iPhone feature and co-ordinated with San Francisco police to trace the phone to a home in San Fran’s Bernal Heights area. The homeowner gave police permission to search his house, but the device was not recovered.
Supposedly the prototype has already been sold on Craigslist for US$200, a paltry sum compared to the $5000 a certain “gadget blog” (CNET’s words) paid for the iPhone 4 prototype last year. No other details on the device are available, but considering the firestorm that erupted in 2010, it’s unlikely that any “gadget blog” would have the stones to buy the device even if it was offered to them.
We’re not judging here, but doesn’t it seem like bars, pubs, watering holes, and all other forms of alcohol-serving establishments ought to be off-limits to prototype testers from now on?
Apple loses another prototype iPhone originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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