Apple loses another unreleased iPhone (exclusive)

[BLiNK]

Apple loses another unreleased iPhone (exclusive) | Apple - CNET News

Cava22, the San Francisco bar where another unreleased iPhone apparently went missing.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

In a bizarre repeat of a high-profile incident last year, an Apple employee once again appears to have lost an unreleased iPhone in a bar, CNET has learned.

The errant iPhone, which went missing in San Francisco's Mission district in late July, sparked a scramble by Apple security to recover the device over the next few days, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Last year, an iPhone 4 prototype was bought by a gadget blog that paid $5,000 in cash. This year's lost phone seems to have taken a more mundane path: it was taken from a Mexican restaurant and bar and may have been sold on Craigslist for $200. Still unclear are details about the device, what version of the iOS operating system it was running, and what it looks like.

While Apple has not publicly announced any plans for future phones, unconfirmed reports in the last few weeks suggest the launch date for the iPhone 5 is likely to be in early October. Other reports from Taiwan have set the date at September or October. (See CNET's iPhone 5 rumor roundup.)

Apple declined to comment after being contacted this morning. A spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department said the company did not file a police report based on the loss at the bar. Craigslist did not respond to requests for comment.

A day or two after the phone was lost at San Francisco's Cava 22, which describes itself as a "tequila lounge" that also serves lime-marinated shrimp ceviche, Apple representatives contacted San Francisco police, saying the device was priceless and the company was desperate to secure its safe return, the source said.

Cava22, in San Francisco's Mission District, where another unreleased iPhone apparently went missing last month

Cava22, in San Francisco's Mission District, where another unreleased iPhone apparently went missing last month.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

Apple electronically traced the phone to a two-floor, single-family home in San Francisco's Bernal Heights neighborhood, according to the source.

When San Francisco police and Apple's investigators visited the house, they spoke with a man in his twenties who acknowledged being at Cava 22 on the night the device went missing. But he denied knowing anything about the phone. The man gave police permission to search the house, and they found nothing, the source said. Before leaving the house, the Apple employees offered the man money for the phone no questions asked, the source said, adding that the man continued to deny he had knowledge of the phone.

After last year's embarrassing loss, Apple reportedly has taken extraordinary steps to protect its prototype devices from leaks. Next-generation iPhones are sent to carriers for testing "inside locked and sealed boxes so that the carriers can carry out checks on their network compatibility in their labs," according to the Guardian.

Apple developers have been given new iPhones with an upgraded processor -- the one that is used in the iPad 2 and is expected to appear in the next-generation iPhone. But the device "is virtually identical to the iPhone 4, and there is no way anyone can tell it's not an iPhone 4 based on the phone's exterior," a report at 9to5Mac.com says. Even last year's prototype was enclosed in a case designed to make it look like an iPhone 3GS.

Last year's prototype iPhone went missing when Robert Gray Powell, an Apple computer engineer who was 28 years old at the time, left it in a German beer garden in Redwood City, Calif.

In early August, San Mateo County prosecutors filed misdemeanor criminal charges against two men, Brian Hogan and Sage Wallower, for allegedly selling Powell's iPhone 4 prototype to Gawker Media's Gizmodo blog. An arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow.

Prosecutors obtained a warrant to search the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen, and indicated they might prosecute Gizmodo, but eventually decided not to file charges.

Under a California law dating back to 1872, any person who finds lost property and knows who the owner is likely to be--but "appropriates such property to his own use"--is guilty of theft. In addition, a second state law says any person who knowingly receives property that has been obtained illegally can be imprisoned for up to one year.

CNET's Josh Lowensohn and Elinor Mills contributed to this report

 

[Premium1]

Maybe it isn't the new final design just one they were working on? If it is the same as the i4 with just an upgraded processor I'll pass.

 

[Fausty82]

Maybe it wasn't "lost" as much as it was "planted" there... just like last year... I just can't believe that it coincidentally happened again this year... #skeptic

 

[Premium1]

Maybe it wasn't "lost" as much as it was "planted" there... just like last year... I just can't believe that it coincidentally happened again this year... #skeptic

I agree seems strange to happen again in a similar setting. I hope it has more than just an upgeaded processor though

 

[LazyStarGazer]

Maybe it isn't the new final design just one they were working on? If it is the same as the i4 with just an upgraded processor I'll pass.

I don't think so.

Last year: iP4 innards covered by a 3GS shell.

This year: iP5 innards covered by a iP4 shell.

Although, I can't recall what the gizmodogate iP4 looked like.

Update:

This Is Apple's Next iPhone

 

[Premium1]

So nothing really special then with the new iPhone?

 

[BrindawithanI]

So nothing really special then with the new iPhone?

Maybe that's what they want you to think...

 

[Premium1]

Maybe that's what they want you to think...

Maybe lol.

 

[Premium1]

Would be nice if they put a pic with the story.

 

[Fausty82]

Would be nice if they put a pic with the story.

The difference this year is that Apple has said (via police reports and other indirect channel) that they lost the device.

Last year, the report came from someone who found the device...

Apparently it's much more difficult to post a photo of a lost phone than it is to post a photo of a found phone. #justsaying

But, yeah, it would be cool to see it...

 

[Premium1]

The difference this year is that Apple has said (via police reports and other indirect channel) that they lost the device.

Last year, the report came from someone who found the device...

Apparently it's much more difficult to post a photo of a lost phone than it is to post a photo of a found phone. #justsaying

But, yeah, it would be cool to see it...

Obviously it is but then why make a story about it? They have nothing to show what the new iphone is so until someone finds it then don't waste everyone's time. #talking like this is for twitter. Just saying!

 

[Premium1]

Also if it was lost a month ago why just all of the sudden was it found out to be lost? Seems to me they are just trying to take a little away from the new sgs2 announcements that happened yesterday.

 

[Fausty82]

Obviously it is but then why make a story about it? They have nothing to show what the new iphone is so until someone finds it then don't waste everyone's time. #talking like this is for twitter. Just saying!

Apple has learned a long time ago that you don't need a photo to steal the limelight...

 

[Fausty82]

Also if it was lost a month ago why just all of the sudden was it found out to be lost? Seems to me they are just trying to take a little away from the new sgs2 announcements that happened yesterday.

Exactly. And it's working. We're talking about it, aren't we?

 

[Premium1]

Exactly. And it's working. We're talking about it, aren't we?

yes everyone is

 

[Jellotime91]

Also if it was lost a month ago why just all of the sudden was it found out to be lost? Seems to me they are just trying to take a little away from the new sgs2 announcements that happened yesterday.

I very strongly doubt that. Apple is not the one releasing this information. I think it's much more likely that Apple has tried to keep this completely silent and someone else felt like leaking out the information.

Then again, it doesn't actually give any specifics or details. But we all know Apple doesn't need to fight for publicity. Regardless of how many Samsung phones launch on the same day, there will *still* be more articles written about the next iPhone, I guarantee it.

 

[Premium1]

I very strongly doubt that. Apple is not the one releasing this information. I think it's much more likely that Apple has tried to keep this completely silent and someone else felt like leaking out the information.

Then again, it doesn't actually give any specifics or details. But we all know Apple doesn't need to fight for publicity. Regardless of how many Samsung phones launch on the same day, there will *still* be more articles written about the next iPhone, I guarantee it.

Clearly its just the fact the specs on the Samsung are better than any rumored iPhone specs. And If they run as smooth as the international model the iPhone has a fight on its hands for a change.