One wonders why Apple ever has to spend any money on marketing
...when sites like The Register constantly report the minutest details and weakest rumours. :)
Apple has to wonder if it's really hiring the cream of the crop when another of its employees manages to leave a another prototype iPhone in a bar. Yes, in a story we've all heard before, some hipster from Apple went out on the town with the prototype, presumably under the guise of some sort of testing, and then accidentally …
I casually passed the thread, but I could SWEAR someone made a comment in an elReg thread, Wednesday. I kept reading past it, but thought it was a flippant barb/spare about LAST year's lost/resold iPhone.
Seems the one recently sold went for only ***US$200***. Seems the seller didn't know what he was sitting on, other than "Look, i fund an iPhone 4 and I'm selling it..."
Isn't there a law by now that forbids buying and selling of "lost" mobiles, PDAs, and ID-containing devices? There SHOULD be. Phones and tablets and PDAs contain or could contain personally-identifiable, proprietary, and other information. Is it legal to sell a lost social security benefits card? Is it legal or proper to sell a motorist ID/permit card? Is it legal to sell a passport? Sales, re-sale, buys, and possession of an illegitimately transferred ID-carrying device should be illegal, and to prove it is proper should require involvement of and consent by the original or proper owner, and should have an audit trail if the new possessor has or controls it and there is on it data totally unrelated to the current possessor. If it is wiped, then only a present and untampered serial or region code may help prove when/where it was legitimately obtained, but then, maybe that would be the "get out of jail free" loophole for a current possessor.
At least in the U.S. The Register is not the only news source reporting on this story-- believe me. Before the article even appeared on The Register website I had already heard about this story on a major 50,000-watt Chicago-market broadcast radio station, and I am sure that I am going to be inundated with this story at least a dozen more times today through every televised newscast and radio talk-show that I listen to. Let's face it, whether you like the iPhone or not (and I personally don't), they are absolutely red hot right now, which means that any rumor about the mysterious new version of the phone is going to spread like wildfire throughout the commercial media. It's just a given. At least The Register's take on these stories tends to be more interesting to read than most.
Seems to me that past and present, those that Apple entrusts with prototype iPhones seem to go to bars a lot. Maybe the walled garden policy of secrecy needs to include a prohibition on bar hopping. Why is Apple pulling this lame PR stunt AGAIN? Just get the Jesus phone to market so the iPhone junkies can push the syringe and start tripping.
What kind of story is this? It's all reportedly, no proof at all.
No one seems to have a copy of the supposed Craigslist post, the police says no inquires were made and now even the restaurant also doesn't know much about it. Anything about the phone itself or it's features? Nowhere to be be seen.
When stories are just built on someone saying something, it's no wonder you say Apple doesn't need to spend much on marketing.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/31/mcdonalds_woman_wooden_ipad/
In that incident, she LOST $300. In this one -if true- he GAINED $200. Whether or not he thought it was a "lost iPhone 4" and thought it was moral, ethical, legal, fair, right, or okay to just resell it (if it was not a prototype and if it possessed personal data) is another matter.
I think this is staged. I do not believe in Coincidence and to produce the kit that Apple have over the years and then have the incompetance to leave its next big cash cow in a bar smells extremely fishy to me. It is all part of the hype and Apple know exactly what they are doing. Put it this way, if the no brain who spends to much time in bars worked for me, he would be out on his arse tomorrow.
I do agree with you about this looking like its staged, but can I ask why you don't believe in coincidence? It's a very real thing.
Just the other day I bumped into an old college friend of mine some 200 miles from where we last met. Coincidence or has he stalked me?!
Also, with the best will in the world, companies do employ people who are technically very good on paper and excel at interviews but like a drink.
Hands up anybody over the age of 30 who hasn't lost a phone? And hands again in a bar?
I think my count is at 3. Granted, these phones weren't given to me by my employer telling me to keep an eye them more than I would do my newborn son, but tequila does something to the mind.
To be honest, I agree with other posters here- this is all hearsay and conjecture. It's not news at all and by the looks of it likely never happened at all.
What Apple may have done this time is pull the same trick but....... Just plant a story. No hardware leaked, free PR! It's the best of both worlds.
on both questions. I had one stolen (from my office, GRRRRR!!!). Otherwise 6 phones over 11 years that between them have witnessed innumerable nights out on the lash, treks in the wilderness, bachelor's parties etc etc without loss.
I mean, seriously, just stick it in your pocket, don't attempt any drunken handstands and pop it back into your pocket when you fall off the barstool. Losing 1 can always happen, losing 3 is careless, and losing 1 out of probably a very select few prototypes is incredibly careless. Losing 1 out of probably a very select few prototypes when your predecessor lost HIS prototype only last year goes beyond careless. Sure, shit happens, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was lost accidentally on purpose. Or even if it was not lost at all and someone at Apple just made up a story, after all there's zero evidence any of this actually happened.
A couple of the sources (CNET and Engadget) I follow have reported that the source of the stories can't be confirmed as it having happened at all. If anything this seems like media hype more than anything else.
Sure there's coincidence; but when it comes to the manner that Apple gets outrageous amounts of product placement, and anything that seems to happen from the Apple HQ hit the news faster than you can say, "Monica Lewinski" I find myself skeptical of coincidence occurring.
This post has been deleted by its author
Although the cynical amongst us may think that its right on cue ....lose phone...ramp up hype about new phone...deny new phone.....release new phone.......YAWN......
Its just another marketing ploy to get the fanbois whipped up into a frenzy.
Just getting my coat... thats right the one with the Android handset in the pocket except wait i just lost it...............
"Its just another marketing ploy to get the fanbois whipped up into a frenzy."
More like some ploy to get the 'I hate everything Apple fanbois' whipped up into a frenzy.
Lastime, there was a review posted by Gizmondo. This time nothing. No proof just a load of re-tweets, re-posts and a load of rehashing of the old material.
Until there is actual proof that this happened this is pure FUD.
Coat- Off to find a bar where Apple employees hangout. Darn, they are all too young to drink aren't they?
A bar? Is that the best they can do?
Apple's PR need to buck up their ideas. This should have been lost somewhere far more exciting and sexy. Somewhere that tells the world that Apple developers are fun, exciting guys, doing fun, exciting things. Producing phones for fun, exciting people.
Not sad alcoholics who stubble out a bar drunk at 2am, forgetting their iPhone like it wasn't central to their existence.
So, did crapple sue Gizmodo et al last year as part of their marketing plan or did the genuine loss of a phone last year create the idea for a dull marketing yawn this year?
Only one thing remains to be decided.. who is more cynical? Crapple for building in suing and fucking up people into part of their marketing plan to make it look like not-a-marketing-plan or me for thinking they are that cynical (I wouldn't put anything past them)...?
I guess he votes will go fanbois thumbs down, not fanbois thumbs up... as usual. (fandroids? lol)
Apple needs to come up with some new ideas about creating BUZZ on its upcoming phones. This method is boring. Personally, I couldn't care less about the upcoming iphone. Most likely Apple will be adding features that will be on the Next incarnation of the ITouch anyway. After 4 versions....not any significant improvement from one to the next. I guess I'm not as easily impressed at seeing Apples technology springing up in multiple products running the same IOS. Come on Apple. Time for something REALLY new.
Apple is too proprietary for my taste so I will NEVER buy an Apple product.