∞ Apple fires iPad engineer after showing Woz iPad on launch day

By now everyone has heard of Gray Powell, the Apple engineer that lost the prototype iPhone at a bar in California. We also know that Powell didn’t lose his job, but not all engineers were so lucky. Another Apple engineer lost his job after showing his iPad to Steve Wozniak just hours before the device went on sale. According to Woz, the engineer showed him the iPad for two minutes while he waited in line on April 3.

Woz said it was his understanding that the engineer was allowed to take the iPad out of Apple’s secure area after midnight on April 2, which it was when he was shown the device.

“In my opinion, Apple was not hurt by my being shown this iPad,” said Wozniak. “And if the employee who showed it to me believed that he could show it after April 3, then that’s another factor.”

Woz said he even talked to Apple CEO Steve Jobs about the incident and Jobs said, “so it’s no big deal.” However, Apple apparently thought it was a big deal because the engineer was fired.

“Does that jive with this iPhone situation? What am I missing here?,” said Wozniak.

After losing his iPhone prototype at a bar, Gray Powell tried to get it back, but the person who found it sold it to gadget site Gizmodo. After being taken apart a full breakdown of the phone was posted on the site for all to see.