∞ Apple loses another unreleased iPhone

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CNET:

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.

Your Mac Life’s Shawn King and I were discussing this story this afternoon. It’s interesting to note that the San Francisco Police said no police report was filed, yet a police officer accompanied Apple investigators to the house.

Seems clear to me the source is the cop that was on the scene with Apple.


  • http://www.yourmaclifeshow.com/ Shawn King

    And, if it *was* the cop, the SFPD will have a whole lot of explaining to do….

    • Anonymous

      Lost prototype… that’s too bad. yawn. SFPD police officer talking to rumor mongers off the record… yawn. If Apple openly published the specs and components of the next iPhone months ahead of shipping, what difference would that make?

  • Anonymous

    The original story on Cnet doesn’t make a lot of sense. The entire story (and right now it sounds like a made up story) is attributed to “the source”.1) Cnet contacts SFPD and writes “A spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department said [Apple] did not file a police report”. Then Cnet quotes “the source” and says “Apple representatives contacted San Francisco police, saying the device was priceless and the company was desperate to secure its safe return, the source said.”So, either the SFPD is lying to Cnet or “the source” is making it up.2) “The source” said it was sold on eBay for $200? Now that’s just ridiculous. Last year Giz paid $5,000 for a prototype iPhone. Most working iPhone 4′s go for $300-$400+ on Craigslist. This anonymous source says a prototype went for $200? Do they think we’re stupid? Well, obviously Cnet is, they published the fictional story.3) Cnet says “Still unclear are details about the device, what version of the iOS operating system it was running, and what it looks like.”So, you’re telling me this anonymous source knew which bar the phone was lost at, who’s house the police supposedly went to, and how much it sold for on craigslist, but they couldn’t describe what it looked like?I’m sorry, but this story just doesn’t add up. Cnet should be ashamed of itself for publishing such drivel. I feel stupider for having read the article. Might as well be in the national inquirer.

    • Anonymous

      Yep. A real telling detail to me is the claim that Apple went to the police a day or two later. If there was a prototype lost, Apple would have run their whole find my iPhone right off and  contacted the cops before anyone could sell the silly thing etc

  • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

    Embarrassing if accurate.

  • Anonymous

    Steve Jobs, sitting at home:
    “Jeez, I’m gone for ONE STINKING WEEK…”

  • Anonymous

    TUAW has updated their story to say that SF Weekly has done some more digging including finding the number for Tony the Investigator and he’s not claiming to be an investigator at all. And apparently there are other bits and pieces that aren’t adding up and SF Weekly is starting to believe that it is all BS and the bar made it up for press (which certainly explains why there are mentions of menu items in the sources story)