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World's most costly beer: The one that led an Apple engineer to misplace his phone

More on the ongoing saga of the wayward next-gen iPhone. Gizmodo just posted their version of the story behind the story: They say that an Apple employee who works on the iPhone's baseband technology left the mysterious phone at the Gourmet Haus Staudt, a Redwood City bar and restaurant that's not far from Apple's campus.

[Insert joke about German beer and engineers here.]

Anyway, the gentleman who found the phone apparently waited for the phone's owner to return for some time, and was able to identify him from his Facebook profile on the phone. He intended to return the phone the next day, but it was bricked (or MobileMe deactivated) the next morning. That's when he began noticing ... strange things. Like the front-facing camera and the barcodes on the back.

[Insert surprised wisecrack that Apple's prototype units don't have "lock with passcode after 10 seconds" turned on by default.]

That was back on March 18. Gizmodo says they got the phone some weeks later, and today they confirmed it was a legit Apple item by calling the engineer at work. At Apple. Where he still apparently has a phone and access to a desk.

[Insert shock and astonishment.]

It's a fascinating read, and if nothing else, it more or less confirms that yes, we're looking at an official Apple prototype. Lesson of the day: Do not, do not, mix beer and priceless unreleased iPhones.

Meanwhile, here's an obvious point: it's clear Gizmodo had few or no qualms about publicly announcing the name of the Apple staffer who lost the phone (which I originally reproduced in this post, but redacted based on feedback from readers). When should we expect the follow-up story announcing the name and employer of the person who found the phone and in turn provided it to Gizmodo?


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More on the ongoing saga of the wayward next-gen iPhone. Gizmodo just posted their version of the story behind the story: They say that an...
 

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phoneboy415

Hrm.. hate to tell you, but that bar isn't exactly "not far" from Apple's campus. It's about 20 miles away, which translates to about an hour drive in Silicon Valley traffic. Unless he took Caltrain, of course, which means it could have been even longer, depending on whether or not it mowed down anyone that day. :/

April 26 2010 at 12:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kobioshi

From what we know of Jobs and his Hitler-ish control over his company and tirades directed at bumbling employees, we should expect this engineer to be a heap of ash on the floor, and NOT gainfully employed anymore. Who knows, maybe Steve has taken anger management, perhaps his near death experience has calmed him down and changed him for the better... Or MAYBE this whole thing was planned to get the masses excited about the next new thing from Cupertino? June is quickly approaching and Apple isn't about to be outdone on opening day by Windows 7 (blah blah blah), Palm or Android... Oh yeah and that other fruity company. I think that is more likely.

April 21 2010 at 11:05 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
glad

Ahh yes Gizmodo another reason not to go to there website as i haven't been there for years, professionalism or common sense isn't part of their repertoire!!

April 20 2010 at 7:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Patriziaf

I don't know in the USA, but in my country to keep something you find is a law violation. If you don't want to spend time to give it back, you give it to the restaurant's staff or you leave it where you found it.

April 20 2010 at 1:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Patriziaf

I don't know in the USA, but in my country to keep something you find is a law violation. If you don't want to spend time to give it back, you give it to the restaurant's staff or you leave it where you found it.

April 20 2010 at 12:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mezrow

I really wish Giz had not named the poor bastard--there was no need for further public shaming. If he still had a job yesterday, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't today.

April 20 2010 at 12:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alkalain

@Janichsan The whole thing is fishy indeed, starting with the alleged facebook profile...

April 20 2010 at 11:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SIP

If you read this:

http://gizmodo.com/5520438/how-apple-lost-the-next-iphone

it is very clear that the guy who ended up taking the iPhone home had already checked the Apple employee's last post to Facebook and knew his name. How hard was it for him to either email the bloke or phone Apple and ask for him?

The other point is that this guy could have walked in to any police station, handed it over and got a receipt for it. Now, he and Gizmodo are probably implicated in theft and trade secret violations.

Like they say: You make your bed, you lay in it.

April 20 2010 at 11:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alkalain

A quick visit on the facebook page mentionned in the Gizmodo article, reveals interesting info: Profile pic posted an hour ago and wall comments seem non existent prior too...an hour ago??? Either the profile was deleted and re-created an hour ago, or it was recently created to fit the fictional character...

P.S.
May the commenter who didn't go drool all over the pics and vids of the leak at Giz be the first one to cast a stone...

April 20 2010 at 11:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Alkalain's comment
Janichsan

"P.S.
May the commenter who didn't go drool all over the pics and vids of the leak at Giz be the first one to cast a stone..."

*raises hand, casts stone*

April 20 2010 at 3:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Sebastian

Warsteiner sucks, in fact, it's one of the WORST german beers, tied with Beck's. I actually think Budweiser is bettet than Warsteiner, to call this beer german is a disgrace to all of the good beer we've got here.

April 20 2010 at 10:47 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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