Could this be the next iPhone?
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It most certainly could be the next iPhone.
Yes and no. Most of the specifications will probably be on the next iPhone, but the design will most likely be a lot different than that.
@erichw1504 if you read the full article, that design does make sense. I wasn’t real happy about the curvature of the 3G and 3GS and it didn’t really match the rest of apples line of products.
It was probably a plant !! If Apple were to lose a prototype,I think they would definitely be able to track it and get it back ASAP !
@Axemusica Yeah, but visible screws?! Has there ever been any Apple product with visible screws? Correct me if I’m wrong.
@Pretty_Lilly that’s true too, since OS 4 is supposed to use true GPS an obvious addition would make apple able to easily track the phone.
@erichw1504 that’s true too, but it would still be considered a mock up. Under the article though, the way they made it sound was as if the new placement of the electronics guts (so to speak) wouldn’t really fit into it’s latter generations.
I love how they took it home and disassembled it without trying to find the owner or calling Apple. lulz.
Andy Ihnatko answered this quite convincingly, no. No one is going to leave a (possibly stolen) prototype at a bar.
@erichw1504 My last-gen Macbook Pro has visible screws, as do the last-gen Macbooks.
Now for portable devices, I don’t think any have/had visible screws.
I agree.. I find it very odd that a prototype, stolen or not, would be left in a bar. My first instinct would be to drool over it, inspect it, turn it on, and try to play with it.. but that’s as far as I’d go before trying to find the owner.
Great answer @simpleD!!
“Step One: This phone was lost in a Redwood City bar;
Step Two: (nervous cough);
Step Three: They got it last week.
They need to fill us in about Step Two. A reader isn’t going to assume that it turned up in the mail one day in a padded mailer with no return address accompanied by an unsigned note reading “Big fan of the site, thought you’d be interested in this” printed in Comic Sans.
Did Gizmodo pay somebody for this phone?
Was this phone actually found in a bar? Or was it stolen from the Apple campus?
The second-most-serious question: did somebody steal it from the Apple campus with the intent of selling it to a news site?
The single most serious question: was Gizmodo in any way responsible for the theft of an Apple prototype?
These are all reasonable questions. Gizmodo really needs to address them.”
From your source does raise quite a few eye brows I’m sure.
Whether it has visible screws or not is not relevant whether it is an Apple product,,,as prototypes vary greatly from the finished products ! Years ago I saw a hideous matte black vehicle being transferred from a broken down semi-trailer on the side of the road all under heavy security ,,,years later I found out it was actually a Mercedes prototype being tested near my home ! they where interested in testing the internal mechanics of the product rather than the appearance as that’s what auto shows are for !
I mean it does say ”Apple-connected John Gruber—from Daring Fireball—says that Apple has indeed lost a prototype iPhone and they want it back” so I’m guessing yes. This probably is the next iPhone.
@chels but it says that on Gizmod’s site. Where is this information actually coming from apple inc?
@AstroChuck that’s, “it will be mine…. Oh yes! It will be mine!”
@simpleD Great post.
I think that if this IS real, then it is a very early prototype. It is far too ugly to be the real thing. I agree with the Andy guy who wrote the article simpleD posted, I think Apple threw the iPhone in the 3GS case to see what it would feel like finished (if it is real at all).
@ShiningToast what about AT&T refusing to let employees take vaca during the summer when apple is supposed to announce the OS 4? It doesn’t seem unrealistic, I mean they did release the 3.0 OS right when the 3GS was being released. It doesn’t seem like it would be in early stages, especially since apple is quite good at keeping things hush hush.
@Axemusica I’m sure they they’re almost done with it too, but if I were them I wouldn’t be sending out the near-finished models, just in case they do get captured. I would sent out a butt-ugly prototype with the guts of the new one to throw people off the scent.
@ShiningToast true, and judging from this thread, some people actually don’t like the way this said iPhone looks. I myself like it, but I understand how testing it for the outside world would be like throwing a sheep to the wolves. This is why I think they were (so called) “hiding it in a 3G case”. I’m an iPhone user, I’ve had my 3G since aug of 08 and I always notice someones iPhone. and if I saw this iPhone laying somewhere, I know I’d be asking questions, but who knows? Maybe this prototype is made to be god awful looking and some people just seem to like it that way.
Granted, we still haven’t seen evident proof as to this being an actual apple build or some ploy yet.
@Axemusica Exactly. We’ll see how this all plays out.
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Drat, my Rick-rolling rampage was rigorously removed.
Wow @MissAnthrope good news reading!
“Reports circulating online say that Steve Jobs himself called Gizmodo asking for the phone back. Apple would not comment for this story. Gizmodo returned the phone to Apple Monday night.” – USA Today
It WAS the next iPhone! Haray for silly rumors that turn out to be right!!
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