If you are at all in tune with the tech world online, you’ve no doubt heard all the hubbub about the next-generation iPhone that was found at a bar and surfaced two days ago on Engadget, and then resurfaced today when Gizmodo posted a more in depth look at it after they purchased it from the finder. Obviously, this is huge. Nothing like this has ever happened before, or at least nothing this high-profile. TechCrunch has a very interesting post about the timeline of this incident and what it could mean for Apple, the iPhone, and the media.
Personally, I’m still a little skeptical about the legitimacy, because the boxy design of the device is a departure from the sleek, curvy design that Apple has used in the past for it’s mobile devices. Then again, Apple is known for making these kind of huge changes, and if they want to add another reason for people to want to upgrade, a design refresh certainly adds just enough to push someone over the edge.
One thing that is noticeably absent from all of this is Apple itself. You would think that with something this huge and important they would have immediately stepped in and blanketed the internet with cease-and-desist orders and found whoever originally picked up the device and brought them under the most restrictive NDA their lawyers could come up with to make sure they didn’t spill anything else, recovered the device, and of course whoever the device was given to would no longer be employed at Apple. But nothing has happened, yet. It’s very suspicious, maybe they’re figuring out just how to respond to all of this, especially since it’s now exploded and is everywhere.
I guess we’ll see the truth when this all comes out in the wash.
UPDATE: Well, it looks like this thing is real. The really weird thing is that Apple seems to be going about the recovery process in a very civil manner, issuing a formal request at Gizmodo’s request, thus proving that it’s real. No corporate bullying or ninja-lawyers serving C&D orders to every website that posted about the device.