Gray Powell was, until recently, just another software engineer at Apple Inc. He became a little better known reception when he left his new prototype iPhone in the Gourmet Haus Staudt, a German beer garden just outside of Cupertino, California. He was enjoying his birthday (maybe a little too much) when he left the bar later without his iPhone.
The iPhone was found by a really inebriated customer of the bar who had been sitting right next to Powell. When the customer found the phone he asked around the whole bar to give it to the person who may have lost it. Little did he know that Powell had already left.
Still in the bar, the customer played with the device, thinking it was just like a regular iPhone. Nothing special. He noticed that not all the apps worked.
The next day he tried to take another look at the device, only to note that it had been remotely wiped of everything by Apple. He noticed other things now. The outside of the phone didn’t feel normal and there was what appeared to be a camera on the front of the device. He removed the case from the device and, hidden inside, was the brand new iPhone. Yes, Apple disguised their new prototype device in a current iPhone case.
The finder decided to call Apple to return the device, but there was a problem. Apple employees didn’t believe that he was telling the truth. So, he never gave it back to Apple. Instead he sold it to the company, Gizmodo, for $5,000. The Gizmodo guys opened the device thinking it was fake, only until they found out that there were all Apple parts in the device and that they seemed to fit the new iPhone case almost perfectly. Now, they are almost certain that the device is really made by Apple and is the next generation iPhone.
As a result of this coincidence, prospective iPhone buyers know they can now look forward to a slim new design.
“[Apple is going for] a business look versus an iPod toy look,” Deryl Zalewski said. Also, you can look forward to a higher quality and larger screen, one higher definition and one front-facing camera (possibly for video chatting), at least 80 gigabytes of storage and the first phone to carry a micro-sim card.
