apple trying to get some publicity and apple formally submitting a letter from their legal team in order to have a prototype returned are two very different things in my opinion

and why would they purposefully put out an unfinished prototype when everyone already knows that a new phone is coming out? Despite small secrets being leaked often, Apple clings very closely to their privacy especially when it comes to prototypes. If you read one of the articles on Gizmodo it explains the great lengths they go through in order to keep the big news private.

If Apple did this on purpose, I would be extremely surprised
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Apple being the Devils they are (Not apple hating, iPhone is the only phone I will ever own) I wouldn't be suprised if they changed the final product as an FU to the public for this. Lol
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I think even if this prototype wasn't found they may play around with the final physical appearance a bit, but who knows.
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Dustin, you are a man and multitasking and men don't go together. Multi-tasking is a female thing :-)
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I am agreeing with you that it wasn't a purposeful leak. (seems like you may have replied to the wrong post..)

My issue is with Gizomodo naming names. They still have the excursive, why ruin this dude's life?
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naming his name ruining his life at Apple probably had no effect as they would have fired him or given consequences regardless. Ruining it for others I'm not sure if it would have an effect but you may be right that it could be possible. However I have also seen his name printed by major news networks. Originally Gizmodo said it was a "software engineer" so I'm not sure if they cleared using his name with the guy or not.
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It is everywhere. People are creating fake facebook accounts. Getting fired and having your name plastered all over the internet for why you got fired, again, two different things. Gizmodo didn't need to print his name and who he is, point blank. They already had the exclusive and there was no need to drag him though the mud. Even if he STILL got fired from Apple it is not as bad as getting fired and being the butt of a joke that 100 million people on the internet are in on.

The question is, was he authorized to remove the device from the Apple campus? I'm guessing yes, hence the special stealth case. In that case it really sucks but as long as he didn't try to cover it up or lie about it I think he should keep his gig. If it wasn't supposed to be removed then all bets are off and the dude is probably screwed.
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Don't you think Apple could have the power to blacklist him elsewhere.... or would at least make it known to probable other employers who this guy is. Not that Gizmodo was right to post his name (unless they did have permissin) but the guy is most likely screwed regardless
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Absolutely, and depending on his contract, they may be well within their rights to do so. Gizomodo does not have that privilege.

Like I said, I think if he had permission to remove it from the Apple campus there will be some backlash from the public if he get's canned.
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yah, and the way they keep the big things under wraps (the actual devices and not just the rumor of them) its unlikely he got it out of there without permission.... but I'm surprised either way
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Ditto. I read the article about iPads being chained to desks in labs and stuff like that.

The only reason that I *think* that he *might* have had permission is the stealth-ninja, 3gs case that it was in. I doubt that was homemade.
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nope, judging by the quality of it, its highly unlikely that was homemade material
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The engineer has little to worry about and what Apple has going on in the inside of their next phone is nothing secret to those that really need to know. Anything manufactured in China is not a secret and part of doing business there. Too much part ordering and tooling has to be created to keep the phone 100% secret with a 3 month launch date.

Whether this was staged or not is the question and it's too hard to say whether it is or not. The write up is a bit choreographed and does more to get the hardcore techie's interested than they were previous to the article.
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At some point, real world testing has to be... real world testing. As I mentioned earlier, it's too close to launch date to really keep it under wraps. It nuclear secrets can be stolen from St. Alamos, the iPhone is like nothing.
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Apple not pleased with Giz:

Linky
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What goes around, yada yada yada, :-)

Curious as to what they may have been looking for. It wouldn't surprise me if some dimbulb tried to either copy something for the alleged prototype, or took something from the innards.
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Another neat little tid bit, two proto type itouches were on ebay for a couple hours yesterday before being pulled....

Maybe there really is a change of plan as far as marketing hype here
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Image

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http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/thatlost4gphone/
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