So this Apple employee walks into a bar …
Wait, haven’t we heard this one before? Well, like any good joke, this one apparently bears repeating because, for the second year in a row, an Apple worker has lost a prototype iPhone.
Similar to the test iPhone 4 that was left in a German bar in 2010 and later sold to a tech blog for $5,000, this latest mishap features an iPhone 5, a tequila lounge and a possible sale to Craigslist for $200.
There’s a whole slew of details about Apple trying to recover the phone through some FBI-worthy electronic tracking but the cash-flush company wasn’t able to get the device back, according to reports. Instead, the iPhone 5 was hawked for cheap over the Internet and Apple appears to be out of luck. (Although anyone who really believes that underestimate’s Apple’s power and determination.)
The two incidents bring to mind a couple of issues.
First, how is Apple – one of the corporations most protective of its intellectual property – letting this happen? You’d think the company would be as secretive about employees handling its templates as it is with potential carrier customers. Reports have it that service providers such as Verizon and AT&T have to go through onerous security measures to test their iPhones. How are employees able to remove the as-yet-unveiled devices from the Apple campus, of all places, and take them to bars?
Second, we’re starting to wonder about those Apple workers. Maybe the company needs to host a little program called Appleholics Anonymous?
