Apple Loses Another 4th-Gen iPhone 466
An anonymous reader noted that Apple appears to have lost another of its 4th generation iPhones. This doesn't seem like the most efficient distribution mechanism, Steve. Wonder if the SWAT team will get called in.
Just a thought (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:LOL WUT!? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Just a thought (Score:2, Insightful)
You could be right.. but that doesn't really seem to be Apple's way..
More likely there's an employee in the right place wanting to make a little extra cash.. at least til
Re:They need to stop arresting the FINDERS (Score:5, Insightful)
What ever happened to finders keepers??
If Apple is gonna keep losing their 4G iPhones, I seriously think law enforcement needs to stop helping them. Apple is careless and that's the price they pay.
Kindergarden playground rules don't apply in the Real World. IANAL, but I do know that from a legal standpoint I can "store" my property anywhere I want and it doesn't cease being mine just because you can pick it up and carry it off.
Oh look, I found your Porsche parked on the street. I'll just take it home with me. Finders keepers. I don't think so.
lessons from the past (Score:4, Insightful)
Instead of exposing themselves to corporate controlled police action again they decided to export the phone to a free country before publishing their victory.
Wait, there is something seriously wrong about this...
Re:Uh (Score:3, Insightful)
Not wow. Marketing. (Score:3, Insightful)
Easy and cheap - "look, we got to the front page of /. again, practically for free".
Please stop the apple spam (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Just a thought (Score:5, Insightful)
The early prototype for what eventually became the Palm Pre, Blackberry Bold, and Nokia Symbian phones.
Some people still buy them out of nostalgia for the good old days when you weren't bothered with having to tether, were protected from the confusion of too much choice in applications, didn't have to deal with the hassle of replacing batteries, could concentrate on doing only one thing at a time and your phone supported this by not multitasking, and when "(whatever memory is installed in the phone) is enough for everybody".
Ah, memories.
Re:Part deux (Score:1, Insightful)
robbery implies threats of violence.
So if someone breaks into your house while you're away on vacation, you can't say that you've been robbed?!?!?!?
Re:Just a thought (Score:4, Insightful)
-Apple has taken legal action against the journalist at Gizmodo reporting on the previous prototype. This would not have happened if the leak was intentional.
-Apple is not stupid. They know about the Osborne Effect [wikipedia.org] - that releasing too much hype and information on new products causes immediate losses as people who would have bought the current product sit and wait for the new product's release instead.
When does Gizmodo guy get his computers back? (Score:3, Insightful)
And a full apology from the Storm Troopers?
At this point, it's pretty clear that NOTHING WAS STOLEN, clearly, Apple is intentionally "losing" these phones to continue to generate buzz. So unless Jason Chen was part of the viral marketing campaign (if so, I hope he's being paid real well to have his door kicked in), I think the California Police Department of Overreaction owes this guy some crow-eating.
Apple is the guilty party, and you can't be in possetion of stolen property if it was intentionally "lost" by the rightful owner. That's called a "free sample". And if the Police State we live in can't tell the difference anymore, then companies shouldn't be allowed to viral market.
Re:Lost? You keep using that word. (Score:3, Insightful)
- An inside job, or some otherwise corporate espionage thing. I don't see what they would gain here other than seeing what Apple's internals look like a few weeks early, which wouldn't help them rush a product to market ahead of Apple.
if it was corporate espionage, it'd be locked in a lab somewhere, being dissected by an electron microscope, not on a vietnamese blog.
Is this some kind of half assed viral marketing? (Score:2, Insightful)
I doubt it myself but it is generating quite a bit of interweb buzz around the new phone.
I think it is an appropriate time to misquote Oscar Wilde:
"To lose one phone, Mr. Jobs, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness."
Re:Not wow. Marketing. (Score:1, Insightful)
They have to be saying that at least 5-6 times a day, the way the /. editors seem to think anything remotely Apple related is some kind of big news deal, lately.
Re:Just a thought (Score:5, Insightful)
Or maybe with Apple currently being more successful that it's ever been, and the iphone being a hugely popular device right now, the temptation to learn or share privileged information is just well beyond anything that Apple has seen before?
Apple would have zero problems getting more "legitimate" news coverage if they wanted it. They're always so careful with the aesthetics of their marketing, why would they want to leak grainy photos and poorly lit videos by random people when they could easily get crisp clean front page covers of a dozen different magazines/website? I guess they could be trying some sort of "underground" marketing strategy, but that doesn't make sense for a company where image is very important.
Re:Lost? You keep using that word. (Score:2, Insightful)
if it was corporate espionage, it'd be locked in a lab somewhere, being dissected by an electron microscope, not on a vietnamese blog.
Get real. Almost all of Apple's product are using standard off the shelf components. How do you think strip down site are able to list costs to build so quickly?
Re:Just a thought (Score:2, Insightful)
Apple would have zero problems getting more "legitimate" news coverage if they wanted it.
It's pretty well established that they've saturated the 'legitimate' news coverage recently. We all groan now at yet-another-Apple-stunt. How far will they reach? Only their marketing staff knows for certain.
Re:Just a thought (Score:3, Insightful)
you weren't bothered with having to tether
iPhones can be tethered without Jail Breaking now. Have been able to for some time.
were protected from the confusion of too much choice in applications
Yeah, because the 50,000 or so on the App Store last I checked is a terribly small number and indicates a horrible lack of choice ::Eyeroll::
didn't have to deal with the hassle of replacing batteries
I'd grant you that this is a valid point, except it's never been a problem for me. The device lasts all day with heavy use. At the end of the day I can charge it. Under some unusual circumstances I guess I can see this one, but day to day it's hardly a major issue.
could concentrate on doing only one thing at a time and your phone supported this by not multitasking
The operating systems multitasks. It just doesn't run multiple custom apps at one. Given it's CPU and RAM footprint, and the size of the screen, not to mention the excellent message passing libraries, this isn't much of a hardship.
and when "(whatever memory is installed in the phone) is enough for everybody".
Again a valid point, but not one that really seems to affect me. I've never needed it to have more than 8GB of storage, and the new ones have twice that (or 4 times that if you pay for it).
All the legitimate problems with the iPhone (tied to AT&T, crappy networks in numerous major cities, underpowered (until the 3GS) for it's OS, crappy camera, etc) and you just gotta spout the same (often incorrect, rarely serious) spurious, stupid complaints.
Re:Part deux (Score:4, Insightful)
even assuming foul play, pickpocketing != robbery.
robbery implies threats of violence.
So if someone breaks into your house while you're away on vacation, you can't say that you've been robbed?!?!?!?
This is one of those areas where /. readers love to pontificate on the precise meaning of words and totally lose sight of what the intent might be.
So, if someone breaks into your house, they can:
* take pictures of every page of your diary; ...after they've copied all the files, including your final draft of the book you're writing for O'Reilly.
* write down your social security number and any passwords they might find;
* take a copy of your spare set of car keys;
* format your hard drive;
*
But in the world of /., nothing tangible has been taken from you, so it's not theft or stealing. (It's not even copyright infringement, in the cases posited above.) Neat, huh?
Re:Part deux (Score:4, Insightful)
don't let your shallow language knowledge hinder you on your way to dig.
Re:Just a thought (Score:5, Insightful)
"Doesn't have multitasking" - I won't listen to Pandora while I read email.
"No replaceable battery" - I won't use it on the plane to watch that movie, that way I can make sure to call a cab when I land.
"It can be tethered now" - I have AT&T and they don't allow tethering, but the AT&T 3G network is so crappy I won't even bother.
Re:Part deux (Score:4, Insightful)
ally lose sight of what the intent might be.
So, if someone breaks into your house, they can:
* take pictures of every page of your diary; ...after they've copied all the files, including your final draft of the book you're writing for O'Reilly.
* write down your social security number and any passwords they might find;
* take a copy of your spare set of car keys;
* format your hard drive;
*
But in the world of /., nothing tangible has been taken from you, so it's not theft or stealing. (It's not even copyright infringement, in the cases posited above.) Neat, huh?
Yeah, and if I see someone fail to stop on the red lights, I can't call it hit-and-run! And have you even tried to call jaywalking embezzlement? People behave as if words had some kind of agreed-upon meanings!
Re:Part deux (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Part deux (Score:1, Insightful)
Um, still B&E...
Re:Just a thought (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Lost? You keep using that word. (Score:3, Insightful)
Not corporate espionage by competitors, but by journalists.
Face it - Gizmodo pretty much scooped up a pile of money off their iPhone 4G reveal - 2 million+ hits on that article alone, plus all the milking (Giz ran daily "iPhone 4G Saga" summary articles for a few weeks afterwards to milk more hits). It happened with ThinkSecret paying people to violate their NDAs on purpose to get the scoop on rumors. It happened with Gizmodo getting a whole pile of hits from everywhere and coverage in other media outlets.
Exclusives sell. Giz had an excluslve peek at the new iPhone, and you can be sure they made off like bandits because of it. The site making a pile off advertising, and practically the big guys at Giz getting far more name recognition.
Competitors to Apple like Nokia, RIM, HTC, etc. Not a chance to scoop Apple by seeing what's going to be released in a few months. But corporate espionage to scoop advertising bucks and site hits for money, that's gold.
The whole SWAT thing is different - journalist shield laws do not cover illegal (or potentially illegal) actions done by journalists - i.e., you can't use them as a get-out-of-jail-free card. They only protect a journalist who is keeping their source anonymous for whatever reason, not keeping the journalist from getting away with anything from a speeding ticket to murder.
Re:Just a thought (Score:4, Insightful)
You make valid counter points, but people often adjust thier behavior to the capibilities of a device.
True. But they also sometimes find that reality doesn't live up to theory. I thought copy/paste would be a huge hindrance. I've had it for a while now and used it like... twice. Flash? Thought I wanted it yet don't miss it. There's adjustment and then there's it just not being the bfd that everybody thought it would be. I would think Linux users who are happily away from Windows would understand this.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Lost? You keep using that word. (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, 'cause all corporations have perfect and instant total information awareness throughout all levels of employees and branches of their offices so it's totally like dealing directly with a person who lost a wallet (assuming you are asking the right person in the first place).
Re:Part deux (Score:1, Insightful)
Burglary: breaking into a structure with the intent of committing a crime
So...in the attempt of burglarizing someone's house while they sleep
Dammit no! The verb for breaking into a house is "to burgle", not "to burglarize". Someone who burgles is a burglar, so "to burglarize" would mean "to turn someone into a burglar" or "to become a burglar". Obviously, you can't do that to a house
Re:Lost? You keep using that word. (Score:3, Insightful)
Lets be realistic here. If you're smart enough to know that you're looking at a prototype iPhone, you're smart enough to know that ringing Apple's consumer phone line is not going to get you anywhere and that you should at least call the bar. Of course, you may also be smart enough to only call Apple anyway, so that it looks as if you tried to return the phone, even if you never intended to.
Re:Wow. (Score:3, Insightful)
This is going to be an unpopular question, but is Steve a Scientologist, heh?
Re:Just a thought (Score:2, Insightful)
Most people who own one, love their iPhones. All but two people I know who have them are very happy and those two mostly complain about things that are the fault of AT&T - dropped calls, poor 3G at times, not being able to tether, some MMS thing. Some of these things could be resolved by now, who knows.
My point is that, for most people, if your device does not have a feature, or does not perform a feature well, then most people work around it. They do not dwell on it. They even sometimes convince themselves that that feature is pointless.
They end up listening to the iPhone media player mostly because they do not like Pandora shutting down when you switch to another app.
They don't take their netbook on the trip to the campground because they can't tether it to their phone. They also are scared shitless of jail-breaking their super cool iPhone, so that is totally out for them.
They think things like Android's Locale [twofortyfouram.com] isn't that great, because a process that runs in the background changing your settings such as ringer, wallpaper background and Wi-Fi depending on where you are physically located will drain your battery. "Oh, that will crash the phone and drain the battery, so what." They dismiss it.
It is human nature. It is just a way that people justify to themselves why they are perfectly happy with what they have.
For proof, reread your comment. You are doing the exact thing I am talking about.
Pesky laws ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Let see. Person find phone on bar. the owner no where around. Trie to contact the owner. No luck Calls Apple, Apple insists it isn't theirs.
And this is the point where you have to give it to the police. Crazy californians, I know. Surely nowhere else are such crazy laws in place.
Or are there ...?