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List of Apple Employees Authorized to Carry Pre-Release iPhones Personally Monitored by Steve Jobs

Is Apple's Security really all that tight?

I know for a fact that on July 4th, 2008, I saw an ATT employee at the fireworks display I was at showing off an iPhone 3G and a Blackberry Bold.

The iPhone 3G wasn't released until July 11th, 2008.

Didn't seem all that secure to me.
 
Rat-Boy said:
Is Apple's Security really all that tight?

I know for a fact that on July 4th, 2008, I saw an ATT employee at the fireworks display I was at showing off an iPhone 3G and a Blackberry Bold.

The iPhone 3G wasn't released until July 11th, 2008.

Didn't seem all that secure to me.
Click to expand...

It may have been released on that date, but it was announced publicly a month earlier - not much of a surprise that AT&T employees got them before the public - many reviewers got them too.
 
strike1555 said:
What a stupid comment. You don't get on a short list like that if your not a "big iphone phone fan."
Click to expand...

You also don't take a protype to a bar where you know you are likely to be drinking and risk something like this happening. My point is that I would have a hard time understanding how this employee left the iphone lying around in the bar, and then drove all the way home before he realized it was missng.

And if the stories are correct the employee didn't even go up to the bar himself, he phoned the bar. If it had been me or practically anyone else who really is crazy abnout the iphone they would have been driving a hundred miles an hour to get back to the bar to check every bar stool.

More than likely this emplyee was just irresponisble. But that is just my opinion. If he was going to go out and drink, especially in bar, he should have left the protype at home. Most people would have been more careful, which was my point.

BTW anybody could asked to be on the list, whether they like the iphone or just thopught it was cool to play with. We don't know because we are not Jobs.
 
pdjudd said:
It may have been released on that date, but it was announced publicly a month earlier - not much of a surprise that AT&T employees got them before the public - many reviewers got them too.
Click to expand...
Yea, good point.

This is obviously different because it was shown before Apple even announced it.

Duh is me. LOL...
 
splashnader said:
You also don't take a protype to a bar where you know you are likely to be drinking and risk something like this happening. My point is that I would have a hard time understanding how this employee left the iphone lying around in the bar, and then drove all the way home before he realized it was missng.
Click to expand...

That's the thing, if you're carrying something that's supposed to be super secret and job-threatening if lost, stolen or shown to the wrong person, it's poor judgement to take it with you drinking if there's any chance of getting even tipsy.

Not that I'm excusing certain other parties in this fiasco, the blame seems to go three ways, the engineer, the unnamed "finder" and Gawker Media.

I am curious what, if any action Apple might take if this wasn't some kind of elaborate intentional leak. Maybe it's not worth it for Apple's legal team to get involved, who knows. The leak hypothesis seems contrived anyway, I'd think Walt Mossberg or David Pogue would be better for that in my opinion.
 
JeffDM said:
That's the thing, if you're carrying something that's supposed to be super secret and job-threatening if lost, stolen or shown to the wrong person, it's poor judgement to take it with you drinking if there's any chance of getting even tipsy.

Not that I'm excusing certain other parties in this fiasco, the blame seems to go three ways, the engineer, the unnamed "finder" and Gawker Media.

I am curious what, if any action Apple might take if this wasn't some kind of elaborate intentional leak. Maybe it's not worth it for Apple's legal team to get involved, who knows. The leak hypothesis seems contrived anyway, I'd think Walt Mossberg or David Pogue would be better for that in my opinion.
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That is my thinking. I agree with you that there is plenty of blame to go around. But this employee acted like he was carying around his regular iphone. When in reality he was carying around something extremely valuable to the company. In fact some may say one of the most important items Apple currently sells. This employee is lucky that the iphone only wound up in the hands of gadget wesbite like Gizmodo. This situation could have turned out a lot worse, especially for the emplotyee.

To me this just screams of poor judgement.
 
Prom1 said:
Another reason to put AT&T's lagging drive to better its network, into the dust.

Now all the news is focusing on iPhone, just as much as the iPad. Stay tuned for another whole site articles based on iPhone within the weeks to come.

I think really should start to learn this Mac.
Man I love this keyboard.
Click to expand...

The keyboard didn't work so well in the bolded sentence.

Or was that your fault?
 
Everyone involved should have simply returned it to Apple immediately. This is simply wrong. Gizmodo went too far. Apple is like family - you may quarrel (or spy on) but in the end it's family, so there's a limit. I don't care if they don't view it that way - I do.

Every time people think Apple is going to screw us, they don't.

The sealed battery can't be replaced! Wrong.
The replacement will cost too much! Wrong.
They dropped the price too much! They give a credit. (An odd gripe to begin with.)
The plans will cost too much! Wrong (the rates are the same as any other smart phone.)
And so on.

They could have just taken it to 1 Infinite Loop, walked up to reception, and coyly asked for Steve Jobs (or another senior exec) because they found something that Apple probably wants kept secret. (And not leave it with reception, because I'm sure they're not entrusted with that info.) That's what I would have done had I been at the pub and found it.

Or better yet, called the pub and asked if anyone had called the pub about it. Then, it could have been returned directly to the poor guy who lost it.
 
Hello - Welcome to the World

splashnader said:
You also don't take a protype to a bar where you know you are likely to be drinking and risk something like this happening. My point is that I would have a hard time understanding how this employee left the iphone lying around in the bar, and then drove all the way home before he realized it was missng.

And if the stories are correct the employee didn't even go up to the bar himself, he phoned the bar. If it had been me or practically anyone else who really is crazy abnout the iphone they would have been driving a hundred miles an hour to get back to the bar to check every bar stool.

More than likely this emplyee was just irresponisble. But that is just my opinion. If he was going to go out and drink, especially in bar, he should have left the protype at home. Most people would have been more careful, which was my point.

BTW anybody could asked to be on the list, whether they like the iphone or just thopught it was cool to play with. We don't know because we are not Jobs.
Click to expand...


Come on. I was an US Army counterintelligence investigator back in the day. I have seen classified defense information in tossed in garbage cans, left in houses of ill repute, bars, churches what have you. People lose sensitive material every day, christ, I know a guy who lost a government car once. I mean stuff happens. Even AAPL employees are human.
 
controlled leak.

I don't understand this whole story. Will "find my iPhone" not work on the 4G?
I mean they remote wiped it, why didn't they track it down. I have used this feature once and it worked great.

This is why I believe this was a controlled leak.
 
New blackberry prototype was found on a dead hooker in a NYC alley, or so I heard.

As for people saying this should have never happened or whatever.. The point of the field test is to use the device as you normally would to find out if there are problems with it in real life circumstances.

Obviously they will now make the iPhone iiii 6x bigger so it is much less easier to misplace.
 
Geez, **** happens. Guess what? Steve jobs takes a ****. If he doesn't, his intestines will explode **** all over his insides, which is even worse that merely having to take a **** every day. Apple will never be able to hire a single perfect employee much less have a whole list of them to carry around new iPhones. I don't know how irresponsible that dude was. I haven't heard a single decent argument that rules out this whole thing was staged. The best of them only indicate how wonderful a staging it was (and how nasty of an e-rag Gizzlemodo is.)
 
RyanR. said:
I don't understand this whole story. Will "find my iPhone" not work on the 4G?
I mean they remote wiped it, why didn't they track it down. I have used this feature once and it worked great.

This is why I believe this was a controlled leak.
Click to expand...

You are wrong. MobleMe remote wipe and Find my phone does not work on 4.0 - tons of beta testers have confirmed this. The only other method that works (and it’s SOP in enterprises that have sensitive data on smartphones) is the exchange wipe feature that Apple has demonstrated years ago.
 
t0mat0 said:
Why the hell did he have it out off campus? It was his birthday - not like he was going to be doing much Apple related work on the baseband, whilst drinking, on his birthday...
Click to expand...

Did you read the article? Devices like phones need to be tested in the real world, you can't rely 100% on lab or even on-campus testing. How do we know he went there to get hammered? Is it possible that he just went for a drink and a bite to eat and had his mind on something else for a minute? Is it that hard to believe that sometimes **** happens?
 
dodgerbluetx said:
Did you read the article? Devices like phones need to be tested in the real world, you can't rely 100% on lab or even on-campus testing. How do we know he went there to get hammered? Is it possible that he just went for a drink and a bite to eat and had his mind on something else for a minute? Is it that hard to believe that sometimes **** happens?
Click to expand...

According to a Podcast that John Gruber was on, he says that in the past, certain trusted folks at Apple were allowed to use pre-production models as their normal phones. I don’t have any confirmation of this, but it is another explanation as to how Gray had a phone outside of work.
 
louis Fashion said:
Come on. I was an US Army counterintelligence investigator back in the day. I have seen classified defense information in tossed in garbage cans, left in houses of ill repute, bars, churches what have you. People lose sensitive material every day, christ, I know a guy who lost a government car once. I mean stuff happens. Even AAPL employees are human.
Click to expand...


That's one of the worst attempts at rationalizing incompetence that I have ever heard.

Wait, I take it back, this is the worst one I've heard. This thread really seems to be attracting....something.

sonicwind said:
Geez, **** happens. Guess what? Steve jobs takes a ****. If he doesn't, his intestines will explode **** all over his insides, which is even worse that merely having to take a **** every day. Apple will never be able to hire a single perfect employee much less have a whole list of them to carry around new iPhones. I don't know how irresponsible that dude was. I haven't heard a single decent argument that rules out this whole thing was staged. The best of them only indicate how wonderful a staging it was (and how nasty of an e-rag Gizzlemodo is.)
Click to expand...
 
Steve Jobs ... WHO?

Dear Steve Jobs please retire and let people do their work.
And please stop making garbage iPhones, at least make one that has all the features that normal mobiles already have plus new features that only Apple can add.
Since every mobiles (even the 1 or 2 year old and crappiest one in japan) have:
- replaceable battery
- customizeble desktop
- customizable screensaver
- good line reception
- customizable ringtones
- front face user camera for video call
and so on
Please update the iPhone, because I bought it some some months ago (3GS 32GB) and it suck!
Otherwise, please dear Steve Jobs retire.
 
dodgerbluetx said:
Did you read the article? Devices like phones need to be tested in the real world, you can't rely 100% on lab or even on-campus testing. How do we know he went there to get hammered? Is it possible that he just went for a drink and a bite to eat and had his mind on something else for a minute? Is it that hard to believe that sometimes **** happens?
Click to expand...

I'M with you man.
We are human not f....ing robots like Steve jobs.
 
AlexFromJap said:
Dear Steve Jobs please retire and let people do their work.
And please stop making garbage iPhones, at least make one that has all the features that normal mobiles already have plus new features that only Apple can add.
Since every mobiles (even the 1 or 2 year old and crappiest one in japan) have:
- replaceable battery
- customizeble desktop
- customizable screensaver
- good line reception
- customizable ringtones
- front face user camera for video call
and so on
Please update the iPhone, because I bought it some some months ago (3GS 32GB) and it suck!
Otherwise, please dear Steve Jobs retire.
Click to expand...


Go buy an android, nobody cares. Seriously.
 
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