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

[Winni]

The guy who lost the phone probably gets a nice salary increase now. After all, he's pulled off one of the cheapest but most effective marketing campaigns for the next generation of iPhones.

This event did cost Apple nothing, but the media is all over it and you guys have been talking about nothing else for days already.

This is the marketing department's wet dream come true.

But most of the folks here that really take sadomasochistic pleasure in worshiping Steve Jobs as the evil dictator should change their medication.

 

[Anuba]

Given that prior to the iPad release only a few big players of the media industry and app-store devs were granted access to the device only after complying to have the gadget bolted to a table in a room with blacked out windows, connected to a self-destruction TNT-unit in case of fraudulent access, and after having signed their death warrants in case of any leak, it seems, well.... just a lil' odd that someone can take that prototype iPhone to a bar, get boozed and then forget it. Apple is so weird....

Well, noticed how the 3G version of the iPad is being released long after the regular one? That's not because they're still trying to figure out how to put it together. It's because the 3G version would've required field testing during a time when the iPad was still a closely guarded secret. As soon as it had been announced, they could go ahead and run around with 3G iPads in the wild - if you slip it into a case it can't be distinguished from the basic iPads already out in the open.

But the iPhone isn't the iPod Touch, it's a cellphone and it has to be tested with (and by) radio network engineers. Ergo, it *has* to leave Apple HQ. Hundreds of it.

As for Gray Powell losing something so valuable... really folks, you're thinking about what it would be like if someone trusted YOU with the next iPhone right now. It would be an entirely new mission for you, and at that very moment you're stoked. But remember all those times you got a new gadget and how you swore you'd preserve it in mint condition and guard it closely? Then, as the weeks go by you become increasingly casual about it, it's no longer always in your pocket, you've dented or scratched it once or twice (which was a bummer then but you got over it soon enough...). And now it's at the bottom of some drawer along with other retired garbage.

Powell probably had various prototypes in his possession for several months, and became increasingly relaxed and complacent. It's not like he got it the day before he lost it.

It's like airport security before 9/11. Nothing had happened for ages so it became more and more relaxed. Afterwards everyone pointed fingers at them and said HOW COULD YOU BE SO SLOPPY? But really, if they had shoved a rubber glove up your rear and removed all liquids from your hand luggage on 9/10 that year, you would've ranted about violations of personal integrity until everyone within a mile's radius had gone deaf. People are always careless until something happens.

 

[Captain Planet]

Nice recent photo.

He looks more like this now:

Well, he's improving...

 

[Ellmer]

And then Steve's wolfpack, it decreased by one.

 

[Anuba]

The guy who lost the phone probably gets a nice salary increase now. After all, he's pulled off one of the cheapest but most effective marketing campaigns for the next generation of iPhones.

This event did cost Apple nothing, but the media is all over it and you guys have been talking about nothing else for days already.

This is the marketing department's wet dream come true.

Not so sure about that. Apple doesn't need free, ham-fisted marketing (it's not like their traditional marketing isn't working), and being control freaks, a story that runs completely out of their control after they planted the seed must be their worst nightmare.

And it's not like the iPhone would've gotten any less attention if the world's first glimpse of it would've been at the Keynote in a few weeks' time. The Keynote will be a rather lame occurence now that the cat's out of the bag, and what's worse, there's potential for a backlash should Apple be forced to pull a feature at the last minute. Everyone takes this exact feature set for granted now (dual cameras, flash, 80 GB storage, noise-cancellation mic etc etc), so what if they're forced to remove the front-facing camera at the last minute like they did on the iPad?

But most of the folks here that really take sadomasochistic pleasure in worshiping Steve Jobs as the evil dictator should change their medication.

Now that's for sure.

 

[adztaylor]

It's funny, but mostly depressing, how everyone's eager to perpetuate the notion of Steve as this tyrannical, omnipotent and omnipresent puppetmaster.

"Ooooh, I bet Steve's going to cut his nuts off and put them on display in the lobby as a warning.... ooooh, he's not only gonna fire him but also make sure he'll never find work again in his lifetime, not even as a catfood inspector..."

If Steve as Dr. Evil is your sexual fantasy, you need medication.

The guy was clumsy alright, but it's just as much Apple's fault. Stuff happens, and if they were willing to take the risks involved with having hundreds of new iPhones out in the wild for testing, they should also have been prepared for (and willing to accept, however reluctantly) this eventuality. And if they're professional and mature about it, they'll take it as a healthy reality check and ask themselves whether their borderline comical policy of secrecy is A) sustainable, B) productive. After all, the more powerful and controlling you try to be, the more ridiculous and vulnerable you will look when the inevitable leaks occur anyway. Maybe Gray Powell is the best PR Apple has had in a long time, because he put a human face on a company that's looking more and more like a bunch of robots every day.

Best post in thread, fully agreed.

 

[stanislas]

Given that prior to the iPad release only a few big players of the media industry and app-store devs were granted access to the device only after complying to have the gadget bolted to a table in a room with blacked out windows, connected to a self-destruction TNT-unit in case of fraudulent access, and after having signed their death warrants in case of any leak, it seems, well.... just a lil' odd that someone can take that prototype iPhone to a bar, get boozed and then forget it. Apple is so weird....

You're comparing apples and oranges (pun slightly intended). The iPad was a completely new release that no one was supposed to know what it looked like. The iPhone G4 is just that - the fourth generation of a phone that more or less everyone knows.

Besides, making third party "developpers" sign something and have constraints is different from havin employees of the brand go out with the stuff.

 

[stanislas]

It's funny, but mostly depressing, how everyone's eager to perpetuate the notion of Steve as this tyrannical, omnipotent and omnipresent puppetmaster.

"Ooooh, I bet Steve's going to cut his nuts off and put them on display in the lobby as a warning.... ooooh, he's not only gonna fire him but also make sure he'll never find work again in his lifetime, not even as a catfood inspector..."

If Steve as Dr. Evil is your sexual fantasy, you need medication.

The guy was clumsy alright, but it's just as much Apple's fault. Stuff happens, and if they were willing to take the risks involved with having hundreds of new iPhones out in the wild for testing, they should also have been prepared for (and willing to accept, however reluctantly) this eventuality. And if they're professional and mature about it, they'll take it as a healthy reality check and ask themselves whether their borderline comical policy of secrecy is A) sustainable, B) productive. After all, the more powerful and controlling you try to be, the more ridiculous and vulnerable you will look when the inevitable leaks occur anyway. Maybe Gray Powell is the best PR Apple has had in a long time, because he put a human face on a company that's looking more and more like a bunch of robots every day.

This, this and this, 900 times.

(I hadnt seen your post and just realized I had said the same thing just afterward, but you said it better lol)

 

[kas23]

The guy who lost the phone probably gets a nice salary increase now. After all, he's pulled off one of the cheapest but most effective marketing campaigns for the next generation of iPhones.

This event did cost Apple nothing, but the media is all over it and you guys have been talking about nothing else for days already.

This is the marketing department's wet dream come true.

But most of the folks here that really take sadomasochistic pleasure in worshiping Steve Jobs as the evil dictator should change their medication.

Exactly. C'mon, why would this guy be on Jobs's list of all people. Didn't Jobs see the pictures of him we instantly dug up? If so, then Jobs is a very poor judge of character.

 

[LEStudios]

Yeah, that old picture is a no no!

This whole thing is getting out of hand. At first I thought it was fake, then a controlled leak. But now I don't know what to believe...

Well I definitely believe that I will be in line to get the 4G iPhone that's for sure!

 

[Anuba]

Exactly. C'mon, why would this guy be on Jobs's list of all people. Didn't Jobs see the pictures of him we instantly dug up? If so, then Jobs is a very poor judge of character.

I doubt that Jobs had the time and patience to investigate each candidate thoroughly, he's a micro-management freak but come on. He's not gonna run his own private version of The Apprentice out of his office to find candidates most worthy of carrying the next iPhone. And he's going to look at the guy's merits and track record, not his Facebook pictures.

The guy was hired by Apple (surviving one elimination process right there) and he had worked for Apple for some time and not screwed up. And I'm sure he signed like 50 different NDAs over time. This, paired with whatever skills he possesses that make it useful for Apple for him to carry the next iPhone, was enough. The deal was probably that while he could use it off-campus, he wasn't really supposed to use it privately when he's out clubbing, but people under 30 like to live on the edge, so...

This whole thing is really not that damaging from a trade secret POV. The fact that competitors get a (grainy) first look eight weeks early doesn't give them any meaningful advantage, I mean what are they going to do with this information? Get an 8 week head start on building a clone? Wow. They're probably much more interested in the software, and Apple have already shown iPhone OS 4.0.

What the Gizmodo brouhaha did was pop the marketing balloon and steal Steve's Keynote Thunder. He'll now be standing there showing something we've already known about for weeks, like some behind-the-times sucker who comes up to you and says "did ya hear Michael Jackson died?"

 

[jlc1978]

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.

Roger that. a couple of my favorite stories involve the guy who photocopied an entire manual; changing only the control number. Made it tough to explain when the "lost" copy turned up. Or the team who rewrote a manual; only to compromise it right before it was release; resulting in no - Hotel versions of said manual.
OTOH, the government makes Steve look easy - I had to verify, once a quarter, that we still had the nuclear fuel in our reactor; and the CO and I had to sign for it. Of course, if either of us accidentally left it in a bar...

 

[sterlingindigo]

Someone's gonna get...

A horsehead in the bed...

 

[AlmostThere]

Roger that. a couple of my favorite stories involve the guy who photocopied an entire manual; changing only the control number. Made it tough to explain when the "lost" copy turned up. Or the team who rewrote a manual; only to compromise it right before it was release; resulting in no - Hotel versions of said manual.
OTOH, the government makes Steve look easy - I had to verify, once a quarter, that we still had the nuclear fuel in our reactor; and the CO and I had to sign for it. Of course, if either of us accidentally left it in a bar...

On this side of the pond, we just leave classified documents on public transport

But enough with pillorying this guy, nobody knows anything about him apart from his one screw up and everybody screws up from time-to-time, if you haven't yet, you will ... on that note, I do think this is a plot, not marketing, but one to expose all the sanctimonious, self-righteous * holes out there. OMG, the internet is full of them

 

[Dillenger]

I wonder if that guys next job will be a door greeter at Wal-Mart?

 

[frankjl]

The gray powell act is now in effect?

 

[Shasterball]

That picture is at least 10 years old... if not older. I know it's from Apple's official PR profile page on Steve, but couldn't you guys have used a slightly newer picture?

Seriously... Does anyone out there think he has hair? LOL.

 

[lPHONE]

I still think it was planted.
If I'm not mistaken, Apple stocks peaked today at a record high???
This company keeps making multi-billion dollar mistakes... in AAPL's favor!

 

[lPHONE]

The guy who lost the phone probably gets a nice salary increase now. After all, he's pulled off one of the cheapest but most effective marketing campaigns

This is the marketing department's wet dream come true.

finally, somebody who get's it

 

[Cander]

I still think it was planted.
If I'm not mistaken, Apple stocks peaked today at a record high???
This company keeps making multi-billion dollar mistakes... in AAPL's favor!

The stocks went up because of the quarterly financial report.

 

[iOrlando]

simple answer to losing iphones.

chain it.

 

[seedster2]

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.

~SNIP~

They may be your family, but most sane people view them as a corporation

Gosh, this guy sure sounds like a bad pick to carry a 4G and essentially an unreliable loser type.

I assume he has some special tech skills and hence they had to give it to him for testing, rather than someone else -- doesn't sound like they picked him for his responsible personality.

Redwood City is a real low-class city in Silicon Valley - not the kind of place you would expect Apple employees to go to celebrate. (Cupertino, on the other hand, is a great city, and so are many other neighboring towns such as Palo Alto or Menlo Park, all of which have tons of restaurants, bars, and entertainment where you might expect to find Apple folk). The bar itself also doesn't look high class exactly. Of course I know we all have our personal tastes -- but if he decides to go drinking at a low-class place in a low-class city, why doesn't he leave that 4G at home? Doesn't sound like the smartest, most responsible guy for sure.

How elitist of you. Because he works at Apple he should remain in "high class" nieghborhoods when he's on his personal time

It's funny, but mostly depressing, how everyone's eager to perpetuate the notion of Steve as this tyrannical, omnipotent and omnipresent puppetmaster.

"Ooooh, I bet Steve's going to cut his nuts off and put them on display in the lobby as a warning.... ooooh, he's not only gonna fire him but also make sure he'll never find work again in his lifetime, not even as a catfood inspector..."

If Steve as Dr. Evil is your sexual fantasy, you need medication.

AMEN! Some of the posts are over the top. SJ is more important to them than the products he produces. Sounds a lot like a cultist movement

But enough with pillorying this guy, nobody knows anything about him apart from his one screw up and everybody screws up from time-to-time, if you haven't yet, you will ... on that note, I do think this is a plot, not marketing, but one to expose all the sanctimonious, self-righteous * holes out there. OMG, the internet is full of them

Exactly. This was bound to happen eventually. These devices need to be field tested. The guy lost a device. It was wiped and they got it back. Not going to stop me or anyone else from buying one. Looks like you all are more concerned about this stealing SJ's spotlight at the upcoming unveiling.

 

[gtsipad]

why can't apple PR just release all these stories at once on the same day?

Really? You even need to ask that?

 

[Skeeter35]

Don't buy it

I personally think Steve Jobs instructed the exec to leave it at the bar. This is just the kind of buzz Jobs wants we all are already talking about the new iPhone and speculating. Jobs is not stupid he's creating a huge buzz right now and it just seems so orchestrated to me. Right before a new phone launch there are "leaked" photos or in this case a prototype left in a bar!! I don't buy it! But I will buy the new iPhone Steve

 

[jamest71]

I'd fire the guy. Mistakes happen but when you are in possession of something as valuable as this, it's your job NOT to make that mistake.

If government officials lost secret documents or if a coke employee lost the secret recipe do you just say "mistakes happen"? Welcome to the real world there are consequences for our actions.

I LOVE my iPhone, but I have left it at home on 2 occasions. I left it on my desk at work one day when I couldn't wait to get out of their. I turned around and went back for it but I did leave it. The worst mistake I made was a month after getting it I came out of a store carrying tons of stuff. I set the items on the ground and put my iPhone on the roof of my car as I loaded stuff in the backseat. I proceeded to get in the car and then I whipped the car backwards out of the parking space, then speed shifted through the empty parking lot I was in to the stop light. As I was waiting for the green light I realized I didn't have my iPhone. I immediately felt like sh*t. I backed up to the parking space, once again driving like crazy. I got out of the car thinking I dropped the iPhone in the store. When I got out of the car I saw it sitting on the roof. I was lucky enough to have one of those bulky rubber sleeves over it which kept it from sliding off the car. I wasn't drunk but I was incredibly hungry to the point I was shaking and weak. Mistakes do happen, I've made a few but that doesn't mean you/me shouldn't face consequences for them.


Another thing to consider; how do we really know the guy left the iPhone? What if the guy next to him knew it was a prototype and knew the guy worked for APPLE? What if he did steal it? It would be nice if the guy just dropped it off at APPLE but no he sold it to GIZ.

I hope the guy keeps his job, but if he gets the pink slip he deserves it.