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Saw an iPhone X in the wild

QCassidy352

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Original poster
Mar 20, 2003
12,186
6,343
Bay Area
Ok ok, not the world's biggest news, but I saw an iPhone X "in the wild" at a restaurant in San Francisco last night. One of the guys at the table next to us had it (and yes, I'm positive that's what it was).

Maybe an Apple employee? Does Apple typically let employees use announced-but-not-for-sale products out in public?
 
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Yes, Apple typically lets employees use announced-but-not-for-sale products out in public. For example, I saw dozens of Apple watches in the months between announcement and launch, and saw iPhone 7 on the afternoon of announcement.

Regarding iPhone X, I have not spotted one in the wild, among a large number of acquaintances who work at Apple, or just random people walking around. Assuming you did see an iPhone X, I would guess that most Apple employees still do not have one, because supplies are low and/or production is still being finalized.
 
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QCassidy352 said:
I do, but that was before the announcement, and he was not supposed to be using it openly but rather testing it discretely. This guy was using the X quite openly.
Click to expand...
Right. But the X has already been announced, so it's different at this point. I think they can be a bit more open. They don't have to hide the design anymore, like they were doing with the 4 when it was lost.
 
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QCassidy352 said:
Ok ok, not the world's biggest news, but I saw an iPhone X "in the wild" at a restaurant in San Francisco last night. One of the guys at the table next to us had it (and yes, I'm positive that's what it was).

Maybe an Apple employee? Does Apple typically let employees use announced-but-not-for-sale products out in public?
Click to expand...

My friend works in iOS software development, and they have "test" devices for the new hardware released each fall, well in advance of the public (obviously, for testing).

They are allowed to use them publicly once they are announced at events such as the keynote. So, yes, what you saw could have been the new hardwre.
 
Don't tell anyone, but....

IMG_1894.JPG
 
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QCassidy352 said:
Ok ok, not the world's biggest news, but I saw an iPhone X "in the wild" at a restaurant in San Francisco last night. One of the guys at the table next to us had it (and yes, I'm positive that's what it was).

Maybe an Apple employee? Does Apple typically let employees use announced-but-not-for-sale products out in public?
Click to expand...

I asked apple employees working on apple stores, they are not allowed to buy newly released apple products not even after few months. Apple gives priority to customers first. You can ask any Apple Store employee if you want. The guy you saw maybe is apple engineer or CEO of some company... then its different.
 
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Ok, I just came within 1 foot of an iPhone X. The phone is absolutely incredible, I will not go into any more details, but here is my conclusion:

- Apple employees are allowed to use these in public and are using them as their personal devices. FACT.
- Apple employees are instructed to let nobody else touch them. LIKELY.
- Apple employees are instructed to not wave them around, maybe don't use them in very crowded places. LIKELY.
 
Yes devices are "field tested" but the conditions/instruction are clear/explicit in terms of where you can use it, who can see it and what to do when in the company of those that are not part of the testing process.
 
QCassidy352 said:
Ok ok, not the world's biggest news, but I saw an iPhone X "in the wild" at a restaurant in San Francisco last night. One of the guys at the table next to us had it (and yes, I'm positive that's what it was).

Maybe an Apple employee? Does Apple typically let employees use announced-but-not-for-sale products out in public?
Click to expand...
Good job forgetting to take a picture . . .
 
Buddy of mine is an engineer at apple and he was tagged on facebook last night at a dinner table, and he too had the X. It was in a leather case, but the camera cutout was vertical....so it was unmistakably the X.
 
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QCassidy352 said:
Ok ok, not the world's biggest news, but I saw an iPhone X "in the wild" at a restaurant in San Francisco last night. One of the guys at the table next to us had it (and yes, I'm positive that's what it was).

Maybe an Apple employee? Does Apple typically let employees use announced-but-not-for-sale products out in public?
Click to expand...
I saw someone walking around Disneyland in Anahiem with the X this week. Not sure what their job is, but I sure am jealous. Looked pretty neat in person.
 
Probably an Apple engineer, them using it publicly probably drives up sales... though it seems dangerous to pull out a $1000+ phone in a crowd, sounds like they would be a target for desperate thieves and scalpers.
 
Zune55 said:
I asked apple employees working on apple stores, they are not allowed to buy newly released apple products not even after few months. Apple gives priority to customers first. You can ask any Apple Store employee if you want. The guy you saw maybe is apple engineer or CEO of some company... then its different.
Click to expand...
Not allowed to buy newly released products? Lmao. I stood in line at the  store for the iPhone 6 Plus. The 2 guys in front of me worked for that same  store. One of them was scheduled to go into work right after he picked the phone up
 
As others have said, very select testers are permitted to use yet-to-be-released devices in public. This is a common practice in tech. There are obviously strict rules. Sometimes, the devices are required to be "disguised" like being in a thick case.
 
Zune55 said:
I asked apple employees working on apple stores, they are not allowed to buy newly released apple products not even after few months. Apple gives priority to customers first. You can ask any Apple Store employee if you want. The guy you saw maybe is apple engineer or CEO of some company... then its different.
Click to expand...

Nah.

Apple employees can buy just like you and I, they just don't get a discount on it right away, like most retail companies when it comes to hot goods. Aka things they're likely to sell full price np, so why would they let the employees take up the stock, and at a discount, when there's plenty of people willing to pay full price? It's like when they had the Black Friday gift card event. Every iPhone and watch qualified except the newest one. MacBook Pro? Nope. Not unless it's the old one.

If apple employees brought the phone full price, apple doesn't care.

And apple employees that have the new iPhone before it's released, are more then happy to let other fellow apple employees, retail or corporate, handle it.
 
In his recent podcast with John Gruber, Craig Federighi alluded to a lot of colleagues testing them as a daily phone for several months.

I assume until September 12th they were in disguised cases but now they're allowed to be seen.
 
Worked on device team at ATT. Used phones in the ‘wild’ that were not only not announced but not even decided on being sold by carriers. I remember being on LTE when no one had LTE phones. Stupid fast everywhere I went. We had to be smart about it but it was an everyday thing. Coolest phone was the first Note. People, including BGR, swore it would fail. I loved it and predicted it would blow up (ask J. Geller). I also predicted the estimated data usage rates of ATT smartphone users would be WAAAAAAY above what ‘leadership’ thought. I was right. Remember ATT Unlimited going from $20 to $30 with “3G” iPhone. Price wasn’t the 3G phone as much as it was to makeup $$ from underestimating data use on iPhone and Android. Took ATT years to catch up to utilization.

I would have stayed if they would have paid up. I was informal personal data/reporting guy to head of all devices at ATT. Commonly got pinged for #s for Mike Woodward & Jeff Bradley. Helped ATT build first predictive device/accessory attach rate model. After iPhone things got stupid crazy for accessory team. We are taking about $100M in accessory revenues pre-iPhone and $800M year after. Only 5-6 people o. That team.

Good ol’ days. They were fun.

Sorry for rant. ..was really fun though.
 
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QCassidy352 said:
Ok ok, not the world's biggest news, but I saw an iPhone X "in the wild" at a restaurant in San Francisco last night. One of the guys at the table next to us had it (and yes, I'm positive that's what it was).

Maybe an Apple employee? Does Apple typically let employees use announced-but-not-for-sale products out in public?
Click to expand...

What, & you didn't snatch it out of their hands, point it at their face & run off with it, as the FaceID protesters guarantee will happen? :D
 
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