Lufthansa offers iPhone 4G loser free beer German airline Lufthansa has invited iPhone 4G loser Gray Powell to Munich to drown his sorrows after the poor chap apparently left the next manifestation of the Jesus Phone in the Gourmet Haus Staudt, a "German Specialty Store and Beer Garden" in Redwood City, California. The airline's director of marketing and customer …
At a time when the likes of Ryannair are trying not to pay what they legally have to, this airline seems to be offering someone who is stupid enough to loose important things stuff for free.
I can't help thinking there is at least another paragraph to this story that gives us some background to why Luftansa are offering to be so generous.... or perhaps why it would not apply to me.
Editor????
To fall for such a obvious media stunt.
Apple are getting raped by European sales of the much better, Android based HTC Desire (and Legend), and in the US by the HTC Incredible.
How better to get back into the news (other than another story about how useless an iPad is) by creating a media stunt for everyone to fall over...
So let's get this straight.
A guy from Apple just happens to forget that he's just casually carrying a trade secret, and he leaves it at a bar. A guy at the bar finds it and just happens to have the knowledge to turn it on, check the Facebook page and find out the owner after which point it conveniently wipes (convenient in that it didn't wipe before that point) so that he can't get any more details about the software. He then just happens to have enough knowledge about Apple iPhone versions to notice it has a front facing camera and is in a fake second case, and just happens to have the know how to take apart what is otherwise a completely sealed device. He just happens to know what to look for once he's inside the device, and he just happens to note down obscure details such as it's weight compared to previous versions and it's extra battery capacity to a precise percentage. He just happens to know of an extremely pro-Apple gadget site, that would just happen to be willing to pay $5000 for the device and all the details and he just happens to be able to put back together the device which is created to be extremely tight and built to high tolerances without creating the slightest mark. He then just happens to sell this to Gizmodo who break the story.
In the meantime, Apple just happens to be told by their employee about the problem very quickly such that they can initiate the remote whiping of the device, and despite it supposedly being a sensitive trade secret, they don't use the fact the device has GPS to track it's location, despite clearly having the remote whipe feature in place. They just happen to not bother contacting the authorities, who could've traced the phone using the cell signal anyway, despite the fact Apple has a history of being extremely quick to run to the law over the slightest things, let alone something as major as a leak of a top secret product.
Gizmodo when finding out that it was classed as stolen, just happen to admit paying for the device, and hence being guilty of paying for and handling stolen goods, a serious felony, and Apple still just happen to ask nicely for it back.
The day after everyone starts questioning the weakness of the original story, more details just happen to be released such as the name of the guy who left it in the bar, and the fact the person who found it accessed Facebook before it was wiped, and they just happen to release the name of the employee.
Really? People actually believe this stuff? Despite Apple's known history of manufacturing leaks to generate hype, people still believe what is perhaps their weakest, most flawed story yet?
Are people really so delusional in their love of Apple that they can't spot the obvious flaws in the story, the obvious laws that have been broken by Gizmodo here such that their reporters would end up in jail for their actions if the story is legitimate? The fact that Apple of all companies didn't bother contacting the authorities? The fact that Apple had the foresight to supposedly allow the phones software to be erased remotely, but not track it's location to within a metre via the onboard GPS whilst the erase function only kicked in just after they'd checked Facebook but not got any other details about the software like say checking the contacts list for a home phone number if they were interested in returning it?
What has the world come to when people believe this stuff? I guess some people think Avatar is actually a documentary too nowadays.
Sorry, I'm not sure quite which bit you think is implausible?
It's certainly not in Apple's interest to leak details of the design of a new phone so far in advance to let competitors copy it, and distract from the fortchoming launch of the iPad in the rest of the world.
I don't find it at all hard to believe that some upstart blog might be so arrogant about whatever free speech protection they think they've got, and wetting themselves with excitement at the prospect of such a scoop, that they could easily overlook such niceties as whether they're breaking the law on handling stolen property.
And you probably watch too much Spooks or 24 if you think that all it takes to locate a mobile device is to tape a few keys on a keyboard and 60 seconds later hordes of armed police will be abseiling down a rope from a helicopter to arrest the perpetrators.
It might very well all be a publicity stunt from beginning to end, who knows. I'm cynical enough already that I wouldn't be surprised.
"and just happens to have the know how to take apart what is otherwise a completely sealed device"
As far as I remember, it was Gizmodo who opened up the thing, not the guy who found the phone. I might be misremembering the story, but that sure would make your little conspiracy theory much less compelling.
"but not track it's location to within a metre via the onboard GPS"
Does the iPhone transmit the GPS data back home? (I guess they could implement that on this prototype, if they were lacking confidence on their minions and decided to put some safeguard in there) If so, does it do that in the phones sold to the plebes? That would be an interesting story...
While it may be a stunt (I'm guessing no) its quite plausible. This happened in Silicon Valley, where everyone and their parakeet is up on all the technotoys and probably running a Linux server in their basement - Opps, not too many basements in California - front hall to monitor when the car needs washing. It really is different there. The odds of someone finding the phone and not knowing it was different are quite low. I was way more surprised to learn that there is a german specialty bar in Deadwood, er, Redwood city. Guess I've been out of town too long
Well I can track my current iPhone 3Gs using GPS via the MobileMe service - it stands to reason if they can remote wipe it they can also track it - but conspiracy or not, once it was leaked it was probably in Apple's best interests to keep quiet. If the fuzz had kicked Gizmodo's door down that would have been irrefutable proof of their scoop, so Apple chose to wait it out, which turned out not to be a great idea either, but by keeping quiet people are still talking about it.
As for this article, why are you saying this is PROBABLY a PR stunt by LH? What else exactly do you think it might be?
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