4G iPhone Misplacer Invited To Germany For Beer

eldavojohn writes "You may recall the hapless engineer who left a fairly sensitive iPhone at a bar recently. Well, in a PR stunt, Lufthansa has invited him to visit Germany on their dime after citing his latest Facebook status, 'I underestimated how good German beer is' as well as his obvious passion for German beer and culture. It's not clear if Gray Powell has decided to 'pick up where he last left off' (as the letter puts it). I know what my decision would be."

Comments

First Prost

[codeButcher]

Ein Prosit!

Re:First Prost

[Niedi]

Oh my god, best pun I've heard in a long time.

But poor guy, here's another round of putting his real name on the web, as if the stupid Gizmodo stunt wasn't enough...

Dear Lufthansa

[Nothing Special]

I lost my girlfriend at a bar, can you send me to the Bunny Ranch?

Re:Dear Lufthansa

[Nothing Special]

If you asked me that when we here dating i would say no. Now, however...

Re:Dear Lufthansa

[rvw]

I lost my girlfriend at a bar, can you send me to the Bunny Ranch?

It's more probable that your girlfriend lost you, considering your name.

Everyone's getting in on this PR

[BadAnalogyGuy]

I'm still convinced this was intentional, all the way around.

Re:Everyone's getting in on this PR

[sznupi]

Next you know, Microsoft will benefit on it with something like "when you lose WinMob phone, it's sure to be there, waiting, when you get back"

That could possibly mean it wasn't intentional on Apple side after all, though...

Re:Everyone's getting in on this PR

[rhsanborn]

i heard some commentary on this on NPR, and it makes sense, Steve Jobs operates with leaks, but he doesn't do uncontrolled leaks. I can't imagine he'd do anything that would take the wind out of his sail when he decides he's ready to get up on a stage and show off his new toy. He's far more likely to let little specs leak, a couple feature leaks, but not usually releasing the whole device into the wild.

Re:Everyone's getting in on this PR

[Sponge Bath]

...he doesn't do uncontrolled leaks.

It takes a lot of beer for that to happen.

Re:Everyone's getting in on this PR

[secretcurse]

I agree that tightly controlled leaks are Apple's MO. However, I don't understand why Giz didn't post specs, a model number, or at least a good quality picture of the radio and the processor on the iPhone. If the radio is GSM and CDMA capable, it might mean that Verizon or Sprint will get the 4th iPhone. That's a way, way bigger scoop than just knowing that a new phone is coming out. I also wonder if the new phone is using one of Apple's new A4 processors. That's not as important as knowing what the radio is capable of, but it's still a big story. Why didn't Giz say anything at all about the radio or the processor?

I'm not generally a tin foil hat kind of guy. I just think it's really suspicious that Giz didn't post any info about the radio or processor. Those omissions make it feel like a controlled leak to me. I think it's possible that Apple gave Giz the scoop in exchange for not revealing anything about the radio or processor. Giz gets a bazillion page views, and Apple gets hype for an otherwise ho-hum update to an existing product line. After all, the biggest difference that we know about between this phone and the 3GS is the front facing camera, which many people expected on the 3GS anyway.

Taking some time off

[Metrathon]

Thanks! - It just so happens I'm free the next few weeks!

Great PR potential for Apple to squander

[jollyreaper]

The guy fucked up. He fucked up so bad it's gone past serious to not just epic fail but epoch fail. Apple should just run with it.

Mac: Hi, I'm a Mac.

PC: Hi, I'm a PC.

Engineer: And I'm the idiot who lost the prototype iPhone.

Mac: Ouch.

PC: Wow. So that explains the sign around your neck? (points to sign reading "iDiot")

Engineer: Yeah. Steve told me I had to wear it.

PC: I lost a prototype Windows Mobile phone once.

Engineer and Mac: (reaction shots indicating sympathy)

PC: Actually I lost dozens of them, intentionally, hoping the tech blogs would take the bait. (casts eyes down.) Nobody cared.

Mac: (pats PC's shoulder consolingly.) Oh, PC, that's because Windows Mobile sucks.

Re:Great PR potential for Apple to squander

[xavierpayne]

That's actually a pretty awesome idea for a youtube spoof/skit. Bravo my friend. I am tempted to film it myself.

Re:not that big

[magsol]

but not really worth losing your job.

Do we know that he hasn't lost his job already?

Unprofessional, guys;

[Doches]

I was already aghast at Gizmodo for running a story with the poor engineer's name -- there was absolutely no journalistic reason to give his name other than to give Gawker's editors a bit of titillation. He's a human being; human beings make mistakes. I'm more than slightly disappointed that Slashdot, a community that should be sympathetic to the guy, is having a laugh at his expense. Seriously -- who hasn't ever lost their phone or their wallet?

If, mind you, it was even legitimately lost in the first place -- which I still don't believe.

Re:Unprofessional, guys;

[whisper_jeff]

Seriously -- who hasn't ever lost their phone or their wallet?

Me.

Of course, having said that, I'm now going to lose both _and_ my car keys... Thanks.

Re:Unprofessional, guys;

[elrous0]

Just because you laugh at someone's foibles doesn't mean you aren't sympathetic with their plight.

Re:Unprofessional, guys;

[Coren22]

I believe the attempt by Giz was to help the guy by making it public. The idea is that if many people know who he was, then Apple can't quietly fire him. They would take quite a hit for firing him at this point and it would look petty.

Re:Unprofessional, guys;

[mseeger]

Seriously -- who hasn't ever lost their phone or their wallet?

Me.

The only hypothesis that could explain for such an unlikely event is: You have neither wallet nor phone.

CU, Martin :-)

Re:Unprofessional, guys;

[jo_ham]

No, the attempt by Giz was to drive clicks to their site, and thus push up their ad revenue.

This was never about altruism, not even as a side effect.

What about the money?

[Neoprofin]

Should a company that's asking for millions of Euros in government bailouts be paying for publicity stunts? I mean I know a single flight from Seattle to Frankfurt isn't going to cost the airline itself much of anything, but what kind of message does it send to the tens of thousands of people who have been stranded for the last week or all of the Germans who are going to pay the potential bailout money if Lufthansa starts handing out free flights to guys just because they like German beer.

P.S. Saying "German beer" is like saying "American beer". I'd honestly be curious what he was drinking, most of the interesting stuff is the local city brews and I can tell you some of them are every bit the flavorless piss water of Coors.

Re:"Hapless" my ass

[jayme0227]

If it were real, Apple could not only force Gizmodo to take down any mention of it, they could even get them arrested for possession of stolen property.

Nah. The cat's out of the bag, they know they can't shove it back in now, so they have to roll with it. It would only be bad press if they tried to get the info taken down or have anyone arrested, plus, everyone who wants the information already has it, so taking it down would accomplish nothing.

NPR had reported that according to "industry insiders" this was completely accidental. Apple doesn't need to pull a stunt like this to energize their fan base, and I doubt this will pull anyone new over to Apple's camp. What this does, however, is give Apple's competition a leg up on where they are heading with their next-gen device. Basically they had little gain and much to lose.

Free

[jDeepbeep]

Free. As in beer.

Can open, worms everywhere

[SuperKendall]

I was already aghast at Gizmodo for running a story with the poor engineer's name

Me too. Uncalled for.

I'm more than slightly disappointed that Slashdot, a community that should be sympathetic to the guy

They (we?) are... I mean, his name is known, so why not promote one positive thing that has happened for/to him in the last week? It's a way of saying, we feel terrible for you, but at least you can get a free trip to Germany and a nice beer to drown your sorrows.

I don't see this as having a laugh at his expense or mean spirited at all.

Re:Famous

[nomadic]

most laidback airline personnel I ever dealt with on a long flight.

Well the Germans are so well-known for being laidback...

Re:Is our friend unemployed?

[eln]

That's "Senior Equine Genetic Specimen Extraction Engineer" you troglodyte.

Re:Famous

[Arthur Grumbine]

most laidback airline personnel I ever dealt with on a long flight.

Well the Germans are so well-known for being laidback...

I suspect Dutch outsourcing..

Re:"Hapless" my ass

[Coren22]

Actually, according to a few sources, the original person who found the item attempted to contact Apple, and he was ignored. No stolen property if you attempt to return and the owner doesn't want it.

Re:4G?

[Jake Griffin]

I don't see how that's confusing... There is the original iPhone (iPhone), the 2nd generation with 3G capabilities (iPhone 3G), the 3rd generation with some new features still on the 3G network (iPhone 3GS)... Would you rather they had called the 2nd iPhone the "iPhone 2G with 3G capabilities"? Now THAT would have been confusing...

Not surprising from Gizmodo

[cartoonduck]

No shock they ran his name. These are the same guys who got tossed out on their ear at CES after all.