SAN FRANCISCO — The latest iPhone prototype to go missing apparently was last seen in a grimy Mexican restaurant and tequila bar in the city’s Mission District that sells pitchers of margaritas for $25 and features mariachi players most nights of the week.
CNET reported that what was possibly a model of Apple’s newest phone, the iPhone 5, was left at Cava 22 by an Apple employee in late July, sending Apple security rushing to recover it. Cava 22 owner Jose Valle recalled a man calling several times during that period inquiring about a lost iPhone.
“This is definitely the kind of bar where someone would get drunk and forget their s*** at,” said Peter Thompson, 25, who works in retail and was drinking Tecate at Cava 22 Wednesday night. “It happens all of the time. That’s what you come to the Mission for.”
Some technology experts and gadget bloggers, however, doubt the story, and Apple declined to comment on the wayward phone. The iPhone 5 is rumored to be set for release in early October, when customers of Verizon Wireless, AT&T and, for the first time, Sprint, will be able to have it.
According to CNET’s source, Apple traced the phone to a single-family home in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood.
When San Francisco police and Apple’s investigators visited the house, they spoke with a man in his twenties who said he was at Cava 22 on the night the device went missing, but denied knowing anything about the phone.
Police searched the house but found nothing. CNET also reported that Apple offered the man a lump sum for returning the phone, no questions asked.
On Wednesday night, the crowd at Cava 22 chattered about the missing iPhone while eating chips and salsa and doing tequila shots under a jaunty Corona banner and a ceiling painted like the night sky.
Most patrons knew that the prototype had been found there, and at 10 p.m., there was even a local news report about the errant phone playing on the flat-screen televisions above the bar.
“As we were coming here today, my friend told me it was the very place the prototype had been found,” said Sean MacCracken, 33, a Ph.D. student. “I’m hoping to find a prototype of an iPad.”
Thompson said that despite Cava 22’s dingy vibe, it’s not uncommon to see Silicon Valley techies there.
“I’ve noticed a lot of them here,” he said. “They want to say ‘I partied in the Mission.’ They wear lots of starched colors, gingham shirts, square-toe dress shoes or shirts that say ‘Google’ on them. It’s awful.”
There’s been speculation that the phone was sold on Craigslist for $200, but that hasn’t been confirmed by any of the parties involved. Many at Cava 22 theorized that the lost prototype was part of a viral marketing campaign spearheaded by Apple.
“Apple leaves them around for people to find,” said Dave Green, 27, who works in a restaurant. “It’s free advertising.”
Robert Ramirez, 22, who works for the Parks and Recreation department and comes to Cava 22 four times a week, agreed. “I think they might have left it here on purpose to build up buzz,” he said, “but there’s no reason to do that. It’s gonna sell anyway.”
Last year a prototype iPhone 4 was left behind at another Bay Area bar, and the company got it back — but not before the technology website Gizmodo had bought it for $5,000, thoroughly dissected it and reported the details.
The legal wranglings over that only recently ended; Gizmodo and its then-editor, Jason Chen, were not prosecuted for possession of stolen property, though the man who picked it up off the counter did face misdemeanor charges.
MacCracken said that if he’d found the treasured technology he would risk it.
“I have a student loan check about to come in for $1,000,” he said. “To be the first person to have an iPhone 5, I’d pay the whole $1,000.”
CNET reported that what was possibly a model of Apple’s newest phone, the iPhone 5, was left at Cava 22 by an Apple employee in late July, sending Apple security rushing to recover it. Cava 22 owner Jose Valle recalled a man calling several times during that period inquiring about a lost iPhone.
“This is definitely the kind of bar where someone would get drunk and forget their s*** at,” said Peter Thompson, 25, who works in retail and was drinking Tecate at Cava 22 Wednesday night. “It happens all of the time. That’s what you come to the Mission for.”
Some technology experts and gadget bloggers, however, doubt the story, and Apple declined to comment on the wayward phone. The iPhone 5 is rumored to be set for release in early October, when customers of Verizon Wireless, AT&T and, for the first time, Sprint, will be able to have it.
According to CNET’s source, Apple traced the phone to a single-family home in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood.
When San Francisco police and Apple’s investigators visited the house, they spoke with a man in his twenties who said he was at Cava 22 on the night the device went missing, but denied knowing anything about the phone.
Police searched the house but found nothing. CNET also reported that Apple offered the man a lump sum for returning the phone, no questions asked.
On Wednesday night, the crowd at Cava 22 chattered about the missing iPhone while eating chips and salsa and doing tequila shots under a jaunty Corona banner and a ceiling painted like the night sky.
Most patrons knew that the prototype had been found there, and at 10 p.m., there was even a local news report about the errant phone playing on the flat-screen televisions above the bar.
“As we were coming here today, my friend told me it was the very place the prototype had been found,” said Sean MacCracken, 33, a Ph.D. student. “I’m hoping to find a prototype of an iPad.”
Thompson said that despite Cava 22’s dingy vibe, it’s not uncommon to see Silicon Valley techies there.
“I’ve noticed a lot of them here,” he said. “They want to say ‘I partied in the Mission.’ They wear lots of starched colors, gingham shirts, square-toe dress shoes or shirts that say ‘Google’ on them. It’s awful.”
There’s been speculation that the phone was sold on Craigslist for $200, but that hasn’t been confirmed by any of the parties involved. Many at Cava 22 theorized that the lost prototype was part of a viral marketing campaign spearheaded by Apple.
“Apple leaves them around for people to find,” said Dave Green, 27, who works in a restaurant. “It’s free advertising.”
Robert Ramirez, 22, who works for the Parks and Recreation department and comes to Cava 22 four times a week, agreed. “I think they might have left it here on purpose to build up buzz,” he said, “but there’s no reason to do that. It’s gonna sell anyway.”
Last year a prototype iPhone 4 was left behind at another Bay Area bar, and the company got it back — but not before the technology website Gizmodo had bought it for $5,000, thoroughly dissected it and reported the details.
The legal wranglings over that only recently ended; Gizmodo and its then-editor, Jason Chen, were not prosecuted for possession of stolen property, though the man who picked it up off the counter did face misdemeanor charges.
MacCracken said that if he’d found the treasured technology he would risk it.
“I have a student loan check about to come in for $1,000,” he said. “To be the first person to have an iPhone 5, I’d pay the whole $1,000.”
