Apple Employee Loses iPhone 5 Prototype in SF Bar

iPhone 5 Lost in San Francisco Bar: Not a Repost

An unnamed Apple employee lost an iPhone 5 prototype at a San Francisco bar. This is the second time that this has happened. The iPhone 5 went missing in late July, and Apple has been hinting for it ever since.

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The iPhone 5 was lost at Cava22 in the Mission District. So far, Apple has not filed a report with the SFPD, but has been in contact with the cops. Using the iPhone 5's GPS, Apple tracked the phone to a home in Bernal Heights.

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Men claiming to be police officers searched the place, and found no trace of the phone. Apple staff offered the resident cash for the phone, no questions asked, but the man who live there said he knew nothing about it. (The men were investigators hired by Apple, and, yes, impersonating a police officer is a crime. While real cops showed up, they didn't enter the man's house.)

The CNET article says that the iPhone 5 may have been "sold on craigslist for $200", which would indicate that the seller didn't know that it was a prototype, but we're left wondering how CNET knows this. We're not entirely sure that this isn't a publicity stunt.

The iPhone 5 is meant to hit the streets (on purpose) in October 2011.