There is a scene near the end of the movie The Hunt for Red October where the Russian Ambassador is speaking to his US counterpart and is a bit sheepish to admit that they lost communications with a second submarine.
The bit of dialog from that scene is most fitting for today's bit of news.
Ambassador Andrei Lysenko: There is another matter... one I'm reluctant to...
Dr. Jeffrey Pelt: Please.
Ambassador Andrei Lysenko: One of our submarines, an Alfa, was last reported in the area of the Grand Banks. We have not heard from her for some time.
Dr. Jeffrey Pelt: Andrei... you've lost another submarine?
It seems that Apple may have lost another iPhone prototype. And, yes, it may have been lost in a bar... again.
CNet.com is reporting that an Apple employee may have lost an iPhone prototype at Cava22, a Mexican Bar & Grill restaurant, in San Francisco. Apple contacted San Francisco police after tracking the phone electronically to a house in the cities Bernal Heights district. Police were given permission to search the house by its resident but the phone was not found.
It is believed that the phone was sold on Craiglist for $200.
It is unknown which iPhone model it was nor which version of iOS it was running. Speculation is that the unit was a prototype for the upcoming model that is expected to be released later this year.
The last iPhone prototype lost in a bar ended up being sold to the technology blog site Gizmodo. There are differing versions of the the details but what is known is that Apple pursued legal matters against the Gizmodo editor who purchased the phone. That action led to a police raid at the home of the editor and his personal PC equipment confiscated. Charges against the editor have since been dropped but charges are still pending for the man who sold the phone to the editor.
So far Apple has declined to comment on the matter.