Psst! Wanna Buy a Prototype iPhone? Too Late

[Jeff Campbell]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.tuaw.com/2009/03/10/iphone-prototype-yanked-down-from-ebay/' target='_blank'>http://www.tuaw.com/2009/03/10/ipho...down-from-ebay/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"A set of iPhone prototypes from 2006 briefly made the eBay rounds this morning, with bids running more than $2,000 for the two phones (one non-working) before Apple managed to get the listing yanked sometime during the day."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1236745765.usr105634.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Interesting setup, I'm glad they didn't use it though. Rather ugly, but I guess that is why they are called "prototypes" eh? The <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PgaVQSqZlI" target="_blank">video</a> of someone using it has been pulled from YouTube several times, but you can still see a copy of it on <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/10/iphone-prototype-caught-on-video/" target="_blank">engadget</a>.&nbsp; There is also some discussion in the <a href="http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=627449" target="_blank">macrumors forums</a>, from January of this year, of a couple of prototypes that someone bought off ebay. He also posts some pictures of them and they look like the protorypes in the video. Not too surprising that Apple got them pulled from ebay the same day they went up for bid.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

[Phronetix]

Interesting setup, I'm glad they didn't use it though. Rather ugly, but I guess that is why they are called "prototypes" eh?

If I recall, Jobs said in the original iPhone keynote that there were two teams working on the project secretly and independently. One working on the software with dummy hardware, and the other working on the hardware with dummy software.

I would imagine this is a prototype of the latter group. I bet the prototype software never looked this rough.

That's cool, though.

[Phronetix]

If I recall, Jobs said in the original iPhone keynote that there were two teams working on the project secretly and independently. One working on the software with dummy hardware, and the other working on the hardware with dummy software.

I would imagine this is a prototype of the latter group. I bet the prototype software never looked this rough.

That's cool, though.

Just read the MacRumors forums. They pretty much say this exact thing... that the software on this unit was the fake version, with limited functionality. This device actually has a plastic screen. I wonder at what point they went with the glass. After a year and a half of iphone use, I gotta say this glass screen was a stroke of genius by Apple. Sure, it smudges. But no scratches, no need for screen protectors (ugh, I hated those).