When most stories/jokes/tales are being told for the second time they are usually less interesting. But here we are, listening to the same story of some Apple employee that lost his iPhone prototype in a bar and the whole web is storming and raging all over again…

The Old Story – iPhone 4 Went Missing

In March 2010, an Apple engineer “forgot” his yet to released iPhone 4 at a bar in California. After switching few hands, the editor of the popular technology blog Gizmodo managed to acquire it for $5,000 and released in the blog details and photos of the smartphone.

In the beginning of last month, the district attorney of San Mateo County decided that Gizmodo didn’t made any crime and the case was closed.

The New Story – iPhone 5 Went Missing

In July 2011, an iPhone 5 was lost at a San Francisco bar, by another employee of Apple. The rumors are (nothing has confirmed yet) that it was sold on Craigslist to someone for $200. The police located this guy and searched in his home and car but nothing was found. Where is it now? It is still a mystery…

The Questions

Something here doesn’t smell right… Is it possible that a company worth more than $300 billion has such an amateurish security procedures? Does Apple employees loves so much to get drunk so they lost for the second time another iPhone? Why it was sold just for $200 compared to the $5,000 Gizmodo’s editor paid? Is it another brilliant marketing trick from Apple that we can all learn from, or Apple employees simply love to drink…?

Like many other things, I am not sure if will ever get the answers, but the fact that i dedicated a whole article (so as many others) just for Apple can teach us some lesson about marketing…