One final 'Get a Mac' ad to open WWDC?
updated 11:30 am EDT, Mon June 7, 2010
Said to make fun of iPhone prototype debacle
Apple has one last Get a Mac ad to air, possibly as a part of today's WWDC keynote, rumors claim. The short is said to have been filmed at a bar in Greenpoint, Brooklyn last week, with John Hodgman (PC) as a bartender, attempting to get someone drunk in order to get his hands on an Apple prototype. Although it is not certain where the ad will be aired, actor Justin Long (Mac) is said to be notably missing.
If real, the ad is clearly a reference to an iPhone prototype which was lost by an Apple engineer, then subsequently sold by its finder to Gizmodo. A legal investigation into the matter is still ongoing, and no charges have been filed. Nevertheless, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has insinuated that the prototype was stolen from the engineer, rather than simply left behind accidentally. Company officials have also claimed that the incident might hurt Apple financially, since people may have postponed buying an iPhone to ensure they get a new model.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2009
it will not air
nor will it be posted anywhere outside of the keynote video if there. assuming it is real.
it would be a PR fiasco for Apple and would be an issue with the whole investigation. The last thing Apple would want is for the whole thing to get tossed out before any kind of trial because they tainted the entire country with a tv ad saying that Gizmodo was guilty and actively conspired to steal the phone from Mr Powell etc. Not to mention a potential libel/slander suit.
At this point, the only apparent facts are that the 'finder' actively intended to keep a free iphone (based on his roommates' comments), actively tried to destroy everything related to the sales attempt. And that Gizmodo knew the phone was not his to sell and that they operated on the assumption that it was a prototype and bought it for that reason, at a felony level of payment. Confessed to this via their site, although they later tried to recant that they bought 'the phone' And that they published trade secrets not their own and would not return the prototype without a statement from Apple verifying that it was real.
There is no proof to date that the guy actually tricked Powell out of the phone, that he pulled it out of a bag etc. It is possible that it was left, and the guy was just a greedy douche that got really lucky.