[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU7iCNIumpc[/youtube]
Do you remember the iPhone 5 cases that were launched in July by certain Chinese accessory manufacturers? Well, it seems that they were made after a prototype of the iPhone 5 that Foxconn would have lost and certain case manufacturers would have purchased for only $3100. The story comes from a blog from China who would have heard it from a seller of mobile terminals in Shenzhen. It's hard to say how true the story is, especially since the blog claims that the terminal would have a design similar to that of the iPad 2 tablet, but being thicker at the top and thinner at the bottom. It is strange that it is claimed that the device would have the components of the iPhone 4 terminal in it, so we are probably talking about a fairly old prototype, if the story is true.
With its past experience, one might think Apple would have been able to track that prototype down in a heartbeat. However, Apple was outsmarted. The person who had access to the prototype wiped the phone's software, thus disabling the GPS hardware needed to track it down. It was then allegedly sold to one of the iPhone case manufacturers for RMB ¥20,000 (about $3,100). We were told that Foxconn was aware of the loss and had penalized internal management for the incident. We also heard from another source that the person who "lost" it was paid to do so.
Leaving aside the possible prototype of the iPhone terminal, it seems that iOS 5 could be available to the general public starting with the date of October 12, 2 days before the possible release of iPhone 5. For now, the date is only presented as a rumor, but it could be true if iOS 5 GM will be released tomorrow or at the latest the day after, otherwise it is difficult to believe that Apple will risk releasing a new version of iOS without at least 2 weeks of testing. Until then, don't forget that the iCloud, iOS 4 and iPhone 5 presentation conference will take place on October 5.
