Sneak is a worldy wise kind of fellow and would like to think that not much gets past him, so it was with some suspicion that he heard of another Apple employee managing to lose another top secret iPhone prototype in a bar recently.

The reports suggest that a test version of the much anticipated iPhone 5 went AWOL in San Francisco Tex Mex hell hole Cava22 sometime in late July, and may have been sold on.

Now, Sneak's spider senses are tingling at the moment, and it's not just because the air-con is on full blast. AGAIN.

No, it's because an almost identical story emerged last year with an iPhone 4 prototype which eventually ended up in the hands of Gizmodo editor at the time Jason Chen.

On that occasion the cops were called in and Chen was apparently lucky to avoid gettin' himself into some serious bother. But of course the real winner in the story was Apple, which managed to get some brilliant publicity in the process, whipping its fanboys into a near frenzy by the time the dratted handset was finally launched.

Now, Sneak is not saying the current story is all the invention of Apple's magnificently Machiavellian PR team. Oh, no. It's easy to see how said employee managed to lose the phone in Cava22.

To be honest, looking at the web site - with its references to 'live Mariachi music and Margaritas that make you want to say "Una mas, please!"' - Sneak is surprised he didn't lose his mind too.

01 Sep 2011