Apple now has a history of employees losing prototypes of iPhone models before the release date. They are not trying to build a reputation so they are utilizing some different tactics security wise to avoid the loss of anymore prototypes before the release date. Again who ever has the loss iPhone 5 contact #IFWT, we are willing to pay for it! Check out Apple’s new security measures after the jump.
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Apple is hiring additional security personnel in the wake of a PR flap which saw it lose an iPhone 5 prototype and then fail to recover it ahead of the device’s release date, just over a year after doing the same with its iPhone 4. The move is an attempt to right the security ship after Apple’s 2010 policies which saw an employee wander around San Jose with a prototype and then proceed to leave it behind, resulting in the unit turning up online advance of Apple’s intended timetable. Steps appeared to have been taken within the company including the termination of iPhone boss Mark Papermaster. But the subsequent loss of the iPhone 5 unit before its commercial release suggests that the security issues are more systematic company wide, with Apple current counting its blessings that the iPhone 5 unit hasn’t (yet) surfaced online.
Adding to the embarrassment are scattered reports which have Apple employees either posing as police officers or using actual police officers to gain entry into the home of the individual thought to be possessing the iPhone 5 unit, with no results. The consecutive losses stand in stark contrast to Apple’s image of secrecy over the past decade-plus, in which even those employees working on various products are only allowed access to the specific portion of the device their work is required on, with no one outside Apple’s most trusted circle having knowledge of the entire widget. However, those policies have recently failed the company in the iPhone department, perhaps owing at least in part to the need to undergo real world testing of cellphone prototypes prior to their release…
The hiring of a new Apple security czar, as reported by eWeek, would seek to establish company wide policies which would prevent a repeat occurrence of the repeat occurrence. As of yet, the iPhone 5 unit in question has remained out of the public eye but also out of Apple security personnel hands, meaning that it could turn up on a tech blog or on craigslist at any time. In the mean time, Apple gears up for the iPhone 5 release date with precious little known about the device…
The iPhone 5 is known to be available on AT&T and Verizon in the United States, but its availability on Sprint and T-Mobile is in question as neither carrier has offered any previous iPhone in the U.S. The device’s release date is thought to be next month but is not confirmed. Apple’s A5 processor, already in use in the iPad 2, is widely considered probably for the iPhone 5. However, other features ranging from screen size to 4G networking to its body styling and design are left open to the public’s imagination. Apple is hoping things remain that way while it looks to hire a new security czar to prevent the iPhone 6 from going missing in the same manner as the iPhone 5. Here’s more on the iPhone 5.
