Everyone knows that Apple will be releasing iPhone 4 in the summer. Like all Apple fans, we are intrigued and always anticipate what Apple will release with not just baited breath, but like eager puppies waiting for our next meal.

So when certain tech news blogs start putting up images and videos of what they claimed (and now we all know is true) was the next iPhone, we were seriously excited. Unlike previous times when all you got were blurry images or mock ups, this time we got the real deal (or at least in development mule case). There are close-up photos, and nicely panned videos of the product. Everything that a rabid Apple fan is craving for.

However, we are not going to post any of these nicely shot pictures here, after we found out how the iPhone was obtained.

In a nutshell, an Apple employee was out in a pub for a drink. He happened to be working on the new iPhone and was carrying it with him. Why he was allowed to do that will probably be something Steve Jobs will be questioning. Unfortunately for the fella, he left the phone in the pub and it was subsequently picked up by some guy, who, instead of returning it, somehow got richer by selling it for US$5,000. And that is how those photos and videos came about. So far so good. What irked me about this whole thing was how the website who purchased the phone decided to post the name/photo of the Apple employee and lay him out for the whole wide world to know – “hey that’s the guy who got drunk and basically gifted the prototype to us – whoopee – SCOOP!”.

That essentially screwed up that poor dude’s career in the technology industry! If they had kept it anonymous and put the story up, it may or may not have saved his career in Apple but at least it meant that his next employer might not know.

Besides that, we have also not touch on the legality of obtaining the iPhone and its complication to the person who picked and sold it, and the company that bought and post pictures of it. These are legal issues beyond our shores and best explain by others.

That said, as much as we would like to share those shiny photos and videos, we won’t be covering that. Just look around the Internet and you will find them there.

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