Losing a phone at a bar isn’t necessarily a rare thing to happen to YAYAs, but then again, the phone in question isn’t the next iPhone. That’s what happened to 27-year-old Gray Powell, an Apple Software Engineer that left the prototype behind while he was out celebrating his birthday at a bar. The phone was found and sold to Gizmodo.com for $5,000. The gadget site posted info and photos of the phone, much to the chagrin of Apple. The phone has since been returned, but the photos still remain on the site.

The issue brings up an interesting PR situation for Apple, Gizmodo, and poor Mr. Powell. Apple is a company that prides itself on keeping their latest technology hush hush. While this leaked info will certainly have Mac fans drooling over the new phone, the company’s now lost a competitive edge over competitors. Apple also has to approach dealing with Powell carefully. An instant Internet star, Facebook users have already created fan groups pleading Apple not to terminate the engineer. Will Apple lose face if they do can the guy for making an honest mistake?

On that same note, Gizmodo is receiving some backlash for leaking the iPhone info. While the site is getting plenty of hits from die-hard techies, it’s also getting complaints from pro-Powell people scolding them for making his name public.
It just goes to show how a simple little mistake can lead to big problems for all parties involved. Will Mac-friendly YAYAs revolt if an engineer gets sacked that could easily happen to them on a given weekend out? Personal privacy is also important to YAYAs; would they be angry with Gizmodo for making Powell’s name public? What do you think?

You can check out the new iPhone info and the story of how it was lost and found at http://gizmodo.com/5520438/how-apple-lost-the-next-iphone