Apple loses another iPhone in a bar!

Some of you may recall a strange event happening last year, in the Spring of 2010, when it was widely reported that an Apple employee had lost his phone in a bar. Of course, the juicy bit was that this particular device wasn’t a typical iPhone, but a super secret prototype of the yet unreleased iPhone 4. Long story short, it turned up in a blogger’s hands, who took pictures and reported about it online. Apple was not happy, the police got involved, but nothing much came of it.

Now, it seems history is repeating itself. CNET has learned that an Apple employee lost another unreleased iPhone in a bar. This time it was a police report Apple filed in late July that said the device had been lost in a Mission District’s tequila lounge, in San Francisco. This time however the iPhone 5 did not end up in a blog, but instead Apple was able to track it electronically to a two-story home in Bernal Heights. After the house was searched, the device was not to be found.

In both cases it seems like the authorities took the case very seriously. The blogger in question last year, a man named Jason Chen, had his home searched, his computers and phones seized, and legal threats sent from Apple’s lawyers, before the case was finally dismissed thanks to his journalistic protections. This time however, if the device does surface, it might be harder for whoever took it to get a similar get out of jail card.

There’s no question that a lost Apple prototype is big news, because the iPhone is a hot technology, something millions of people buy, and seeing the next version of the phone would be very profitable for whoever can get their hands on it, especially with Apple’s history of being so guarded when it comes to revealing future products. Launching such a device would be something done on a stage, in front of millions of viewers, and they don’t want anybody stealing their thunder.

Still, it’s not hard to guess what the iPhone 5 will contain. There’s been tons of rumors, leaks, speculations, and potentially fake photos coming out of manufacturing plants. What most people assume is that the iPhone 5 will look a lot like the iPhone 4, but with a faster processor, the same that was put into the iPad 2, as well as new antenna features, possibly either NFC, or a single chip for both GSM and CDMA, which would allow a single phone to connect to any wireless network such as Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile or AT&T. Indeed, a new rumor is making the rounds saying that when the iPhone 5 launches, it will be on Sprint.

Regardless if the lost device is ever found, one thing is certain, this news story made it all around the world, and is just one more item to add to a never ending list of rumors about the next iPhone. Because if there’s one thing technology enthusiasts love is to speculate about the next Apple product.