Yesterday, SanJose.com followed the lead of CNET and other Bay Area news sources to report on the loss of an iPhone 5 prototype in a San Francisco bar. At the time we asked, “Why Apple prototypes keep ending up in bars. Is it some publicity stunt?” It may not even be that. An intrepid reporter from SF Weekly, decided to investigate the story and spoke with SFPD Spokesman Albie Esparza to confirm CNET’s story.
Esparza apparently said, “I don’t know who his source is, but we don’t have any record of any such an investigation going on at this point,” and went on to deny the assertion that police showed up at a home in Bernal Heights looking for the lost phone.
That leaves the CNET story resting on its anonymous source.
It has refused to retract the story, and it remains listed as the Most Popular story on the site. True or not, the story has had traction, getting coverage everywhere from PCWorld to NBC News. As a result, bloggers are wondering whether this was just an Apple snafu or some elaborate publicity stunt.
