There are a wide range of opinions related to whether Apple leaked the iPhone prototype intentionally. Gurulog believes they did. Gizmodo believes they did not. Regardless of which side you believe, there are certain facts that have come to pass as a result.
1) Apple has gotten a lot of free press from the incident.
2) The story has gone viral.
3) A lot of buzz is out there about the story.
4) Gizmodo is definitely getting a significant amount of attention as a result.
5) Gurulog has gotten a significant boost in statistics by publishing a couple of short articles related to the story.
6) Apple’s stock is doing quite well as of the time this article was written. Apple closed Friday at 247. Apple Opened on Monday at 247. Closed Tuesday at 244. Opened today at 244 and is currently at 259.
Seems the stock took a slight hit early in the week. It has recovered and bounded forward quite well this morning.
Remember for HUGE companies like Apple, ANY PRESS is GREAT PRESS.
Even Negative press is Great Press.
Why? It’s Free press.
So does it really matter whether the leak of the iPhone prototype was intentional or not?
The only person I see having a negative result is the young engineer, I will not name. He supposedly “misplaced” the prototype. His name will fade from the public memory rapidly. His job is very well secured by this event. If Apple were to terminate his employment at any time in the next year or so, it would create considerable negative press for Apple. The type of the David and Goliath variety. The one exception to the any press is Great press rule.
Gizmodo contends that there is not an upside to the leak. The stock ticker tells a different story.
Droid sales have been slower since the news leaked. So Motorola may be a loser this week. I believe that the open source model of the Droid will far surpass the proprietary model of the iPhone in the long haul.