RUMOR: Apple ‘iPhone’ photo leaked?

Vincent Nguyen (of SlashPhone and SlashGear fame), has posted what he claims may be a leaked photo of Apple’s cellular phone on aMobileME.com:

Who ever coined the phrase “the devil is in the details” must of have been a genius. When I got the tip in for the image of the Mobile Me phone below, I immediately resized and crop the image without even bothering to look at the “whole” picture. Keep in mind that I got two tips in right around the same time; one was the video and this one. All this took place about 2 hours prior to announcement of the iPhone by Linksys. Looking over the image now, I missed a few key details. Do you notice the blurb on the bottom left?

“Setup note: This board should”

This image looks like it’s something an ad agency is putting together for Apple. So in my mind I’m thinking that Apple gave a bunch of info and images to the ad agency to play with…why else is this blurb in there?

Full article with larger images here.

And more about it here, too: http://www.amobileme.com/another-plausible-iphone-design-18108.php

[Thanks to approximately 5,000 MacDailyNews Readers for the heads up.]
This is a rumor and this photo could be a fake, but we cannot currently discount it (like most we see).

A few points to support its validity:
• The camera could be on the back side of the phone
• The text could be a work in progress
• The “iPhone” could be a placeholder name

One big point that may show it’s a fake is that it’s still there online. No demand by Apple’s legal eagles to take the image down should cause skepticism about this image’s validity.

Related articles:
RUMOR: Second leaked Apple ‘iPhone’ image shows chameleonic trackpad – December 21, 2006
Linksys announces iPhone family of Voice Over IP handheld phones and devices – December 18, 2006
RUMOR: Apple on track with ‘iPhone’ release, no delay – December 16, 2006
Fortune: Steve Jobs’ Apple ‘iPhone’ could upend entire US wireless distribution model – December 15, 2006
RUMOR: Apple ‘iPhone’ may include JAJAH VoIP software – December 15, 2006
RUMOR: Apple ‘iPhone’ details surface as release date grows closer – December 15, 2006
Report: Skyworks selected to supply ‘Front-End Module to Apple’s new iPhone’ – December 15, 2006
Broadcom wins SoC bid in ‘upcoming stealth phone’ coming soon from ‘major consumer device company’ – December 15, 2006
Gizmodo guarantees ‘iPhone’ will be announced on Monday – December 14, 2006
Report: Apple expected to debut ‘iPhone’ – December 14, 2006
Analyst describes Apple ‘iPhone’ featuring metal case in multiple colors with virtual click-wheel – December 14, 2006
UBS analyst: Apple may launch MVNO, serve as own carrier for ‘iPhone’ – December 13, 2006
Apple using ‘iPhone’ as diversion? – December 11, 2006
Apple’s ‘iPhone’ silence drives rumor mill crazy – December 08, 2006
BusinessWeek: Wish List for Apple ‘iPhone’ – December 08, 2006
Apple ‘iPhone’ could cause Nokia, Palm, Motorola, and RIM to really start to sweat – December 07, 2006
Apple shares fall as CIBC sees ‘iPhone’ release delayed – December 07, 2006
Analyst expects 16GB flash-based Apple iPod video player, 4-8GB flash-based ‘iPhone’ models – December 07, 2006
Prudential: Apple ‘iPhone’ to sport iPod click wheel; video iPod by Q2 – December 06, 2006
RUMOR: Apple’s smart phone project to feature ‘extensive integration with Mac OS X’ – December 05, 2006
Apple begins ‘iPhone’ production – December 05, 2006
Apple needs to think different about data security for ‘iPhone’ – December 05, 2006
NVIDIA graphics chip for next-gen Apple video iPod delayed? – December 04, 2006
Kevin Rose: Dual-battery Apple ‘iPhone’ coming in January; $249 for 4GB, $449 for 8GB – December 03, 2006
Apple applies for ‘Mobile Me’ trademark – January 11, 2006

60 Comments

  1. Looks cool, could even be real… but where is the camera?

    and there must be some kind of display popup at the bottom, there is no way there is just a big touch sensitive square!..??

    the PDA style one better have a camera in it. they are advertising ichat “see people anywhere” , we’ll “see”

  2. I like the overall look better than a lot of the other phony “iPhones” I’ve seen but there’s no way that could even be a first draft of an actual Apple advertisement. Many abilities sounds like something a third grader would come up with if English was their second language. Change “many” to some specific number like 1020 or whatever like the “1000 songs in your pocket” tagline they used for the ipod and it would make more sense. But then you have the type running off the edges and just overall imbalance image placements.
    Aside from that most of the recent reports allude to an aluminum casing like the iPod mini and this looks like standard iPod white. And this last bit is just me but it seems that if they’re going to use a touchscreen interface, it’s going to cover the entire face of the product.
    PS if anyone think’s advertising isn’t important can you imagine the iPod being the instant success it was if the tagine was changed to “Many songs in your pocket.”?

  3. The iPhone will be the same form factor as the current iPod shuffle. You can either call everyone in your address book in order, or you can “shuffle” your friends in your address book and get people at random. It will also be a functioning iPod available in 512mb or 100gb models. It will come in black, white, and transparent with bluetooth, 802.11n, o, p, q, r, and s, and optional nightvision camera starting $399.

    I’m so tired of hearing about the iPhone, I wouldn’t care if any of that were true or not.

  4. Well, after years of pre-Macworld “rumor rush” revelations such as this, common sense pretty much prevails in the fact that it is not real until Apple says it is.

    However, one thing I would like to point out: The article mentions that there is possibly a camera on the back side of the unit. We do not even know if Apple would include a camera feature with an “iPhone” if there is ever to be such a product offering from Apple.

    Didn’t Apple patent something like the ability to snap a photo from behind a LCD screen????

    Quite possibly that technology isn’t what was first thought by the public in that it would be incorporated behind a computer LCD screen. Maybe Apple’s intention was to incorporate that technology into smaller LCD screens such as the iPod or rumored iPhone.

    Food for thought.

  5. Just to play devil’s advicate for a moment: If Apple lawyers contacted us to take the pictures down, then they would basically be acknowledging that this is real. Isn’t it possible that they are mitigating damage by saying nothing? I’m just asking…

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