Motorola and Apple: Prototype Negligence

Okay, joking aside, the fact that mobile phone manufacturers are leaving behind prototype units of upcoming handsets is not as good an idea as it seems to be. We all know the story of the next generation Apple iPhone story that ended with the raid of a home (with several computers confiscated) and the possibility of charges being filed against a tech article writer for possession of lost property.

Yep, that all started with the iPhone prototype being left behind in some bar after the person who was carrying it around got drunk from enjoying a little too much of German beer.

A more recent case of prototype device neglect is with Motorola’s officials. Apparently, the prototype of the upcoming Motorola Shadow was left behind in a Verizon owned corporate gym. The device was picked up by an unnamed source and was photographed before the device was locked remotely by Motorola.

At least the Shadow prototype was recovered without any unnecessary incidents, and the Motorola representative who came back for the handset was actually willing to give out a few details about the phone in question.

While it is unlikely that this will become a continued practice for manufacturers, the concept of prototype devices behind left behind is a serious case of neglect –and a habit that manufacturers need to be wary about if they really want to keep their secrets safe until the official release date.

Anyway, the Shadow was eventually retrieved by a Motorola representative who nice enough to disclose a few details about the handset. It has been confirmed that the new Android Shadow will have a 4.3 inch capacitive touch screen display, an 8 mega pixel snapper with 720p video recording, at least 16 GB of internal memory, an HDMI port and of course, a Snapdragon processor.