After Gray Powell lost the iPhone prototype during a rowdy, inebriated night in a San Jose bar, Apple seemed to react strongly to misplacement of the prototype.  You would think that after this grave error of Powell, that Apple would have a lockdown on their security of the iPhone prototypes.

Well, supposedly some mysterious Vietnamese business man bought an iPhone prototype and iPad.  This man lost his iPhone prototype and now the media is in another whirlwind of excitement. The main differences between this prototype and Gray Powell’s prototype is that “the screws on the bottom near the dock connector have disappeared, the phone’s capacity is listed as 16 GB rather than XX GB like on the Gizmodo iPhone, and the battery has a 5.00 watt-hour capacity compared to the Gizmodo iPhone’s 5.25 watt-hour battery. In all other respects, it appears to be the same iPhone, complete with a front-facing camera, a flash for the rear camera, micro-SIM slot on the side, and a metallic midsection with curiously visible seams” [via TUAW]. Supposedly this iPhone 4the genration may have graphics capabilities.  Watch this video as Tinhte.com observes the differences with the iPhone 4th generation:

[via MacRumors]

Last weekend, Gray Powell, a recent 2006 graduate from North Carolina University lost his prized iPhone 4G prototype at a San Jose bar.  Supposedly, it was his birthday and he got a bit inebriated and lost his iPhone at a bar.  The media whirled with excitement as the iPhone 4G was dissected by multiple media groups. My initial thoughts were that Powell was going to get fired for this unintentional leak, but instead, he is getting all sorts of attention.

Larry King is talking about him as well as….Lufthansa?

According to Gawker, Powell received this invitational letter from Lufthansa:

[image via Gawker]

A free trip to Germany? Really?  The man loses a prototype of a product that will probably profit the company millions of dollars and he is rewarded?  Whenever I have lost anything, I would somehow get punished.

Lose House Keys = Change all the locks in the house = Expensive

Lose Cat = Have to buy a new cat to trick my younger siblings that the cat wasn’t lost (ok, maybe that is a Meet The Parents reference)

Lose Library Book = Library Fees

Lose iPhone 4G = Notoriety and a Free Trip To Germany