Last week, technology news website CNET reported that an Apple employee lost at a tequila bar in San Francisco in July a prototype of iPhone 5, a new version of the company’s mobile phone expected to be released in September or October.

The San Francisco Police Department said in a press release that after the missing device was tracked using GPS technology to a San Francisco house, four police officers and two Apple employees visited the home.

“Apple employees called Mission police station directly, wanting assistance in tracking down a lost item,” the statement said.

“The two Apple employees met with the resident and then went into the house to look for the lost item,” it said. “The Apple employees did not find the lost item and left the house.”

Police did not say exactly what Apple had lost, but media reports found the file of San Francisco police’s Friday press release about the hunt was named “iphone5.doc” — an apparent hint of the new mobile device.

A 22-year-old resident of the home, identified by SF Weekly as Sergio Calderon, told the newspaper that he has visited the bar where the phone was reportedly lost but he did not have the device.

Calderon said the search of his house took place in July when police had traced the phone to the house using satellite positioning software on the device, but did not find anything in the house.

Apple has declined to comment on the matter.

Last year, an employee of the company lost a prototype iPhone 4 in a Redwood City bar before it was released. The details of the phone ware then unveiled by technology blog Gizmodo.

Criminal charges have been filed against the man who found the prototype and another who brokered the deal to sell it to Gizmodo. Both men pleaded not guilty on Thursday. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2011-09/06/c_131103018.htm

The Apple iPhone 3GS is shown at the company’s retail store in San Francisco, California in this June 19, 2009 file photo. ©Reuters

BEIJING, May 25 — Wal-Mart said it will slash the price of Apple’s 16GB 3GS iPhone to 97 U.S. dollars this week, according to media reports Tuesday.

Beginning Tuesday, the new price will save customers more than 100 U.S. dollars on the Apple’s handset, which currently sells for 199 dollars.

“It is our commitment to always lead on price,” Mehrdad Akbar, Wal-Mart’s senior category director for wireless, said in a statement.

But the deal requires the phone be purchased with a two-year contract from AT&T, iPhone’s exclusive service provider.

Apple is expected to unveil its next-generation handset next month, when Chief Executive Steve Jobs will deliver an opening keynote for the annual Worldwide Developers Conference on June 7.

Apple sold 8.3 million iPhones last quarter, more than twice the amount sold during the same period a year ago. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-05/25/c_13315186.htm

Owning 4 percent of an “embedded base of all subscribers” from Jan. to Oct. in the U.S. market, Apple’s device tops a list that includes several competing handsets such as RIM’s BlackBerry and mobile phones made by LG, Motorola, and Samsung.

iPhone 3G’s accumulative sale is just past the BlackBerry 8300 series (3.7 percent), followed by the RAZR V3 series (2.3 percent) and the LG enV2 (2.1 percent).

Though this Apple handset ranks first on the list, both LG and RIM hold a higher total market share when all of their handsets are combined.

Apple also scored in the top 10 of the most accessed brands over mobile phones, said Nielsen. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/23/content_12693151.htm