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It was well known that when the iPhone was developed the hardware and software divisions were unaware of what each other was doing.

Even the iPhone’s hardware and software teams were kept apart: Hardware engineers worked on circuitry that was loaded with fake software, while software engineers worked off circuit boards sitting in wooden boxes. By January 2007, when Jobs announced the iPhone at Macworld, only 30 or so of the most senior people on the project had seen it. #

This weekend we finally SAW evidence of the existence of a hardware engineering prototype iPhone with the engineering OS installed on it. BIdding was hot and heavy on eBay until Apples legal department weighed in.

So here are the remnants of whats left of a the secret sneak peak inside the development of the iPhone.

I picked up 2 iPhone prototypes on the bay. The seller didn’t know what they were, and just listed them as as-is parts units. Neither units say “iPhone” on them anywhere, or list the storage capacity. I did some research on the serial numbers, it appears they were both manufactured about 6 months before the release of the iPhone.

Phone #1:
-Doesn’t turn on (tried leaving on charger for awhile, along with various reset procedures)
-Glass screen
-Serial number YM650xxxxxx which corresponds to a factory in China, manufactured week 50 of the year 2006. (The iPhone was announced on Jan 6 2007 and release June 29 2007.)

Phone #2:
-Powers on OK
-Plastic screen
-Serial number YM649xxxxxx which corresponds to a factory in China, manufactured week 49 of the year 2006.
-Runs iPhone OS 03.06.01_G (iPhone Launch OS 1.0 was version 03.11.02_G)

The phone that works is pretty neat to use. It does make calls(with my ATT sim), and I can surf the net. However when I did get to web pages they were the mobile versions, not the regular versions. I can receive SMS but not compose my own, other than 5 included test messages. It doesn’t sync to itunes. Camera seems to work. It has tons of testing options. I included some pictures for you all, cause if I don’t have pics it didn’t happen

Also, the working phone has several subtitles that alternate on the screens including:

[Skank is the new black]
[Nine parts perspiration]
[Say hello to the Newton MessagePad 3000]
[Skankphone]