I still firmly believe it was a marketing stunt by Apple.

The drunk engineer is my friend, it was his birthday, and it wasn’t a stunt. He was authorized to have the device out for testing, and brought it with him to his birthday at a beer bar.

You know the rest of the story. Apple is entirely familiar with the Osborne Effect.

I wanted to know what happened to him after that. Were there any repercussions? Is he still there?

IIRC His LinkedIn is on public.

I can’t give details as it isn’t my story to tell.

He was not fired for it, as it was an honest mistake, and he stayed with the company for several more years.

Thank you, appreciate your response. I'm glad he wasn't penalized for an honest mistake. I've heard of folks citing policy and firing great employees, good to hear a happy end to the whole situation.

He is still there.

A marketing stunt that involved the police conducting a raid on Jason Chen’s home and then barring Gizmodo from future Apple events? Yeah, that’d be one hell of a PR stunt if it was.

To what purpose? To get people talking about the newest version of the iPhone? Don't think this stunt was required for that.

I remember reading a conspiracy that the iPhone 4 was left at that bar, because Samsung was about to announce the latest Galaxy phone. Apple did this to take the wind out of their sails.

To paraphrase a famous quote: Apple are not that dumb, and not that smart.

yeah, me too , but the 'Apple Police' aspect of that marketing stunt left me with a negative impression -- so I guess it wasn't an all-around net good advertising wise.