One of the foundations of marriage is compromise. This often comes in the form of consolidating personal affects, and for one eBay seller, it meant letting go of a piece of mobile tech history.
According to Los Angeles Times contributor Salvador Rodriguez, a prototype for the original iPhone was sold on eBay Monday morning after the seller's wife forced them to scale down their collectibles. The device received 37 bids before being purchased through the “buy-it-now” feature for $1,499. According to Mac Rumors contributor Eric Slivka, a user on reddit claimed to be the buyer and is awaiting delivery – the authenticity of the device has not been confirmed as of yet, and testing will be administered upon the shipment's arrival.
Shrouded in doubt
There has been speculation surrounding the eBay transaction regarding the prototype iPhone. Slivka said that the rear case of the device features etchings that dictated signal strengths for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections. These markings have not yet been seen on any other Apple prototypes, which do appear occasionally on eBay but are normally removed quickly. Slivka also said, however, that the iPhone in question is missing the standard text etchings in the back that would out it as a retail model.
Cleaning house
The only reason behind the sale seems to be the seller's wife pushing for less clutter. According to Rodriguez, the seller wrote in the item description that their spouse said there was “too much stuff, so I have to reduce my collection.” The seller also wrote that the iPhone's functions are very restricted due to the special testing software installed in place of a traditional iOS and calls cannot be made or received.
The seller made sure to note that the device's lack of capabilities makes it simply a collector's item. This means that it probably won't see much daily wear and tear iPhones generally like cracked screens. If you have a broken iPhone, visit iResQ today for all of your iPhone repair needs.