Olde iPhone prototypes show up on Ebay



It looks like someone got their mitts on a piece of technology history over at 1 Infinite Loop. Someone is selling some prototype iPhones with a wacky pre-iPhone type of OS on it. One of the iPhones actually even works. Check out more photos and a description below. [via 9to5mac]

Original Ebay posting

Here is a quite rare and collectable example of iPhone prototypes, one even running a beta OS. Only one of the phones works however. Neither unit says "iPhone" on them anywhere, or list the storage capacity which is interesting. 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:
-Powers on OK - GSM service works
-Plastic matte screen (see pics)
-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)
-Good cosmetic condition

Phone #2:
-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.)
-I replaced the battery and still doesn't work. Currently apart right now, can leave as-is for buyer or reassemble.
-Has various scratches, it is in fair cosmetic condition at best

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't figure out how to set a ringtone, it is just silent right now. 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.

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