MacRumors forumer markm49uk discovered several factory room photographs on the hard drive of his UK-bought iPhone 3G… all featuring the smiling visage of the adorable assembly line girl who’d put the phone together.
Sadly, a later comment on the same thread is probably correct: “Once this spreads into the blogosphere she will be fired.” Apple, if you fire this darling girl infusing a much needed dose of charm and whimsy into every phone she touches like some sort of assembly line Tinkerbell, mark my words: Boing Boing Gadgets will hate you forever.
iPhone 3G – already with pictures! [MacRumors via Gizmodo]
“Boing Boing Gadgets will hate you forever.”
Or at least until the next shiny product comes out.
That went without saying!
That went without saying!
It should be a feature.
Every new product comes with a couple of random test shots to show you it’s been tested.
Then they can leverage that to do promotions and ruin it completely.
Imagine if this catches on. Soon Ford owners will receive a photo of a surly factory worker, nike shoe owners will be confused by the photo of sad Chinese children and honda owners will have a nice photo of the mechanical claw that assembled their car and it’s pet the companion cube.
why would she be fired? the person that took the picture should be the one that has to face the wrath of Jobs
I absolutely LOVE the striped pink engineer’s cap!
The cynic in me thinks these were planted to combat the “iPod Village a Prison Camp” articles from a while back. She just looks too happy!
“it’s pet the companion cube.”
Is the definite article part of the name, like “The Cheat?”
Best smile ever ^_^
Certainly a lot more personable than “Inspected by 27″.
On the other hand, I can just see a company setting up the manufacturing line so every phone is preloaded with a few “unofficial samples” to present exactly that impression.
On the other other hand, as samples go, it’s certainly a reasonable one.
Not particularly surprising, moderately amusing… and yeah, she’s cute.
It adds a candid human element to the product. It’s almost as if it were personalized for you. Hopefully Apple realizes this instead of freaking out that someone is taking pictures in the factory.
I agree with B.B.Gadget’s suggestion if she gets fired.
I mean..look at that smile
Cute? Not really…..with the exception of Maria Ozawa I just don’t really think asian women are very attractive.
@13- You sir, are wrong.
That is all.
Somehow I can’t shake this mental connection to a baker daintily tying a little bow to wrap up a loaf of banana bread before she sends it out to the people who will enjoy it.
The last time this happened, it was a hidden photo of Paula Abdul in the ROM of some mid-90s Mac Performa model.
The engineer who put the picture there was run out of campus on a rail the day after it was discovered. Nothing happened to Paula, though.
The iPhone has no hard drive.
Apple does not manufacture the iPhone.
With all the coverage, and connection problems the 3G phone has–I would bet on APPLE being smarter than just firing her–they can get together with AT&T and both point to her picture saying “SHE DID IT” Would you be surprised?
With all the coverage, and connection problems the 3G phone has–I would bet on APPLE being smarter than just firing her–they can get together with AT&T and both point to her picture saying “SHE DID IT” Would you be surprised?
I can understand that as a rule companies want their products to leave the assembly line precisely in the intended condition, but could those pictures be any more perfect PR.
She’s completely adorable, PVC finger condoms and all.
#13: what the hell is wrong with you. your brain is broken.
There may be a little love story here. Playing with the camera… a friendly icebreaker to the cute girl sitting behind the lovelorn co-worker.
A smart computer company would build an ad campaign around this.
But I’d rather they didn’t.
She’s awesome. Someone give her a raise.
she could be in the next Apple ads, opposite Zune Guy.
@13: Dude, I’m a straight female and even *I* think she’s cute.
This is not really the girl who manufactured the iPhone. The real girl was deemed not cute enough and was replaced with a ringer.
Here in the UK we get a better class of pre-loaded images on our gadgets it would seem. Either that or I’ve read too many articles about devices in the US coming pre-filled with porn.
@13: Doubleyou-tee-eff man?
There should be outcry the likes of which the Internets have never seen if she loses her job.
Mojave, do tell us more about your personal taste in women. I am sure every female member of the internet is waiting with bated breath so that we can make sure we are attractive to you.
#26: Ahahahhahahahhahahhahahahha!
I wonder how our characterization of this would change if it were a smiley dude. Cutie?
@13: WTH?
@25: Exactly! I’m a gay man & think she’s cute! I mean, she’s got a great smile and her cleanroom suit is pink striped. She’s adorable!
From Yahoo News:
“Small mistakes are unavoidable,” [factory spokesman] Liu said. “I would call this a beautiful mistake.”
“Liu said the factory worker was unsettled by the sudden fame after her photo appeared on websites and newspapers, and that her bosses had assured her that her job is safe. He said the company would not release her name or any details.
“Even passers-by recognise her face and can’t help noticing her,” Liu said. “She is quite nervous right now because she never experienced this much attention.”
The photo was taken in the testing department as part of normal procedure and no rules were broken, Liu said.”
Just wonderful, and a great reminder that these toys come from somewhere.
God, let this not have been a set-up.
Destined to become cult iPhone wallpaper, too, possibly.