News
eBay pulls pre-release iPod auction at Apple’s request
An auction by former Apple employee Mike Evangelist for a pre-release first-generation iPod was posted on eBay Sunday, then removed today at Apple’s request. According to Evangelist, the iPod was acquired while he was at Apple as part of an internal testing program, and never exchanged for a final released version. Otherwise fully functional, the pre-production unit can be synced with the current version of iTunes, but requires a special utility for restoring the software, as hardware changes made before the official release preclude this unit from being updated/restored using the standard mechanism. In addition, the unit included slightly larger earphones than Apple actually shipped with retail units—they were reduced in diameter from 18mm to 16mm following tester complaints. After posting the auction, Evangelist received an e-mail from eBay noting that “[t]he rights owner, Apple, Inc., notified eBay that this listing violates intellectual property rights. When eBay receives a report of this type of violation, we remove the listing to comply with the law.”
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1
Technically, I got the notice from eBay, not Apple. It was eBay’s note that contained the quote about Apple’s IP rights. Looks like this thing will be staying in my collection.
Posted by Mike Evangelist on February 24, 2009 at 11:37 AM (PST)
2
Mike,
Thanks for the clarification - the article has been updated.
Posted by Charles Starrett on February 24, 2009 at 12:30 PM (PST)
3
You could always give it away on Craigslist for an estimated shipping fee.
Posted by George on February 24, 2009 at 12:53 PM (PST)
4
That would have been something cool to own.
Posted by Ryan on February 24, 2009 at 1:11 PM (PST)
5
Are there any pictures of it still online? I’m curious to see it, and it’s strange that I visit this site almost daily and I didn’t hear about this listing.
-Brian
Posted by brianbobcat on March 10, 2009 at 5:49 PM (PST)
6
My guess is that they pulled it because you called it an “iPod” when of course it was never marketed as such (as far as I can tell, it even says protopod instead of iPod on the menu). I’m sure you have the right to sell it as a material item, but you’re not allowed to refer to it as an iPod. Stupid as that may be ...
Posted by Stuart McHattie on March 10, 2009 at 5:50 PM (PST)