Thursday Apple Rumors: Man Walks Into Bar, Finds iPhone 5?

Here are your Apple news items and rumors for Thursday: iPhone 5 Gets Legs:
Apple cant seem to stop its employees from wandering off with precious prototype
technology, heading to a local pub and forgetting the proprietary wares after
enjoying a nice whiskey sour. According to a report at CNET , one of Apples
employees lost a prototype iPhone at a bar in San Francisco. Rather than selling
for a high price after a bidding war as a prototype iPhone 4 was in 2010, this
mislaid development iPhone sold for a measly $200 on Craigslist and still hasnt
been located by Apple. The company has not confirmed whether the lost model is
an early version of an already-released iPhone or a prototype version of the
upcoming iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S . Given the companys interest in tracking it
down, though, it seems likely it isnt the type of iPhone that can be bought at
Target. Smartphone Tide Rising: Given the fervor with which technology is
covered in the press (not to mention the investor lust after stocks for
businesses making the devices), its surprising to hear that not every man, woman
and child in the United States doesnt own an iPhone. To the delight of hipsters
and disaffected wealthy college kids everywhere, a Thursday report at GigaOM
confirms that smartphones arent quite mainstream yet. The report details a new
study by Nielsen that found that, as of July, 40% of all mobile phones used in
the U.S. are smartphones. Nielsen previously had predicted smartphones would
overtake feature phones by the end of 2012. They likely will come close. Feature
phones accounted for 62% of phones at the end of the first quarter but fell to
60% by the end of the second. A 2% attrition rate should place the two mobile
phone segments neck and neck by the end of the year. Of those smartphones out
there, Nielsen found that 28% are iPhones. That pesky Google (NASDAQ: GOOG )
Android took the lions share with 40% of smartphones in the second quarter. Halo
Makers Come to iPad: Bungie Studios , the creators behind Microsoft s (NASDAQ:
MSFT ) massively successful Halo video game franchise, released its first iOS
game Wednesday night. Crimson: Steam Pirates is a self-published title that
sells for $1.99 in Apples App Store. Long before the company and its Halo series
were household names, Bungie actually was developing Halo as a Mac-exclusive
came then Microsoft bought the company and transformed Halo into its flagship
Xbox series. As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in
any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at