AT&T says "iPhone Black" means nothing, gunman acted alone

We've just received an official statement from AT&T regarding the presence of an "iPhone Black" on its model selector earlier today: "The reference to 'iPhone Black' was simply a temporary placeholder used over the weekend for a scheduled catalog update. It was meant to temporarily distinguish the various iPhone models-4GB, 8GB and 16GB-but was never reassigned. We're changing the site now." Makes total sense, right? Three models of iPhone, two placeholders: iPhone and iPhone Black. You know, because "Black" has so much to do with memory capacity, and is easier to remember than 4, 8, or 16GB -- never mind the fact that we have good intel suggesting that the next-gen device is glossy black.

Also, AT&T, we know those cigarettes are yours, so you can stop telling us you were "just carrying them for a friend." We're not stupid, you know.

[Engadgetluvsappl @ May 12th 2008 4:14PM]

Really?

[Steve Jones @ May 12th 2008 5:37PM]

This situation reminds me of when my mother entered my room and caught me with my trousers down, bent double over the bed and furiously approaching vinegar strokes.

Yikes.

[4gb? @ May 12th 2008 6:20PM]

am i the only one who noticed he said 4GB iphone?

[gabe @ May 12th 2008 4:15PM]

Piitb.

Problem solved.

[sinai @ May 12th 2008 4:16PM]

god forbid apple sue AT&T for leaking early info!

[Rafer @ May 12th 2008 4:23PM]

Ill bring the popcorn

[Steve Jones @ May 12th 2008 5:33PM]

I've got the lube.

[StreetStealth @ May 12th 2008 6:04PM]

Messing with the cable box to descramble CourtTV in your bedroom late at night again, eh Mr. Jones?

[Seth @ May 12th 2008 6:10PM]

I'll bring the binoculars. You just don't know how many people are going to be there and how bad our seats are going to be.

[Kyle N. @ May 12th 2008 4:16PM]

Well, that's certainly one of the lamest excuses I've heard in a while...

[PSM @ May 12th 2008 4:37PM]

Personally I'd have gone with, "Whoever was updating the site meant to apply that 'black' option to a different phone and accidentally put it on the iPhone's listing." I'd still know in my heart it's a cover-up, but at least could acknowledge the possibility that that could happen, and any other time besides a few weeks before the obvious release of the 3G iPhone, I might even entertain the notion that it's true.

How many possible explanations did they toss around the office before deciding on "we meant to say 8GB but put 'black' instead"?

[Joe @ May 12th 2008 4:51PM]

Nah, it could have been worse if AT&T said they were actually thinking about something funny that happened earlier and was laughing about that coincidentally at the same time we were looking at the iPhone black model.

[fabiang @ May 12th 2008 4:17PM]

love the cigarette comment, engadget at its best.

[ashidar @ May 12th 2008 5:03PM]

totally agree!

[Saad Rabia @ May 12th 2008 4:20PM]

More iPhone news! Please Engadget, I love you, but there was no need to put up the first article in the first place! Easy with the Apple news. Don't get me wrong, I love nice and shiny gadgets but not Apple 24/7! They get less products out than many other companies yet whenever I come in Engadget I feel like if I was on Apple.com; Even Apple don't put this much news about their stuff on their pages!

Please, Engadget. :)

[Juaquin @ May 12th 2008 4:22PM]

You might not want to come back for a couple months (or until whenever the phone has actually been released). This is only the beginning.

[Dan @ May 12th 2008 5:05PM]

dude chillax, they have plenty of news about other stuff too, but you cant tell me the iPhone isn't big news, and people like apple. Yes their are windows and linux fanboys but apples got nice stuff and honestly if you don't like the articles.....scroll down? its not like they weren't posting important and exciting windows mobile stuff in lieu of this article..

[mike @ May 12th 2008 4:28PM]

Like many others before me have said...you could just not read them. Sure, there is a lot, but when it's one of the most "important" gadgets out there, or soon to be out there, and there isn't anything else particularly noteworthy going on, they can post as much as they want on anything they want. It's not like we haven't seen a lot of Blackberry Bold posts over the last month or so.

[Saad Rabia @ May 12th 2008 4:39PM]

I want to read about Apple, and I would love to follow up with them, but the number of Apple rumors are just, ridiculous! It's just too much, I mean I read about other companies rumors on many other sites, but Engadget doesn't talk about them... And It's okay.

I don't want to stop reading news about Apple, but I really don't want to read "rumors" about them 24/7.

And people, don't ask others to leave, this is never the right solution... Try to understand my point: I don't hate Apple, but I do hate hundreds of "rumors" about any company. :)

[David Vogt @ May 12th 2008 4:40PM]

I just wish there was a way to filter all the apple crap out.

[happy_penguin @ May 12th 2008 4:56PM]

"David Vogt @ May 12th 2008 4:40PM
I just wish there was a way to filter all the apple crap out."

There's a great Apple information block plugin for Safari.

[Zak @ May 12th 2008 4:59PM]

David - the stupidity is reaching critical levels. What exactly is so terribly difficult to understand about this concept: If you don't want to read it, then don't read it.

And by definition, that also goes hand in hand with this one: If you don't want to read it, then you definitely should not read it and then whine about how much you don't want to read it. All you're doing is adding to the post count of another Apple related article. It's not that hard to understand.

[rock99rock @ May 12th 2008 5:37PM]

@ Zak @ David

Dont worry David, i saw what you did there.

[mark @ May 12th 2008 4:31PM]

It's doesn't relly say much for AT&T when they're willing to flat out lie to one of the internets most prominent technology blogs.
Surely they could have just not made a comment and kept some self respect

[Duke 2 @ May 12th 2008 4:37PM]

Completely agree. Coming out with such statement (as opposed to 'no comment') shows AT&T as not only being sloppy fools, but a company that is overtly willing to lie to it's customers, press and general public.

While there is no question Apple Corporate reamed AT&T a new one earlier today, the blatant lack of ethics here is inexcusable and should be considered more of a justification of firing someone than the apparent non-intentional breach of contract (for early disclosure).

Is THIS a company you the consumer should trust to do business with??

[triforceOFcourage @ May 12th 2008 4:50PM]

@Duke 2: While what you say definitely has merit, entertain the notion, for a bit, that perhaps AT&T intentionally made a lie that sounded ludicrous. What better way to break the news than an oh-so-obvious lie? They didn't intentionally breach the contract, so Apple can't do anything legally. And yet here we are, in the know.

"Oops, uhh I meant 16GB. Pay no attention to the word 'Black'." LOL!

[Derbeste @ May 12th 2008 5:34PM]

Never attribute to genius that which can be more easily explained by incompitence.

[Richard @ May 12th 2008 9:42PM]

Self Respect? This is the same commpany that dont have the funds to replace their copper with fiber, but yet have the funds to buy brand new trucks for the guys installing the service thats using the old copper.

[PSM @ May 12th 2008 4:31PM]

That's two completely illogical explanations from AT&T in the same day. The other is that the free iPhone wifi was enabled by "human error," and it's too early to say when it will be available or how it will work. If it's so far from completion that you don't even know how it will work, how was it so easy to activate it and advertise it on the website, "by accident"?

This is their way of saying that they're so clueless they don't even know that their original system didn't even need to be hacked to be bypassed. A lot of browsers let you select the user agent of the iPhone browser (or anything else) as a feature!

And now this! Methinks Steve Jobs currently has the head of an AT&T web maintenance guy on a platter on his desk.

Leaks happen. Apple even had one for the G5 PowerMacs a few years back. But what's most pathetic about this is that AT&T needs to worry less about their site update people and free-wifi-planning people, and come up with some press people who can cover their asses with an excuse that at least makes sense. Even if people don't believe them, the explanation should at least be POSSIBLE!

[Nate @ May 12th 2008 4:32PM]

...and my dog ate my homework.

[triforceOFcourage @ May 12th 2008 4:43PM]

LOL! Does anyone else find that the new iPhone "secret" is probably the worst kept secret ever? So many companies have been caught red-handed and yet won't admit a damn thing. This is like prime time drama, right here!

[wcnghj @ May 12th 2008 5:07PM]

BS, a total cover up.

It does NOT matter how many GB's your iphone has, the firmware is the same.

[Ed @ May 12th 2008 7:47PM]

Yeah, but the things that matter to ATT (hardware and price) aren't.

Doesn't change the face that they're unashamedly full of shit.

[Tyler @ May 12th 2008 4:48PM]

Maybe they should read the article before they post it. It said to distinguish 4gb and the 8gb - 16gb. does that seem alright?

[Shan @ May 12th 2008 5:58PM]

Well given that Apple stopped selling and discontinued the 4GB model months ago (so they didn't really need to bring it up), if AT&T were really smart, they could have said it was to differentiate between the 8GB and 16GB model, which to a small teeny tiny degree could have been passable, but of course they had to show us their stupidity by throwing in the 4GB model and looking even dummer!

AT&T PR - Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

[dan @ May 12th 2008 4:48PM]

oh... so that would explain why the iPhone black ALSO appeared elsewhere-- just a local ATT placeholder. NOT

[Nate @ May 12th 2008 4:49PM]

Ppsshh, yea, and Santa Clause is real. How could they make a mistake like this? It just seems kind of, I dunno, stupid?

[mabedan @ May 12th 2008 4:54PM]

this "3g iphone" is getting boring...

steve himself said that they were going to make one... so what's it when you say "evidence of 3g iphone", "we discovered 3G iphone", "apple seeing 3G in its futur"... stop it!

[roole @ May 12th 2008 5:13PM]

Go somewhere else then.... (ref. @Saad above).

[Mabedan @ May 12th 2008 5:18PM]

it's no problem for me if there's many apple new on engadget, but the problem is that making rumors about the 3G iphone is meaningless... steve jobs said "we're going to make 3G phones"... so a rumor about 3G iphone is just stupid

[PSM @ May 12th 2008 5:42PM]

Everyone knows there's going to be a 3G iPhone. We've known since they announced the first iPhone a year and a half ago. What's news is the release date. A lot of people have been waiting a year and a half to get one, and I know many current iPhone users will want to upgrade.

Since Apple likes to announce things at the last minute, rumors are the only way to find out when it might be coming. Every little piece of information helps to narrow it down a little.

[Jeff Lewis @ May 12th 2008 4:55PM]

"We're not stupid, you know."

*coughcough*

Because obsessing over a line in a selector on a webpage for a product we all know is coming and then getting bent because the company that posted the website isn't going tell you what you want them to (like - why would they care) isn't stupid.

Noooooooooooooo comment.

[PSM @ May 12th 2008 5:23PM]

I think you missed the point. No one is saying, "Damn it AT&T, tell us about the 3G iPhone!" We know they can't announce it. What we're commenting on is what fools they're making of themselves with the ways they have chosen to cover their slip-ups.

[ma5t3rw1tt @ May 12th 2008 4:56PM]

I seriously think there is a 3G iPhone in the works. And why would those pics of a Black iPhone pop up on the net then suddenly be said those where fake. Kinda weird if you ask me.

So I don't think that was a "Place Holder" because this kind of validates those pics that where said to be a fake. HMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

[Eric @ May 12th 2008 5:04PM]

I love the iphone rumors!

Everytime I read a RSS with iphone in it a little pee comes out!

[Steffen Jobbs @ May 12th 2008 5:25PM]

Just a little pee! I can eject a whole stream of pee just seeing the word "3G iPhone." Lately, I've become a bit dehydrated after reading Engadget. Engadget's the best homeopathic diuretic I know of.

[duffman @ May 12th 2008 5:05PM]

dear at&t,

My 16g iPhone is definitely black.

all the best,
colorblind people

[Snitch @ May 12th 2008 5:21PM]

People complaint about Apple hyping stuff but Dude every Tech site has at least 3 iPhone articles a day, i mean i love the iphone, i have one and will get a 3G one, but come on people let's move on. It's not apple hyping the iphone is everyone

[matthew @ May 12th 2008 5:28PM]

this iphone is black not

[Ed @ May 12th 2008 7:49PM]

I understand your comment do not.