My final opinion was incorrect but my thinking was spot-on. Theres a difference between a counterfeit (like my fake iPhone 3G) and a mere knockoff. A knockoff isnt sold with the intent that itll survive side-by-side scrutiny. Its there to fulfill someones desire to have something like the real thing. Its aimed at the classic globalization fanboy: its not the features that they want
its the logo.
And this Apple prototype does indeed look like a knockoff. Remember what I said about the design brief of a knockoff? Every design choice is the answer to the question How can we redesign this to make it way, way less expensive to manufacture? This prototype is full of flat surfaces easy as pie to fabricate and studded with round switches that can be installed without any custom tooling.
The innards of this prototype appear to be genuine, based on Gizmodos dissection. But I still have some doubts about the case. This could be just a carrying around design, built to give the innards shape and form for human testing. Its possible that Apple never had any intention of using it as the design of the actual consumer product. We just need to slap this in an iPhone-like case so that we can test the electronics is another reason to choose an easy and cheap to build design.
(Admittedly, What changes can we make to increase Apples profits? is another reason for easy and cheap to build.)
