Oops: Microsoft sent customer Xbox One prototype way before announcement

Who remembers the story of that iPhone 4 that an Apple employee had left in a bar? Now a new story has surfaced about a secret prototype that falls into the hands of an outsider. An American ordered a laptop, but received a then secret Xbox One.

The American, a 25-year-old by the name of Jia Li, ordered a cheap laptop from the Microsoft Store, former Engadget editor Ben Gilbert tells Business Insider. When he opened the box, it turned out not to be a laptop, but a secret prototype of the console Microsoft was developing and now known as Xbox One, with a “zebra pattern” on the top. He received the package in March 2013, two months before the console’s announcement and eight months before it went on sale.

When he connected the console to the TV and AC power, only the word “kryptos” appeared. Li, who claims not to be an avid gamer but was aware of console rumours, tipped off Engadget that he had accidentally received a prototype ‘xbox 720’. Engadget contacted Microsoft. That gave the tech site an exclusive taste of the Xbox One and in return, Engadget did not write about the prototype.

That Microsoft sent the prototype was possible because the company had decided not to keep the console strictly secret in the company. Prototypes were scattered here and there in semi-public places. An employee may have mistaken this prototype for a laptop and put it in the box and sent it in. As a compensation, Li received not only the laptop that he ordered, but also an Xbox 360 and Kinect. They are now probably gathering dust: since then he has also bought a PS4 and Xbox One.

It happens more often that prototypes accidentally end up with outsiders. A prototype of the iPhone 4 came online after someone found the device on the floor of a bar. HTC once lost a prototype on the floor of a restaurant.