HTC One M8 Release Leak Rumors: Employee Was Fired And Bounty Put On Phone
The HTC One M8 was leaked through video on Sunday prior to its release and rumors suggest that some folks are in big trouble. The young man who took the video of the new HTC One is apparently 15 years old and his father works for HTC. After the video of the M8 (or HTC Two) leaked, he was confronted on Twitter by Jeff Gordon, Senior Global Online Communications Manager at HTC Corporation.
Tweets between NoobReviewer @RoshanJamkatel (seems leaked #NewHTCOne video) & HTC’s @UrbanStrata CommMgr is irritated pic.twitter.com/iimHQVUx7X
— PANKAJ PARIKH™ (@pankajparikh) March 3, 2014
The young man, Roshan Jamkatel, tried to claim that it wasn’t actually a leaked version of the HTC One M8, but Gordon’s involvement suggests otherwise. Later on Twitter, Jamkatel claimed that some folks who helped the video go viral got his father fired. Though this can not be confirmed, if his father did work for HTC, it would definitely be a plausible step by the company. All employees sign a non-disclosure agreement on new technology. And for the flagship HTC One series, secrecy is top priority.
@thegooglefanboy they did fucker
— Roshan Jamkatel (@roshanjamkatel) March 3, 2014
The 12 minute video has been posted several times on YouTube now and the damage has already been done. According to Gordon, there is an ongoing investigation of the leaked HTC One M8. Unfortunately, there is no way for them to track down all the videos and get them down. The phone is set to release on March 25 and is highly anticipated following the MWC. The leaked video of the HTC One M8 can be viewed here.
The trouble apparently doesn’t end with Jamkatel getting in big trouble from HTC. According to a rumor being passed around, there is a $10,000 bounty on the phone if anyone can get their hands on it. Apparently some hackers are interested in having a copy of the new HTC One and are willing to pay a lot of money for it. Gordon mentioned the financial loss of breaking a NDA in his Twitter feed and if competitors get their hands on the new phone, it will certainly negatively impact the company.
Leaked phones, images, and videos are nothing new in the mobile phone world. This case was different because the young man was trying to post his first review and unveil a flagship product to the world. There is one other possibility of what was going on here.
It is not outside the realm of possibility that the HTC One M8 release leak was all planned by the company to build excitement about the phone. What do you think?
[Image via Conectica]
