The seller, talking with Wired anonymously, said, “I don’t know if it was stolen from Apple, or if the person who was working with it kept it. Judging by how Apple works, it’s most likely stolen, but I’m not sure about that.”
The mystery seller said he expected Apple to contact him about the prototype, but hoped the company’s employees would be taking the holiday weekend off, giving him more time to sell the tablet — which seems to have worked out as planned. The iPad is on its way to the buyer, who also chose to remain anonymous.
“I wasn’t expecting the auction to finish,” the seller said. “I was expecting Apple to take it down.”