Valleywag Gag: Taken in by Bogus Rich Kid iPhone Snap?

This is one of those stories that will only matter to the handful of readers who worry about Valleywag's credibility.

The Silicon Valley gossip site ran this photo today under the headline "Rich Kids: Want an Early iPhone?" The item, phoned in by Numair Faraz, read:

Tough luck, unless you're some mogul's kid. Spotted, yesterday at the beach resort up the coast from Los Angeles, the year's most anticipated new gadget, only available to humble mortals in June. Numair Faraz reports: "Further proof that Malibu is the most spoiled place on earth... While at the grocery store, today, I saw what must have been a 13-year-old boy, with a new iPhone, taking photos of random things. Guessing game: which Valley executive's kid?" (link)

For anybody who cared to play their little guessing game, there was big fat hint in the tags:

Apple, Larry Ellison, Malibu, Rich Kids, Top

I don't know about you, but the iPhoto pictured above looks about as authentic as the one Madonna was supposed to have been sporting a few weeks ago. I checked with Apple PR and for what it's worth they're pretty sure Valleywag's  iPhone is a PhotoShop job. Whether Larry Ellison -- or his spawn -- is carrying they cannot say.

UPDATE: Proprietor Nick Denton confirms: "Oh, yeah, photoshop by Richard Blakeley. Pretty nice job, I thought."

Comments

[diablo]

There's a phone in that pic?

[Roger]

You would expect more a shadow cast by the phone - looks photoshopped to me.

[Uhh, yeah...]

Even the magical iPhone's display wouldn't show up that well and that dark in direct sunlight, much less in Malibu Beach sunlight...

Vallywag needs to start actually thinking.

Ohh, and its a girl, I wouldn't blame them for missing the iPhone part as much as the gender of the person holding it.