A New York man recently reportedly successfully used the built-in location system in Apple's new iPhone 4S to locate his unfaithful wife. In China, however, the more lurid stories about Apple's hugely popular devices tend to focus less on unorthodox applications for the devices' functions and more on what people are willing to do to acquire one.
Earlier this year, a high school student in Hunan province raised the money to buy an iPhone 4 and iPad 2 by selling a kidney, while a young woman reportedly offered her virginity in return for an Apple device.
In the latest scandal, a female college student in Jiangsu posted online that she was willing to have sex with an online acquaintance in exchange for an iPhone 4, though she reportedly drew the line at oral sex.
Hefei Hotline reported that a man discovered his girlfriend's online chat history when he used her account to log in to the QQ instant messaging service.
In the chat log the girl, a university student in the provincial capital Nanjing, asked a male friend she knew from the internet to buy an iPhone 4 for her. The friend agreed to do so if the girl would sleep with him for five nights. "I can sleep with you for months if you buy me an iPhone 4 first," the student responded, adding, "I can do anything except oral sex."
Soon after the chat, the two met for their first sexual transaction. A couple of days later, the man left another message and they met up for sex again.
Upon discovering his girlfriend's secret, the boyfriend retaliated by posted the chat record on the internet. Her identity was exposed in less than an hour.
The identity of the student's male friend was also uncovered as netizens undertook a "human flesh search." Photos of the two together with their online chatting accounts were also published as major online forums exploded into life with breaking news on the latest scandal. The girl is said to be a first-year student at Nanjing's Institute of Oriental Arts Training.
Some internet users commenting on the affair said that girls have no standards nowadays, while others feared for her state of mind, worrying that the massive public pressure might might push her to do something stupid. Others have condemned the pervasive Chinese phenomenon of human flesh searches designed to identify and expose individuals for the purpose of public ridicule. After all, the girl made a misjudgement but wasn't really doing something evil, one netizen said in her defense.
Other netizens said it is important to maintain personal integrity in the pursuit of possessions. It is ridiculous and sad to sacrifice oneself for material things, they said.
Photos and whole Chat log are here