The first thing he saw upon opening up the iTunes program on the new 3G phone was a picture of a factory worker smiling back at him.

The woman, since dubbed 'iPhone girl' (pictured), dressed in pink striped overalls and hat and wearing white gloves with yellow fingertips, was making the victory sign as she posed next to an iPhone.

The picture started a frenzy on the web in a bid to identify the young woman and how she came to appear on an iPhone in the UK. A website, iphonegirl.net even appeared, but has since stopped working.

Markm49uk posted a message as well as pictures on the website Macrumours.com asking if any other customers had found similar photos.

The message sparked off a wave of speculation about the woman, how she came to appear on the phone and even on the future of her employment.

"She is so fired," a forum member identified as PredatoryWasp86 said.

"That's nice that at least they have some fun in the drab of assembling technology," another forum member, BrownManUPS, said.

Her photo was reproduced all over the world, and eventually news reached Foxcon, the company where the the phone was assembled in China.

Bosses at Foxcon technology in Shenzhen have promised 'iPhone girl' that her identity will not be revealed, although one Chinese paper called the mystery worker "China's prettiest factory girl".

Apple was today censured by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for making misleading claims in an iPhone advert.

www.apple.com/uk/iphone
www.macrumors.com

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