Steve Jobs gives Apple employees an iPhone

Cupertino (CA) – Yes, we apologize for putting up yet another iPhone story, so we’ll make this one brief. Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, is giving away a $599 iPhone to every one of Apple’s 20,000 employees. At retail value, this would put the total giveaway at approximately $12 million dollars.

It’s unclear whether the donated iPhones were given on the company’s behalf or as a personal gift from Jobs – not that he couldn’t afford it. While $12 million sounds like a lot of money, Jobs recently was fully vested in about $646 million dollars in Apple stock options.