Meet the Guy Whose Phone Stopped the Philharmonic

He is identified somewhat ominously as "Patron X" by the New York Philharmonic, the unlucky soul whose phone kept ringing during a performance this week and caused the conductor to stop the show. The New York Times has an interview with the 60-something businessman, who says he had no idea his phone was the one jangling. It seems his company switched him from a BlackBerry to an iPhone the day before. He made a point to turn it off before the performance, but was unaware the alarm had been set.

"I didn’t even know phones came with alarms,” he says. "You can imagine how devastating it is to know you had a hand in that." When the conductor stopped the show and glared toward the offending sound, the gentleman fiddled with his phone, as did others nearby, and the sound stopped. It was only on the ride home that his wife figured out the alarm had been set. “I hope the people at that performance and members of the orchestra can certainly forgive me for this whole event." (More ringtones stories.)