And You Thought the Gymnasts Were Young…

Have you been following the mystery of the “iPhone girl”? A British iPhone user says he found a photo of a young Chinese girl pre-loaded on his new Apple device. Now, after days of speculation, the Chinese government-run media has confirmed the girl is a real factory employee.

The China Internet Information Center says the girl works on an assembly line at a factory run by Foxconn in Southern China. They indicate that the picture was part of a normal testing procedure and was likely left on the phone by mistake. Factory reps are quoted as saying the girl is “definitely not fired” over the incident.

The photos were first posted to the MacRumors.com forums and have garnered pages of responses and discussion. And the girl — while seemingly still working at her factory job — has found herself the latest global citizen to become a temporary Internet celebrity.

How long till we see people trying to profit off the phenomenon?