Apple: "uh, can we have our prototype back?"Gizmodo: "thanks for confirming it's real."
Gizmodo said it is making arrangements to return an errant device that is believed to be a prototype of the next iPhone, following a request from Apple's legal department, which Gizmodo calls verification of the device's authenticity.
Gizmodo said it was in possession of a device it concluded to be a prototype of the unreleased and as-yet-unannounced iPhone 4G. The next-generation device was reportedly found last month on the floor of a San Francisco Bay Area bar after it was apparently left by a customer identified as an Apple employee. Well, former Apple employee, no doubt.
The device, which was initially masked in the body of an iPhone 3G, pretty much convinced Gizmodo editors that it was genuine. The ultimate evidence, according to Brian Lam, editorial director at Gizmodo parent Gawker Media, came in the form of a terse letter he received later Monday from Apple's legal chief:
Dear Mr. Lam,It has come to our attention that Gizmodo is currently in possession of a device that belongs to Apple. This letter constitutes a formal request that you return the device to Apple. Please let me know where to pick up the unit.
Sincerely,
Bruce Sewell
Senior Vice President & General Counsel
Apple Inc.
"It proves--if there was any doubt in your mind--that this thing is real," Lam wrote in a Gizmodo blog.It seems Apple tipped it's hand? No? Bad poker player.
In his reply, Lam said that he gave Sewell a contact with whom he could arrange exchange and that he added: "Just so you know, we didn't know this was stolen when we bought it. Now that we definitely know it's not some knockoff, and it really is Apple's, I'm happy to see it returned to its rightful owner. P.S. I hope you take it easy on the kid who lost it."
Apple representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The "kid" Lam referred to is reportedly Apple software engineer Gray Powell, who allegedly left the device on a stool at German bar Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City, Calif., last month. The person who retrieved the device apparently tracked down Powell through a Facebook app on the phone before Apple remotely wiped the device.
"Since this was the only missing piece of the puzzle, we have now both extinguished any doubts of its origin [and] get to give the phone back," Lam said in his blog.
They paid $5,000 for it. A paltry amount for a super huge scoop, and 1 million hits in the first hour they posted it.
Nice new spin on PR'n the new iPhone from Apple. I think it's all of Apple's plan. Anyone want to take a shot at what Steve Jobs might say?
ReplyDeleteNo way, that kid is dead dead dead. Jobs will skin him alive and throw his head on a pike in the main office as a warning to everyone to never let that happen again.
ReplyDelete