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Gizmodo gets its hands on the new iPhone prototype

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tino said:
How does this cost Apple any penny except Steven P. Jobs' ego?
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Lowers sales of existing iphone while people wait for the new iphone, hurting bottom line for the months the phone is not released. Lowers expectations and investor response to the reveal of the phone which (despite still providing a bump for apple under the existing circumstances) will not be anywhere near where it would've been without the initial leak. Are two ways off the top of my head.
 
Ughh I am so torn. My 32 g 3GS is in perfect condition and I could probably get a nice penny if I sold it on the bay, enough to buy the new model, but I would have to sell it before the new model is released. That is the one thing I hate about new gadgets, they are so tempting!
 
tino said:
How does this cost Apple any penny except Steven P. Jobs' ego?
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Uhh, how can I even begin to count the ways? Billed hours to fix this problem, re-arrange schedules, redo advertising and planned reveals, lawyers and other legal fees, etc, etc. This constitutes a considerable cost to them.
 
tino said:
How does this cost Apple any penny except Steven P. Jobs' ego?
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People not buying the current iPhone 3GS, and instead waiting for this new one which is pretty much confirmed to be a huge overhaul. I know I wouldn't buy an iPhone now if I was in the market.
 
RyanDG said:
Lowers sales of existing iphone while people wait for the new iphone, hurting bottom line for the months the phone is not released. Lowers expectations and investor response to the reveal of the phone which (despite still providing a bump for apple under the existing circumstances) will not be anywhere near where it would've been without the initial leak. Are two ways off the top of my head.
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Anybody with half a brain would do this anyway, new iPhone reveal always happens at the same time every year. But other points made by you and KHarvey16 are valid.
 
Pandoracell said:
Anybody with half a brain would do this anyway, new iPhone reveal always happens at the same time every year. But other points made by you and KHarvey16 are valid.
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I think you overestimate the number of people who pay attention to the Apple release cycle.
 
Pandoracell said:
Yeah, that reply letter from Gizmodo is...interesting to say the least. It's like a 14 year old wrote it.
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Yeah, if I had Gawker's legal team at my disposal, I would have let them go over it first. For one thing, acknowledging that they bought the item instead of saying they received the item or simply bought the right to air the story. And implying that the product was possibly stolen (did they get that from informal calls from Apple, since the story also says Apple has been giving them phone calls?) But since this doesn't seem to involve broken NDAs or anything, the most Apple could do would've been to try to reclaim it in small claims court or something.
 
KHarvey16 said:
The very first thing you said was "They just cost a man his job..." I don't believe they did and thought I made it clear that's what I was referring to. I have no idea why Gizmodo revealed his identity and have already said that I hope they have a very good reason.
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Are you saying that the outing in no way will affect this guy's career? Yes, Apple most certainly already knew, but even if the guy manges to stay at Apple until he retires, knowing that his fuck up is only a google search away for potential employers and therefore that some doors might be closed, he won't have as much leverage in salary negotiations. No matter whether he gets to stay at Apple or not, his career opportunities won't be the same. That is the reason I think this is a douchey move from Gizomodo since the guy isn't a public figure.
 
DarkJC said:
I think you overestimate the number of people who pay attention to the Apple release cycle.
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You're probably right just looking at GAF. I still can't believe how many people get angry when Apple announces an update for one their products the same time they do it every year. I fully expect to see plenty of people in the WWDC thread this year who bought an iPhone recently cursing Steve Jobs for ruining their life.
 
abq said:
Are you saying that the outing in no way will affect this guy's career? Yes, Apple most certainly already knew, but even if the guy manges to stay at Apple until he retires, knowing that his fuck up is only a google search away for potential employers and therefore that some doors might be closed, he won't have as much leverage in salary negotiations. No matter whether he gets to stay at Apple or not, his career opportunities won't be the same. That is the reason I think this is a douchey move from Gizomodo since the guy isn't a public figure.
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Why are we not reading what I've written?
 
abq said:
Are you saying that the outing in no way will affect this guy's career? Yes, Apple most certainly already knew, but even if the guy manges to stay at Apple until he retires, knowing that his fuck up is only a google search away for potential employers and therefore that some doors might be closed, he won't have as much leverage in salary negotiations. No matter whether he gets to stay at Apple or not, his career opportunities won't be the same. That is the reason I think this is a douchey move from Gizomodo since the guy isn't a public figure.
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I completely disagree with gizmo do for posting the information of the employee who lost it, BUT even if he hadn't been revealed publicly and was fired a simple reference check by a future employer could reveal the same information.

But also apple could have terminated him but agreed to provide a positive referencenin the future. That isn't unheard of.
 
scorcho said:
problem solved. odd how the letter didn't mention that the device was, to quote the sanctimonious Gruber, stolen property.
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The letter doesn't use those terms, but the story seems to imply that Apple was calling Gizmodo and telling them that they considered it stolen. Gizmodo's reply letter doesn't help either.

As I said previously, I don't think much can be made of it. Stolen or not, they can protect their source, so there's nobody to prosecute, and Gizmodo covered their ass by saying in their letter that they "didn't know it was stolen when they bought it."
 
Hellsing321 said:
You're probably right just looking at GAF. I still can't believe how many people get angry when Apple announces an update for one their products the same time they do it every year. I fully expect to see plenty of people in the WWDC thread this year who bought an iPhone recently cursing Steve Jobs for ruining their life.
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yea i did that...4 pages ago..i am thinking of doing it again...i should sleep before i get banned.
 
If Mr. Powell does get fired he could sell history to hollywood and make big bucks. Seth Rogen could star.
 
The oddest part is that no one considered that this potentially might be the very same phone that Chinese worker commited suicide over. Gizmondo finaly got its hands on that long lost phone after so many months and running a fake story to justify dirty phone posesion :lol

How about that gaf?
 
Just catching up on all the updates.

This is bullshit. Gizmodo KNEW it was fucking stolen,completely deformed someone's character and now they're writing an apology that sounds like it came from a 5 year old.

I hope apple blackballs them for life. What scum.
 
What do you expect from Gizmodo? They're part of Gawker and they pulled that stupid IR controller stunt at a trade show ruining carefully planned demos of new tech.
 
shiiiiiiiiiiit this is getting major publicity. Just saw a preview of tonights 11 oclock news here in LA and their main story was the leaked iphone vid :lol
 
whitehawk said:
People not buying the current iPhone 3GS, and instead waiting for this new one which is pretty much confirmed to be a huge overhaul. I know I wouldn't buy an iPhone now if I was in the market.
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THIS.


I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a substantial dropoff in iPhone sales. maybe even them moving up the launch date of the iPhone to compensate.
 
Dreams-Visions said:
THIS.


I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a substantial dropoff in iPhone sales. maybe even them moving up the launch date of the iPhone to compensate.
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If Apple did that, then that would make Gizmodo the greatest heroes the internet has ever known.
 
Hellsing321 said:
If Apple did that, then that would make Gizmodo the greatest heroes the internet has ever known.
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It would never go that far. I don't know about you guys but I'm still expecting a different model come summer 2010.
 
This is sounding more and more fishier by the day..so they outed him and his name?!

So ok, they wiped the phone..remotely? How? With magic? Or with a form of mobile Me?...

The same Mobile Me which can use GPS to determine where the phone is...mmmmmm
 
Mecha_Infantry said:
This is sounding more and more fishier by the day..so they outed him and his name?!

So ok, they wiped the phone..remotely? How? With magic? Or with a form of mobile Me?...

The same Mobile Me which can use GPS to determine where the phone is...mmmmmm
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Uh, regular enterprise solutions allow for iPhones to be wiped. You think a F500 company wants any possibility of an employee's lost phone with company info out in the wild? And you think Apple doesn't have the same capability?

*rolleyes*
 
There is a kill switch on the iPhone which can be remotely activated.

And yes one of the features of MobileMe is precisely "Remote Wipe". It's not even just an enterprise solution.
 
syllogism said:
Perhaps you should actually read the story
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i did.

they object. ethics, it's not reporting, Apple should sue.

except that the Beta News article is getting hits by trying to capitalize on the guys who broke the story. believe Beta News would have been above running the same "NextGen iPhone revealed!" article if they had received the iPhone if you want to. I don't buy the "high and mighty" angle for a second.

ymmv.

(don't kill me for disagreeing)
 
http://gizmodo.com/5520479/a-letter-apple-wants-its-secret-iphone-back

Well, how can I explain this? I got some interesting calls today. It was Apple. And they wanted their phone back.

This phone was lost, and then found. But from Apple's perspective, it could have been considered stolen. I told them, all they have to do to get it back is to claim it—on record. This formal request from Apple's legal department is that claim. It proves—if there was any doubt in your mind—that this thing is real.

Here's my reply:

Bruce, thanks.
Here's Jason Chen, who has the iPhone. And here's his address. You two should coordinate a time.

[Blah Blah Blah Address]

Happy to have you pick this thing up. Was burning a hole in our pockets. Just so you know, we didn't know this was stolen [as they might have claimed. meaning, real and truly from Apple. It was found, and to be of unproven origin] 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. I don't think he loves anything more than Apple.

And since this was the only missing piece of the puzzle, we have now both extinguished any doubts of its origin but also, we get to give the phone back. *warm, fuzzy, huggy feelings of legal compliance*

(Our legal team told us that in California the law states, "If it is lost, the owner has three years to reclaim or title passes to the owner of the premises where the property was found. The person who found it had the duty to report it." Which, actually, the guys who found it tried to do, but were pretty much ignored by Apple. )

I'm sad to see it go. We reasoned this pretty little piece of hardware is probably something we'll see again some time soon, but who knows exactly when. For some of us, that date can't come soon enough.
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what a bunch of morons
 
I am surprised Brian Chen would risk legal jeopardy for his employer by being in possession of stolen property. I am more surprised that Brian Lam would allow himself, in all his revelry over the scoop, to presumably be suckered by Denton and the loosey-goosey Gawker legal team's interpretation of the "duty to report." They surely realize that you have a duty to remand found property to your local law enforcement agency. CA law is unambiguous regarding found property (as is basically every state). They're all being too cute by half. "It's not stolen if we didn't break into your house, pitch dark, in our ninja pjs!"

It would have been easy to cheerlead the leak had Gizmodo not attempted to publicly declaim their "defense" by outing the engineer. Lame. And in no way was it necessary or relevant as their public protestations would be meaningless to any court. If Apple is going to move against Gawker, I don't see it happening until after this phone is officially announced and launched. Apple should lick its wounds and move on, though.

And other than Adobe, I don't see Apple's competitors smirking. Gizmodo's actions have put them all on notice. Blurry photos, DigiTime leaks, etc., are one thing, blogs willing to buy your "leaked" prototypes and dissect them for hits is a whole different thing.

Especially disappointing, though, is that quite a few Apple-phobics 'round the web can't get past their neurosis to criticize Gizmodo for conspicuously identifying and advertising the hapless engineer. Hate Apple all you want, but at least recognize what a crummy and unseemly act that was on the part of Gizmodo. Take a little heat so as to at least not ruin an admittedly careless guy's career. Just lame.
 
wonderkins said:
I am surprised Brian Chen would risk legal jeopardy for his employer by being in possession of stolen property. I am more surprised that Brian Lam would allow himself, in all his revelry over the scoop, to presumably be suckered by Denton and the loosey-goosey Gawker legal team's interpretation of the "duty to report." They surely realize that you have a duty to remand found property to your local law enforcement agency. CA law is unambiguous regarding found property (as is basically every state). They're all being too cute by half. "It's not stolen if we didn't break into your house, pitch dark, in our ninja pjs!"

It would have been easy to cheerlead the leak had Gizmodo not attempted to publicly declaim their "defense" by outing the engineer. Lame. And in no way was it necessary or relevant as their public protestations would be meaningless to any court. If Apple is going to move against Gawker, I don't see it happening until after this phone is officially announced and launched. Apple should lick its wounds and move on, though.

And other than Adobe, I don't see Apple's competitors smirking. Gizmodo's actions have put them all on notice. Blurry photos, DigiTime leaks, etc., are one thing, blogs willing to buy your "leaked" prototypes and dissect them for hits is a whole different thing.

Especially disappointing, though, is that quite a few Apple-phobics 'round the web can't get past their neurosis to criticize Gizmodo for conspicuously identifying and advertising the hapless engineer. Hate Apple all you want, but at least recognize what a crummy and unseemly act that was on the part of Gizmodo. Take a little heat so as to at least not ruin an admittedly careless guy's career. Just lame.
Click to expand...

it's not like Apple was ever going to give them first dibs on announcing ANY of their products, so they lose nothing by doing this. I agree that announcing the guy's name is fucking low and a great example of their complete lack of journalistic integrity
 
wonderkins said:
I am surprised Brian Chen would risk legal jeopardy for his employer by being in possession of stolen property. I am more surprised that Brian Lam would allow himself, in all his revelry over the scoop, to presumably be suckered by Denton and the loosey-goosey Gawker legal team's interpretation of the "duty to report." They surely realize that you have a duty to remand found property to your local law enforcement agency. CA law is unambiguous regarding found property (as is basically every state). They're all being too cute by half. "It's not stolen if we didn't break into your house, pitch dark, in our ninja pjs!"
Click to expand...
The 'we didn't know it was stolen!' is the most embarrassing part, after the sorry outing of the engineer for hits. They could at least stand by their actions.
 
wonderkins said:
I am surprised Brian Chen would risk legal jeopardy for his employer by being in possession of stolen property. I am more surprised that Brian Lam would allow himself, in all his revelry over the scoop, to presumably be suckered by Denton and the loosey-goosey Gawker legal team's interpretation of the "duty to report." They surely realize that you have a duty to remand found property to your local law enforcement agency. CA law is unambiguous regarding found property (as is basically every state). They're all being too cute by half. "It's not stolen if we didn't break into your house, pitch dark, in our ninja pjs!"

It would have been easy to cheerlead the leak had Gizmodo not attempted to publicly declaim their "defense" by outing the engineer. Lame. And in no way was it necessary or relevant as their public protestations would be meaningless to any court. If Apple is going to move against Gawker, I don't see it happening until after this phone is officially announced and launched. Apple should lick its wounds and move on, though.

And other than Adobe, I don't see Apple's competitors smirking. Gizmodo's actions have put them all on notice. Blurry photos, DigiTime leaks, etc., are one thing, blogs willing to buy your "leaked" prototypes and dissect them for hits is a whole different thing.

Especially disappointing, though, is that quite a few Apple-phobics 'round the web can't get past their neurosis to criticize Gizmodo for conspicuously identifying and advertising the hapless engineer. Hate Apple all you want, but at least recognize what a crummy and unseemly act that was on the part of Gizmodo. Take a little heat so as to at least not ruin an admittedly careless guy's career. Just lame.
Click to expand...
So you criticize Gizmodo for being in possession of stolen property... and then you criticize them for outing the story of the person who lost the phone (which explains their position that it's not stolen)...

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I suppose the only option for them was to not take the story and report it straight to Apple! Of course, the seller might have taken it to a competitor anyway.... :P

IMO the Apple employee losing the phone put Gizmodo into a position where they had to act one way or the other... or they could have sacrificed any role at all, for the sake of principles. Sure. :P

Next time, Apple should just not lose their fucking prototype. I'm a little sick of this finger wagging at a news site. I don't like the idea that an individual was outed, but I'm willing to bet that the legal circumstances of someone trying to sell a prototype iPhone necessitated these actions. Blame the anonymous seller.
 
ElectricBlue187 said:
it's not like Apple was ever going to give them first dibs on announcing ANY of their products, so they lose nothing by doing this. I agree that announcing the guy's name is fucking low and a great example of their complete lack of journalistic integrity
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I agree with you. They lose nothing by doing this. In fact, they would probably gain by any Apple legal action. Publicity and all.

julls said:
The 'we didn't know it was stolen!' is the most embarrassing part, after the sorry outing of the engineer for hits. They could at least stand by their actions.
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Definitely agreed. Also, the ingratiating tone of Lam's response is <smh>. I wonder why he removed the comment about the engineer loving Apple and beer. Such jokesters.

And the person in possession of the phone is Jason Chen, not Brian. Sorry for the mistype Jason. Whatever hole you're presently sleeping in.
 
BocoDragon said:
Next time, Apple should just not lose their fucking prototype. I'm a little sick of this finger wagging at a news site. I don't like the idea that an individual was outed, but I'm willing to bet that the legal circumstances of someone trying to sell a prototype iPhone necessitated these actions. Blame the anonymous seller.
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that.
 
SnakeXs said:
Uh, regular enterprise solutions allow for iPhones to be wiped. You think a F500 company wants any possibility of an employee's lost phone with company info out in the wild? And you think Apple doesn't have the same capability?

*rolleyes*
Click to expand...

jts said:
There is a kill switch on the iPhone which can be remotely activated.

And yes one of the features of MobileMe is precisely "Remote Wipe". It's not even just an enterprise solution.
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You guys obviously didn't read what I wrote. yes I do know MM has remote swipe, that's the whole point of my argument. Read the part where it says it also has GPS tracking, so maybe Apple could have tracked where the phone was before it got into the hands of Giz

Comprende?
 
BocoDragon said:
So you criticize Gizmodo for being in possession of stolen property... and then you criticize them for outing the story of the person who lost the phone (which explains their position that it's not stolen)...

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I suppose the only option for them was to not take the story and report it straight to Apple! Of course, the seller might have taken it to a competitor anyway.... :P

IMO the Apple employee losing the phone put Gizmodo into a position where they had to act one way or the other... or they could have sacrificed any role at all, for the sake of principles. Sure. :P

Next time, Apple should just not lose their fucking prototype. I'm a little sick of this finger wagging at a news site. I don't like the idea that an individual was outed, but I'm willing to bet that the legal circumstances of someone trying to sell a prototype iPhone necessitated these actions. Blame the anonymous seller.
Click to expand...
You're attempt at a dichotomy makes no sense to me. Sorry.
 
wonderkins said:
You're attempt at a dichotomy makes no sense to me. Sorry.
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You basically blamed Gizmodo for their actions when it was necessitated by the circumstance.

1. You work for Gizmodo, and someone comes forward to you with an iPhone prototype. You could ignore it, but that's unlikely. You're going to run some sort of story because it's your job. You're a news site. If you don't do it, someone else will... and if you do it you profit.

2. In order to prevent the implication that it's stolen, or leaked, you'll have to describe how and where you got it... so you describe the circumstance of who lost it, and how, in order to legally guard your ass.

I don't see Gizmodo as a villain here. The guy who lost it is at fault, or the guy who sold it.

Hell, even the guy who sold it... what would you do with an iPhone prototype? Just forget about it and turn it into Apple? You'd have to be a better man than most of us to do something like that. Most would seek profit.

I think the implication that people were "corrupt" in this instance is false. The person who worked for Apple has it in his job description not to lose that phone.. perhaps he is at fault!... everyone else was compelled by the circumstance to do what they did.
 
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