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Gizmodo gets its hands on the new iPhone prototype

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Freestyler said:
At the end of the day, Gizmodo broke the biggest tech story of the year so far. I applaud them and wish them all the best and am happy to give them my pageviews.

And what the shit was Gray Powell doing leaving a priceless prototype in a bar, let alone taking it there in the first place? If someone like that worked for me they'd be axed the next day.
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I'm not saying Giz DIDN'T break the biggest tech story of the year. But instead of being professionals about it, they've been the complete opposite.

And as for Powell, it's called "real-world testing" - something many companies do. You think that prototype left Apple's campus without it being approved to do so?
 
I can't believe I read the whole, 20 page document.

Hogan, his evidence-dumping accomplice, and Gizmodo are a bunch of clowns. Hogan's sealed his fate, pretty much. He claimed he couldn't manage to return the phone to Apple, but his roommate (who turned him in) got through to Apple's Information Security chief by phone on the first fucking try. Such a joke.
 
Freestyler said:
I'm not sure about the letter but overall the whole thing is definitely journalism. Failing to report on the 'lost' iPhone would be the equivalent of a reporter learning about a plot to invade North Korea but not saying anything because she found the info illegally/unethically (although on a completely different scale).

I'm a major Apple fan and I'm 100% behind Gizmodo on this one. There was a story, they broke it. Good on them and I hope they continue to receive higher traffic because of this.
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Reporting on the story of the phone is not the issue to me. They printed photos of the new phone, reported what they observed about the new phone, that's all well and good. And they would have been crazy not to do that. That's reporting the story. However, in the process they bought goods that weren't the seller's to sell (and Gizmodo had to have known that), they took their own photos and video of the device and they disassembled it and broke it in the process. That's where they broke the law as outlined in the affidavit. Whether you can break the law like that to report a story is tbd. I'm gonna guess you can't.

But - The letter from Lam to Jobs isn't journalism. It's extorting a story from Apple, for no one's benefit but Gizmodo's traffic numbers. They refused to give Apple their property back (after Jobs himself called and asked) until they got a written admission that it was the next iPhone for the sole purpose of using it as another story.
 
QuiteWhittle said:
Wouldn't be surprised if Gizmodo put it up themselves to gain a few more hits while they're still online .
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That would be odd since it basically makes them look like total dicks, but then that wouldn't be the first gross miscalculation they've made in this whole sorry affair.
 
mightynine said:
I'm not saying Giz DIDN'T break the biggest tech story of the year. But instead of being professionals about it, they've been the complete opposite.

And as for Powell, it's called "real-world testing" - something many companies do. You think that prototype left Apple's campus without it being approved to do so?
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"Powell, we need you to take the phone and test it at a bar. See if it still works when you're shitfaced, and see if it finds its way back to you when you lose it."

Seriously, what were they thinking?! There are far safer ways to go about testing something in the 'real world' that don't involve letting your staff get drunk on the job.
 
QuiteWhittle said:
Wouldn't be surprised if Gizmodo put it up themselves to gain a few more hits while they're still online .
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I don't think they've said a word about today's events. Besides, the email is in the affidavit. Apple gave it to authorities.
 
Freestyler said:
"Powell, we need you to take the phone and test it at a bar. See if it still works when you're shitfaced, and see if it finds its way back to you when you lose it."

Seriously, what were they thinking?! There are far safer ways to go about testing something in the 'real world' that don't involve letting your staff get drunk on the job.
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What court documents say that he got shitfaced drunk at a bar?
 
Freestyler said:
"Powell, we need you to take the phone and test it at a bar. See if it still works when you're shitfaced, and see if it finds its way back to you when you lose it."

Seriously, what were they thinking?! There are far safer ways to go about testing something in the 'real world' that don't involve letting your staff get drunk on the job.
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:lol :lol :lol

Please tell me you're not for real.

So the guy has to put his life on hold, even at off work hours because he has a prototype device in his possesion?

Was he careless? sure. But apparently he wasn't that "shitfaced" when the bartender clearly stated that he went back to the bar shortly after finding out he had lost the phone. Plus you make it sound like the guy was a drunk wreck before Apple handed him the device.
 
Freestyler said:
"Powell, we need you to take the phone and test it at a bar. See if it still works when you're shitfaced, and see if it finds its way back to you when you lose it."

Seriously, what were they thinking?! There are far safer ways to go about testing something in the 'real world' that don't involve letting your staff get drunk on the job.
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"Test this in the real world" doesn't necessarily mean "go outside while you are working and try this out." It's not crazy to think they allow people to bring them home and use them.
 
The account in the court doc of how the phone was lost in the first place differs from Gizmodo's. It's just Powell's account of things and it doesn't go into Hogan's, but someone's not telling the truth.

Looking at Gizmodo's "but the finder only wanted to return it to its rightful owner" spiel vs. the court doc's "Hogan knew what he had and it was worth $$$" is hilarious in light of the lengths he and his roommate were going to to hide the evidence. :)
 
SuperPac said:
The account in the court doc of how the phone was lost in the first place differs from Gizmodo's. It's just Powell's account of things and it doesn't go into Hogan's, but someone's not telling the truth.

Looking at Gizmodo's "but the finder only wanted to return it to its rightful owner" spiel vs. the court doc's "Hogan knew what he had and it was worth $$$" is hilarious in light of the lengths he and his roommate were going to to hide the evidence. :)
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Well Hogan's roommate even quotes him as saying something along the lines of "Sucks for him. shouldn't have lost it." Returning the phone was obviously the last thing on the guy's mind. He was blinded by $$$$$.
 
evil ways said:
:lol :lol :lol

Please tell me you're not for real.

So the guy has to put his life on hold, even at off work hours because he has a prototype device in his possesion?
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Not put his life on hold, no. But to drink at a bar to the point (whether drunk or not) where you lose track of your belongings (including a priceless prototype that you've been entrusted with) is just downright stupid.
 
I know in this brave new world of blogs and Internet reporting we're all supposed to believe that journalism school, where budding young reporters are taught ethics and protecting your sources and what the law actually says, is old hat and for dying ink-on-paper stuff. But really, I think Gizmodo could have benefited if they didn't just assume having a website and posting whatever rumors and crap they wanted made them SRS JERNOLSSS.

I mean, for fuck's sake:

Right now, we have nothing to lose. The thing is, Apple PR has been cold to us lately. It affected my ability to do my job right at iPad launch. So we had to go outside and find our stories like this one, aggressively.
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Yeah, you really put on your boots and went and found this huge story like Woodward and Bernstein. It doesn't occur to them that they were the only bloggers in Silicon Valley who were too dumb to understand that what seemed like a the scoop of the century was really some greedy naive kid enticing them into buying stolen property.
 
Right now, we have nothing to lose.
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Not only does this sound like the most desperate and grossly unprofessional part of the letter - who the fuck takes this kind of criminal-on-the-run attitude, let alone openly saying it in professional correspondence to a top CEO? - but as the legal and civil ramifications come into focus, it may turn out to be very untrue.
 
Wow... Gizmodo are slime (well, maybe not everyone at Gizmodo but more like the editors that were involved in this).

Hope Apple sues the pants off of them.
 
equap said:
i submitted the Wired story to gizmodo, think they'll post it? :lol
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They've been surprisingly quiet about the affidavit being unsealed. :) I thought I'd seen something on Engadget about the unsealing earlier but they haven't reported on it in any big way either. Just Wired. Wonder if Engadget is being cautious since they published pictures the Saturday before Gizmodo posted their blowout.
 
"Sucks for Brian Hogan. He stole the phone. Shouldn't have stolen the phone".
 
Yes, this was the biggest story, but is this really journalism? It feels like someone breaking into Apple and stealing new products. Yes, you'll get the scoop, but you're also a douche..

giga said:
Jobs personally called Gizmodo to request the phone back. Gizmodo’s response back to Steve:



Also:



And regarding Hogan:



And it was more than $5k:



And the charges:



More idiocy:



Gizmodo lied that he had tried to return it to the owner:


Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/05/roommate-iphone/#ixzz0nwRJfXnK

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2010/05/iphone_affidavit.pdf
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/05/roommate-iphone/

What a mess. :lol
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Gizmodo- the National Enquirer of tech blogs.
 
Zozz said:
Any word on how those Vietnamese guys ended up getting the prototype phone or maybe final version?
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OHHH yeah! I completely forgot about that. Why haven't we heard anymore on that front? Has Steve Jobs killed everyone at Apple, yet?
 
Freestyler said:
"Powell, we need you to take the phone and test it at a bar. See if it still works when you're shitfaced, and see if it finds its way back to you when you lose it."

Seriously, what were they thinking?! There are far safer ways to go about testing something in the 'real world' that don't involve letting your staff get drunk on the job.
Click to expand...

Oh geez, just stop.
 
The Vietnamese thing is very intriguing, but unless you were a ley person, how can you not know that Apple releases the iPhone in June?

That's a little insulting to build your case with that.

I mean I told my brother that a new one was coming out and he bought the 3GS anyway.
 
We now have /most/ of the facts and people are /still/ hating on Apple? Let it go, damn.
 
evil solrac v3.0 said:
I think it's a valid point.frankly, it's very irresponsible by that guy.
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Sure, the guy was irresponsible, but Freestyler has been posting some ridiculous things in this thread. Companies do real world testing all the time, it's the best way to get ...real world testing of devices. Imagine that!

I also can't imagine anyone being on the side of Gizmodo.
 
It kinda pisses me off that they will spend $5k+ to purchase a stolen prototype device when they could have spent that money to fly a legitimate investigative reporter to Asia and do a piece of the working conditions of all the people assembling these gadgets.
 
SuperPac said:
They've been surprisingly quiet about the affidavit being unsealed. :) I thought I'd seen something on Engadget about the unsealing earlier but they haven't reported on it in any big way either. Just Wired. Wonder if Engadget is being cautious since they published pictures the Saturday before Gizmodo posted their blowout.
Click to expand...

Engadget didn't pay for those pictures. They were likely what was given to them to start the auction. They did the legal thing, and turned down purchasing stolen merchandise and just posted the photos they got for free, knowing that someone else was going to probably buy it soon so they wanted to get at least some page hits out of the whole thing legally and for free.
 
DataStream said:
It kinda pisses me off that they will spend $5k+ to purchase a stolen prototype device when they could have spent that money to fly a legitimate investigative reporter to Asia and do a piece of the working conditions of all the people assembling these gadgets.
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Call me crazy, but I still think it was suspicious that the factory worker who lost a previous iPhone prototype commited suicide.
 
Zzoram said:
Call me crazy, but I still think it was suspicious that the factory worker who lost a previous iPhone prototype commited suicide.
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Not crazy at all, I think it's pretty bloody obvious that Apple's secrecy and super special behaviour about all of their beloved little toys has caused many a suicide over lost protoypes over the years.

Personally I think this whole Gizmodo thing is a complete load of crap, not that i support Gizmodo at all, but personally I believe that OS4 is the driving force behind the new iPhone. Lets be honest, for previous generations of iPhone the hardware has NEVER been the selling point, so why should it be in this case?
 
Wow Gizmodo. Total Fail. I don't love Apple but any company that can help wipe a shitty website off of the face of the earth is fine with me.

I wish someone would do this to IGN.
 
MrSeaneyC said:
Not crazy at all, I think it's pretty bloody obvious that Apple's secrecy and super special behaviour about all of their beloved little toys has caused many a suicide over lost protoypes over the years.

Personally I think this whole Gizmodo thing is a complete load of crap, not that i support Gizmodo at all, but personally I believe that OS4 is the driving force behind the new iPhone. Lets be honest, for previous generations of iPhone the hardware has NEVER been the selling point, so why should it be in this case?
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Um, what? No... I'd say the hardware is what initially drove the sales to begin with. Everything else, OS-wise, has been gravy.
 
Jet Grind Radio! said:
Um, what? No... I'd say the hardware is what initially drove the sales to begin with. Everything else, OS-wise, has been gravy.
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I disagree entirely. The iPhone was important because it made software the focus of the phone. It made the hardware just a vessel for an easy to use, polished to high hell experience.

As long as the touch screen is quality, everything else plays second fiddle to software.
 
Pristine_Condition said:
From the affidavit:



Dooooooooosh.

Apparently the guy Gizmodo sweetened the pot for Hogan. Hogan said he got $8,500 for the phone and would recieve a cash bonus in July from Gizmodo if and when Apple made an official product announcement.
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dooooosh indeed.
 
Doesn't 8.5k seem low? I mean GIzmodo turned this into 5 million page views. Should have started way higher.
 
Gizmodo = douches.

And the guy who lost the phone is fired for sure.
Hell, some Apple employee showed Woz the 3G iPad before it was shown off and he got fired.

That dude has no chance. :(
 
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