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Finder of Leaked iPhone 4 Prototype Speaks Out

Funny to read old comments about it being ugly and hideous and looking like cheap chinese iPod clone, and then it turned out to be one of the best phone designs ever :)
 
I stole some high profile stuff when I was an idiotic kid too, and got nailed, and paid more than the stolen items were worth and suffered greatly for it as well. So what? Some kids just have to learn by doing. There's nothing new or unusual about any of this.

Is every kid who burns his hand on the stove going to do an AMA on it years later?

Reddit is the daytime television of the internet.
 
Ryth said:
How does anyone know what to do? Oh I don't know Brian, many of us were raised well and have something called 'common sense'.

You should have turned the phone into the bar owner OR looked through it and called the main contact OR once finding out Apple was looking for it...call them. I'm sure you would have gotten something nice out of Apple for returning their property. Instead you got a nice legal bill. Appropriate for trying to capitalize.

.
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Did you read his IAMA? It states that the first company he called was apple but they didnt take him seriously, and they were unaware that a prototype had been lost
 
It's very simple really - if it ain't yours don't touch it, or find the owner and return it.
 
gnasher729 said:
Many people _are_ young and dumb at 18. Or at 21. Since it all happened in a bar, he might have had some alcohol, and the first thing alcohol does is turn off the bit in your brain that says "this is a stupid idea" when you think of doing something stupid. (Which is why driving drunk is a bad idea, because you are tempted to do things that are stupid and that you wouldn't do when sober).
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Ok so he was drunk when he stole the phone. Next morning when he sobered up, he should have realized taking the phone was wrong and done the steps to return it to the bar or rightful owner.... Because he certainly didn't sell it to gizmodo shortly right after while he was still drunk.....

Anyway, the guy claims he made all reasonable attempts to return it( called AppleCare.... Like they would know or recognize what he had was a prototype).
 
He should suck it up. Tried to make a profit and didn't work out. Stop the whining.

I would have called Apple to inform them I have one of their testing devices and would like to return it.

In return I would have asked to speak 10-15 minutes to either Jony Ive or (at the time) Steve Jobs. This experience would have been a lot more worth than 5K.
 
I'm more interested in hearing from Sergio Calderon, the dude that was involved with the lost iPhone 4S prototype. His story of Apple security showing up and impersonating police is much more interesting.

I heard he dropped his lawsuit in exchange for not speaking about the case (and probably a butt load of cash), so we'll probably never hear from him. His lawyer went from telling everyone about the impending lawsuit to replying only "umm, no comment" when asked about a settlement.
 
nickane said:
Amazing to think Apple pressed charges when the whole thing smacks so much of an intentional leak (especially considering it happened again with the next phone).
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They are a giant company with expensive, bored lawyers on retainer... Of course they are going to screw the kid.

Had he just stuck it in his pocket and walked away Apple would have probably taken longer to find it, and been less pissed off. It went "viral" overnight that a prototype was in the wild... So at that point he had a pretty good idea who the "owner" was to anonymously return the phone. He didn't take the hind so the made him an "example"... That's never ever good.
 
quagmire said:
Anyway, the guy claims he made all reasonable attempts to return it( called AppleCare.... Like they would know or recognize what he had was a prototype).
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Although I agree he shouldnt have removed it from the bar, if he is telling the truth, his first call was to Apple to return the phone.
 
keithers24 said:
Did you read his IAMA? It states that the first company he called was apple but they didnt take him seriously, and they were unaware that a prototype had been lost
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He called AppleCare. Do you think they would know what to do or even recognize that it was a prototype? It would be like calling Toyota Customer Service or your local Toyota dealer after you discovered a Prius mule in your driveway with the keys in it..... They are not the proper people to call in that situation.
 
keithers24 said:
Did you read his IAMA? It states that the first company he called was apple but they didnt take him seriously, and they were unaware that a prototype had been lost
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It was quite clear back then that he had called Apple support, who clearly wouldn't be aware of any prototypes, in an effort to have an excuse to keep the phone.
 
Megakazbek said:
Funny to read old comments about it being ugly and hideous and looking like cheap chinese iPod clone, and then it turned out to be one of the best phone designs ever :)
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Best to you, maybe. But aesthetics are subjective. It's still every bit as beautiful and sexy and clunky and ugly and hideous and cheap looking as it was then. It'll be very nice to move beyond this old design with the 6. ...& about time too.
 
quagmire said:
He called AppleCare. Do you think they would know what to do or even recognize that it was a prototype? It would be like calling Toyota Customer Service or your local Toyota dealer after you discovered a Prius mule in your driveway with the keys in it..... They are not the proper people to call in that situation.
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Ok, well I am just going by the IAMA.. he doesnt state applecare just says that he called apple. I agree applecare wouldnt know what the heck is going on.
 
I'd have just taken it to apple HQ and hinted at a reward. Possibly dropping hints I had video'd it etc ;)

Is that bribery?
 
keithers24 said:
Ok, well I am just going by the IAMA.. he doesnt state applecare just says that he called apple. I agree applecare wouldnt know what the heck is going on.
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He stated he called AppleCare back in 2010 when this went down.
 
gnasher729 said:
In California where this happens, there are exactly two things that you can do legally when you see an item that looks as if it was lost:

1. Don't touch it. Leave it where it is.
2. Take it and make all reasonable efforts to return it to the rightful owner.

(2) could be a lot of work, which is why you can choose to do (1).

The first thing would have been to inform the bar owner, and leave your contact information with them, so if the owner asks if someone found his lost phone, the bar owner could give the contact information to the owner.

BTW. In Germany, taking the phone away from the bar would have been theft even if you returned it to the owner. There items are only "lost" if they are in a public place not owned by anyone. So you can't legally "find" things at someone's home, in a bar, in a school, on a bus and so on.
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Or just take it and keep it, 20 years later sell it as a vintage?
 
boshii said:
He would've been safe if he just took pictures instead.
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That's what I would have done.

Taken all kinds of pictures of it, then given it back.

You could then have your 15 minutes of fame as "the guy who found the unreleased iPhone", and then sell or give away your photos to the tech blogs.

Sure, you might have lost out on $3000... but then you wouldn't have your name dragged through all this mud (plus the legal fees, etc.)
 
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