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Investigation Into Lost iPhone 4 Prototype Wrapping Up, Jobs Interviewed

Diode said:
I'm still putting a lot of blame on Apple here. Lots of blame could have been passed to the person who found the phone if it was tagged with a sticker that said: "Property of Apple Inc, If found, please call XXX-XXX-XXXX and report number XXXXXXXX."

Our company property have similar stickers on them, but from the photos it appears this was not the case (unless it was removed)

It would be easy for Apple to have such a similar setup, even if it's just a special number for only prototypes. It would have given the person finding the phone a easy method to return it.
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The finder did find out the owners identity though and knew how to contact him. And the problem with such a sticker is obviously that it'll give away proof that it is indeed an Apple prototype..which is of course why they don't have such things.

Besides, it doesn't really make any of the criminal acts in this case any better really?
 
I've missed this story, so many amusing arguments.

Personally I do believe that a crime, or crimes were committed if you go by the letter of the law, and/or common sense.

Whether this will end up in court and convictions can be garnered is another matter, but if it does I'll laugh because the biggest crime in all this was the sheer stupidity of nearly all the parties involved.
 
KnightWRX said:
If mine was a top secret invaluable prototype, I wouldn't bring it to a bar. Any outings in the real world would be controlled, time constrained and have GPS tracking.
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That's a good point, doesn't Steve have MobileMe? He could have used Find My Phone feature and sent out the Apple Strike Force during the full 7 days before it was actually sold to Gizmodo.

quagmire said:
I have told my dad who is a lawyer the details( thanks to gizmodo) of the return attempt and he deemed it not satisfactory. He didn't even use the most logical attempt to return it to the owner: turn it in to the police. He knew whose iPhone it was, and all he did was a lame attempt to call AppleCare who would have no idea how to handle it. Apple's campus was a few miles away as well. So many options unused. Gizmodo knew all this( how else could they publish it?).
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Well, my Dad says your Dad is wrong. So there! :p
 
Eauboy said:
Why on earth would they have to talk to Jobs?
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Simple, Steve Jobs will tell them what to do. I'm guessing he told them to send in the armed police to Jason Chens house and knock down his door. If he wants something to happen, e.g. prosecutions, they will happen.

I'm guessing he is feeling a little down since Apple had to eat a big plate of crow last week with its police to what they will accept with iOS apps. Given this, I'd bet he is spoiling for a power trip, hence he will instruct the local officials to go full court press on Jason Chen.
 
quagmire said:
I have told my dad who is a lawyer the details( thanks to gizmodo) of the return attempt and he deemed it not satisfactory.
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Look, your account of the details do not constitute sufficient proof and is not trial allowed evidence, as such, your father, who is not a judge and thus can not render a guilty verdict, could only provide his opinion.

And seriously, stop playing the "My dad is a lawyer" card. It doesn't make any of your arguments any more valid. There are tons of ambulance chasers out there who have no clue, we don't know your dad's credentials and somehow commenting on a an on-going case is not something a good lawyer would do anyhow.

Again, Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

AmpSkillz said:
so are you saying all property and ownership concerns go out the window anytime you are in public

or do you have some justification for singling out IP
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Trade secrets are not protected under law except in contract law. If you want your trade secrets to remain secret, you need to protect them. As soon as you bring them into an area where there's people that aren't under NDA have access to your trade secrets, well you blew it.

Hence my reason for singling out trade secrets. Property is very different and protected by theft laws.
 
kas23 said:
That's a good point, doesn't Steve have MobileMe? He could have used Find My Phone feature and sent out the Apple Strike Force during the full 7 days before it was actually sold to Gizmodo.
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It was far more important to wipe and brick the phone at that stage. It's shocking how little real information was revealed by gizmodo. They didn't report that the band was the antenna or even that the back was made of glass.
 
I just feel sorry for the guy who originally lost it. Clearly the person who found it and took it to Gizmondo was looking for money.
Still at the end of the day Apple received a hell of a lot of free publicity over this and even now there is a long waiting list in a number of countries for the iPhone4. The money just keeps rolling. I doubt the Apple marketing could have done a better job.
 
Sum of parts. We are all 78% water

KnightWRX said:
If mine was a top secret invaluable prototype, I wouldn't bring it to a bar. Any outings in the real world would be controlled, time constrained and have GPS tracking.

Anyway, the "engineering" value is meaningless. Value in this case is sums of parts. This makes the prototype no more valuable than any other iPhone 4s. Trade secrets and other IP concerns went out the window the day Apple brought it out in the real world.
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Please tell me that you are not a lawyer.
 
Eauboy said:
Why on earth would they have to talk to Jobs?
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Full of Win said:
Simple, Steve Jobs will tell them what to do. I'm guessing he told them to send in the armed police to Jason Chens house and knock down his door. If he wants something to happen, e.g. prosecutions, they will happen.
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Or maybe it was to do with the email he received from Brian Lam, that some could construe as an attempt at blackmail.
 
KnightWRX said:
Look, your account of the details do not constitute sufficient proof and is not trial allowed evidence, as such, your father, who is not a judge and thus can not render a guilty verdict, could only provide his opinion.
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Um, in most criminal cases, such as this, a jury renders a guilty verdict.

You know, a jury, of 6-12 people of your peers...which means people like you and me.

And, from what's been given of the case and what's known of case law, a reasonable man could very well give a "guilty" verdict.

Which means that it's a good probability that this goes to trial.

Y'all shouldn't pontificate about legal matters when you're demonstrating that you have little grasp of them.
 
gwangung said:
The attempts to return the phone are the KEY points. Anyone who isn't a legal ignoramus would know that. And it seems pretty clear to me that the attempt was very, very inadequate.

Hint: that's enough to go to prosecution.
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Key points that would be debated in a court of law and decided upon by a judge in said court of law unless the charged party decided to enter a guilty plea.

Until then, heck, until charges are even pressed, anyone condemning and screaming "GUILTY!" is wrong, under the United States' judicial system and under the provisions that make it so an individual is Innocent until proven guilty.

What a hard concept. :rolleyes:
 
Eauboy said:
Why on earth would they have to talk to Jobs?
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Maybe because he's the CEO of the company alleging the violation of trade secrets? Sure he could have delegated this to someone else, but that's Job's choice, but the prosecutions.
 
I was at a bar the other night watching the game.

The couple next to me left and I noticed they had left their credit card. I quickly went after them with it, but they had left.

So I gave the credit card to the bartender, who said that they will be back. That they have people l leaving credit cards and phones all of the time. He told me at least 10 a weekend and most times they retrace their steps and pick it up the next night.

So the fact the person sold the iPhone to Gizmondo, who then took it apart does not indicate any intent of returning the phone. If it was a credit card would the person who found the iPhone used it?
 
KnightWRX said:
Until then, heck, until charges are even pressed, anyone condemning and screaming "GUILTY!" is wrong, under the United States' judicial system and under the provisions that make it so an individual is Innocent until proven guilty.

What a hard concept. :rolleyes:
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Actually this applies to the courts, not public opinion. In fact, in the US you have the explicit to right to believe he is guilty before the trail.
 
nep61 said:
Buying and or selling stolen property is one thing...
buying and or selling lost property is another....
and Finding lost property and selling it is another....

who do you believe?
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doesnt matter if an item is stolen or lost.
in both cases the owner is still the same and in the end the item still belongs to them.

you can't plead ignorance. there were many factors that would have pointed to the item being lost, not being given away or thrown out. a reasonable person would believe that the item was not intentionally placed on the floor of a bar to be given away.

if someone found the phone in a trash can then they might have a case.
 
A few reminders for the discussion:

1) The Apple engineer who lost the device, was responsible for coming up with iPhone radio test code (according to his LinkedIn account before it was wiped). So it made sense that he had one.

2) Apple testers are encouraged to take units everywhere, including bars (*). So it's not an unusual place to have one.

3) Reportedly the GPS code wasn't working on the OS build he had with him. I bet that has changed for all future testing.

(*) "For the actual testing, technicians frequented all the places where consumers go: office buildings, subway platforms, stairwells, elevators, crowded bars, sprawling suburban malls and congested city streets. They also showed up incognito at Apple and AT&T stores. - 2007 article "
 
myca said:
I think if we weren't allowed to express opinions, however informed (or un-informed) another party may deem them to be, society would be much worse.
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There's a difference between stating an opinion and stating a fact. People screaming at Gizmodo and condemning are not stating an opinion.
 
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