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That's not good enough, in a court of law. Like many other people on here have said... It's like buying a Rolex (or TV, whatever) from a guy in a back alley. He might have SAID that it wasn't stolen, but you have a reasonable expectation, according to the law, to believe that he's lying. It's GIZMODO'S RESPONSIBILITY TO DETERMINE THE VALIDITY OF THE SELLER... BY LAW!

this.

...and the $5000 price tag for a phone, shows they knew (and hoped) it was likely an Apple prototype that wasn't sold to the public yet, i.e. Apple's property.
 
Not exactly. There is not a single mention of a 'sale' or 'purchase' on their website. They only used the word "got". Nothing else.

And no wonder, because that would have made them liable [right from the start] but now Gizmodo can simply retract their story, and admit that it was in fact just bail money. Everything for a great story I guess.

That's incredibly naive, not to mention inaccurate.
 
If gizmodo did not post all these stories apple would have never even gotten the iphone prototype back. So gizmodo paying the finder $5000 to temporarily have the phone helps give apple a prototype back.
 
Schadenfreude - deriving pleasure from another's displeasure.

Me? Nothing to see here. I'm moving to the next subject. This is tabloid fodder now. Jason Chen gets more minutes of fame. So be it. I don't care.
 
The guy actually choose the most appropriate way. He contacted Apple - the owner. The drunk guy, the bar and the police are not the owners of this phone, Apple is.

Doesn't matter. Calling technical support of a major company about a prototype is like me going to the cops and saying, "Hey, an alien abducted my wife!" They won't take you seriously.

By law, you're required to return lost property to the police, if you can't contact the owner directly. Technical support isn't "direct" because they can't do anything about it.
 
If gizmodo did not post all these stories apple would have never even gotten the iphone prototype back. So gizmodo paying the finder $5000 to temporarily have the phone helps give apple a prototype back.

And lets all their competitors know where they're going with the next-gen months before it's announced.
 
That's not going to happen, Gizmodo is the one looking bad here.
All sides are looking bad here. I'm disappointed with Gizmodo and Apple and the cops breaking down doors over a wiped handset that had already been returned, Jesus phone or not.
 
Authorized representative for what? All Apple employees are authorized representatives for something. Perhaps the guy could have done better but this does not automatically make him a criminal.

Right. He could have offered it to the janitor by your theory. Wrong.

Further, you continue to ignore the damned statute. The law is crystal clear in california. Before title to the property passes to the finder, he has to report it to the police. He did not do so. He thus had no title, and no right to sell the property. When he did so he committed theft. When Gizmodo bought it, they received stolen goods, which they knew to be stolen - they knew it didn't belong to the finder.
 
Wrong. They admitted that they knew it was real once they examined it, and were particularly convinced once they cracked it open and saw Apple branding and serials on the internals. This was long before the letter. To say nothing of the intent conveyed by the purchase itself.

Lots of things have Apple branding (see: chinese knock-offs). They simply stated that they BELIEVED it to be a prototype. Once Apple confirmed it was the real deal, they returned it.
 
Nope, just letting you know how others percieve you so if you care you can choose to correct it.



Got no problem with differing opinions but your incessant childish rantings are embarrassing, even if you were arguing the opposite viewpoint in the same way it wouldn't matter.

You know what? I think it would save us both a lot of trouble if we ignored each other. So go ahead and put me on the list and I will do the same. Apparently I don't want to listen to your demeaning and arrogant drivel any more than you want to read my posts. Ciao
 
lol @ everyone getting all worked up. I think it's safe to say that if you're getting this upset about it, you're probably not going to be able to look at this situation objectively.
 
For the love of god please read at least a page of what has already been posted before you write the same freak out post thats already been posted and disproven.

Apple didn't have to ask for an investigation, Gizmodo posted a story about someone finding a prototype iphone, not trying to contact the owner (making it stolen by CA law) and selling it to them for 5 grand. They wrote a story flaunting the fact that they knowingly bought a stolen prototype. The police are going to investigate a crime like this, especially when Giz is cramming the story down everyone's throat.

STOP comparing you losing your personal cell phone to Apple's prototype (which is technically stolen) being sold to Giz. The situations are not the same in any way.

There is no little guy/ big guy in this case. The way people talk you'd think Gawker was run out of a basement by 2 people. They're a company just like Apple - which is obvious by the way that they used their purchasing of stolen property to make themselves money.
 
Wow...I hope that next time any of you that love Gizmodo getting hammered do something in a "gray area" (and most people do that often and don't realize it, or do realize it and don't care) that you get taken to the wall so we can see how "right" you think it is then.

Hypocrites.

For starters, I wouldn't even pick up anyone else's bog standard Nokia if I found it on a bar stool, beyond handing it to the barmaid with a "somebody left their phone here" comment.

And I defintiely would never try to sell a phone I found in a bar. And I would definitely never buy a phone from someone who said they found it in a bar.

Get serious. Look at the price. $5,000. For what? A phone? BOTH SELLER AND BUYER KNEW exactly what it was and that was reflected in the price of the transaction. They KNEW they had what they weren't supposed to have and saw the value of it.

No "gray area" about it whatsoever. Both parties knew they were transacting business on property they knew neither had ownership rights to, so where's the "gray area" you're talking about that we all partake in such actions without realizing it which you're labelling us as hypocrites with?
 
1. What, I can't be colorful? He's the one who described it like a hostage situation. I just elaborated.

Ok

2. Show me where I said that.

You didn't, as far as I know...sorry. But I gather from the following account that entry to Chen's house was made by "foreceful" means. I overstated the action, perhaps, because entry could have waited until Chen was home, IMHO.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/04/26/businessinsider-cops-bust-into-gizmodo-editors-home-and-seize-computers-documents-in-iphone-probe-2010-4.DTL
 
Doesn't matter. Calling technical support of a major company about a prototype is like me going to the cops and saying, "Hey, an alien abducted my wife!" They won't take you seriously.

By law, you're required to return lost property to the police, if you can't contact the owner directly. Technical support isn't "direct" because they can't do anything about it.

I think most of the disagreement in this thread are caused by the fact that Apple fans believe that the whole World has to do their best to protect Apple secrets and Steve's peace of mind whilst other people believe that most people have better things to do :D
 
They had no proof it was an Apple prototype until Apple confirmed it to them in a letter, at which point they returned it. Get it?

This is an inane statement. There is no requirement of "proof", and for obvious reason. The position you're advocating would mean that I can buy a car I know full well is stolen, as long as I don't ask for a taped confession.
 
Lots of things have Apple branding (see: chinese knock-offs). They simply stated that they BELIEVED it to be a prototype. Once Apple confirmed it was the real deal, they returned it.

It doesn't matter what the "believed." A reasonable person, given the fact that it had a dock connector, the fact that it booted to the "connect to itunes" screen, the fact that it had apple branding, the fact that when connected to itunes was recognized as an iphone, and the fact that it ran iphone apps (including facebook), and the circumstances of how it was found, would know it was an iphone prototype. The law doesn't allow you to willfully ignore that which is obvious. "I didn't mean to kill him because my eyes were closed so I thought he was a monster."

Further, the fact that they paid $5000 is proof they had not just constructive knowledge, but actual knowledge as well.
 
So to resume everything:

Apple claim the phone back after the teardown and their stocks jump from $244 to $258 and now is stable between $269-270.

I understand that somehow for Apple this whole situation is not good for their marketing but on the other hand it doesn't look that they are loosing so much.

This has to do more with the iPad, 4th quarter results, and trouncing Microsoft for 2nd place in Market Capitalization on the S&P500 than it does with the stupid Gizmodo leak.
 
Not exactly. There is not a single mention of a 'sale' or 'purchase' on their website. They only used the word "got". Nothing else.

And no wonder, because that would have made them liable [right from the start] but now Gizmodo can simply retract their story, and admit that it was in fact just bail money. Everything for a great story I guess.

2ms20et.jpg


That depends on what your definition of "is" is...
 
All sides are looking bad here. I'm disappointed with Gizmodo and Apple and the cops breaking down doors over a wiped handset that had already been returned, Jesus phone or not.

No Apple is looking fine here, and they get an extra PR buzz about the upcoming iPhone on top of it.
 
For the love of god please read at least a page of what has already been posted before you write the same freak out post thats already been posted and disproven.

Apple didn't have to ask for an investigation, Gizmodo posted a story about someone finding a prototype iphone, not trying to contact the owner (making it stolen by CA law) and selling it to them for 5 grand. They wrote a story flaunting the fact that they knowingly bought a stolen prototype. The police are going to investigate a crime like this, especially when Giz is cramming the story down everyone's throat.

STOP comparing you losing your personal cell phone to Apple's prototype (which is technically stolen) being sold to Giz. The situations are not the same in any way.

There is no little guy/ big guy in this case. The way people talk you'd think Gawker was run out of a basement by 2 people. They're a company just like Apple - which is obvious by the way that they used their purchasing of stolen property to make themselves money.

And I think it is naive to think Apple didn't ask the DA to pursue this. DA's have discretion to follow up on things or not. This is a high profile issue and of course Apple was pushing them to bring the hammer down.

This comes down to who has more money...that pays for more/better lawyers. That is how the system works. Facts are very rarely the sole determination in legal cases. It is who can manipulate and paint them the best to juries. Apple has virtually unlimited resources and Gawker is poor compared to them. It IS big guy against little guy.....
 
Details of the case?

At this point the details of the loss or theft is not clear. I doubt anyone in this forum knows the truth of what went down. Nevertheless two things are clear.

1. Outing the Apple engineer is way uncool. That is truly despicable and cruel.

2. Dismantling and publicly displaying the prototype iPhone, which Gizmodo believed to be a real deal, shows disregard and contempt for the people who built this. People's hardwork, time, and lives are on the line. I don't care if it is Apple, Microsoft, or Google. It is irresponsible.
 
No Apple is looking fine here, and they get an extra PR buzz about the upcoming iPhone on top of it.
You do know that there is a world outside of all the MR suck-ups don't you? Then again, that's about as productive as asking Gizzards if they know there's a world outside of the Gawker universe.
 
I think most of the disagreement in this thread are caused by the fact that Apple fans believe that the whole World has to do their best to protect Apple secrets and Steve's peace of mind whilst other people believe that most people have better things to do :D

Most of the disagreement is cause by people trolling and trying to convince others to support thieves... because you don't like a product that the victim released a couple years ago.

Yes, you have much better things to do.
 
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