Remember that weird story yesterday about the 4th Generation iPhone which was found in bar? Well today more details about the phone’s origin and how Gizmodo managed to get a hold of it has emerged. The phone was reportedly discovered in the bar on March 18 and originally belonged to Apple Software Engineer Gary Powell who attending the bar on that very day. Cunningly, The phone was disguised in a shell which made it look like a typical iPhone 3G, however the person whom discovered it saw through the charade and promptly cracked the shell open revealing the iPhone 4G prototype. A few weeks and Twitpic’s later, the device was then given to Gizmodo… In exchange for $5,000!
I’m no expert in the matter but I would have though that finding the world’s most eagerly awaited device, 3 months before it’s worldwide reveal would earn you more than $5,000 and I’m sure Apple would have paid considerably more to get the phone back before the media got a hold of it. Now, In an interview with The Associate Press, Nick Denton founder of Gawker Media (Gizmodo’s parent company) revealed that Apple has written to them requesting the device back. The letter written by Bruce Sewell, Senior Vice President of Apple, bluntly stated;
“It has come to our attention that Gizmodo is currently in possession of a device that belongs to Apple… This letter constitutes a formal request that you return the device to Apple”.
This letter alone should nullify all claims that the device Gizmodo has is actually a Chinese counterfeit and not a real Apple product.
It’s not yet apparent if Gizmodo will willingly return the phone but I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the bad side of Apple’s legal department. The Koalition will keep following this story until it concludes.
Props to PocketGamer for the lowdown.
