AfterDawn: News

Apple wants its iPhone prototype back

Yesterday, Gizmodo broke what promises to be the most popular story of the next few weeks, revealing what they believe to be a prototype of Apple's upcoming "iPhone HD/4G," the fourth generation model of the extremely popular smartphone.

Today, Apple has made it abundantly clear that they want the phone back, with Gizmodo's editorial director Brian Lam saying that they have received an official letter.



The phone was found on the floor in a bar in Redwood City, with a case that camouflaged it to look like a current generation iPhone 3GS, and Gizmodo says they paid the guy who found it $5000 for the device. The prototype belonged to Apple software engineer Gray Powell. By the morning, the phone had been wiped using the MobileMe remote service.

Whether or not Apple is mad or not, Gizmodo's $5000 investment has brought them over 6 million page views in under 30 hours, a massive spike even for the largest of sites.

For the full story and pictures of the device please check here: Gizmodo reveals upcoming iPhone model

Here is the letter:


Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Apr 2010 13:52

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• 17 comments

• SProdigy

  Brilliant! This guy "lost" the phone for all of this free publicity. It wouldn't work with every company, but definitely for the likes of Apple, Sony and a few others. Amazing.

  20.4.2010 13:58 #1

• slickwill

  Some claim that one of the great things about capitalism is efficiency. But when there exists companies who systematically release incremental updates to the same device and purposely create planned obsolescence (for the sake of making profit and business), a lot of waste is created, which goes against the initial statement. This waste is further increase by those who always buy what they believe is the latest and greatest update to a similar device they already own.
  
  Sure some of these devices are resold, some are refurbished, some are used as spare parts, but there is probably a huge amount that ends up in landfills. It's cheaper to manufacture new ones rather than fully recycling these electronic devices. One day, people might be mining landfills because there will be a scarcity of some raw materials.
  
  I'm not only talking about the iPhone, but other things that are sold with incremental updates, such as laptops, desktop computers, etc.
  
  One way to combat against this cyclic consumption is to value what one has and use these devices to the fullest extent as possible, which would decrease the demand for these incrementally updated devices.

  20.4.2010 14:15 #2

• jamesuni

  spam edited by ddp

  20.4.2010 15:24 #3

• Hyasuma

  Originally posted by jamesuni: spam edited by ddp damn, u get paid for picking up a prototype, nice!

  20.4.2010 16:27 #4

• mike.m

  Originally posted by Hyasuma: Originally posted by jamesuni: spam edited by ddp damn, u get paid for picking up a prototype, nice! He should have sold it for more. Guarantee there are some idiots out there that would pay at least $10K for a $600 item. I wonder how much money Gizmodo made off this...they certainly made a smart move on their part.
  
  Lol, go to their site now, they are milking the hell out of this.
  

  
  

  20.4.2010 18:14 #5

• StevieJ72

  I think the mod of this thread is a lame ass iPhone fanboy and should go F himself!

  20.4.2010 18:17 #6

• ddp

  StevieJ72, give you a month off to clean up your attitude. also just to let you know i do not have a single apple device like a mac, ipod or iphone, i don't even have a cell phone & don't want 1 so don't call me an apple fanboy.
  

  20.4.2010 18:44 #7

• PS13 (unverified)

  "Yesterday, Gizmodo broke what promises to be the most popular story of the next few weeks today"
  
  
  ... That's just sad that this will become one of the most popular stories over the next few weeks...
  
  I guess we can understand why our world is going down the shitter. If this Non-Story becomes a Story, then we as a society are done.
  
  *How about we see some reporting the US/NATO occupations of various countries in the Middle East?
  *How about we write articles about how Congress gives hundreds of billions of our tax dollars to bankers who created the mess on purpose in the first place?
  *How about we see some info on the biggest black market business on the planet and expose the CPS sponsored child kidnapping / buying-selling ring?
  *How about we all learn about NEL10 and why it was canceled?
  
  
  No, that's okay...we'll just keep on caring about the latest I-Phone and ignore the real stuff that goes on around us everyday.
  
  I wish people would Wake Up!

  20.4.2010 19:05 #8

• ddp

  PS13, what is NEL10?
  

  20.4.2010 19:27 #9

• o0cynix0o

  Originally posted by PS13: "Yesterday, Gizmodo broke what promises to be the most popular story of the next few weeks today"
  
  *How about we see some reporting the US/NATO occupations of various countries in the Middle East?
  *How about we write articles about how Congress gives hundreds of billions of our tax dollars to bankers who created the mess on purpose in the first place?
  *How about we see some info on the biggest black market business on the planet and expose the CPS sponsored child kidnapping / buying-selling ring?
  *How about we all learn about NEL10 and why it was canceled?
  
  
  No, that's okay...we'll just keep on caring about the latest I-Phone and ignore the real stuff that goes on around us everyday.
  
  I wish people would Wake Up!
  
  
  
  Those b@$t@rd$!!! Tech news here. How dare they.
  
  I think you should maybe log on to The New York Times, maybe CNN....just saying.
  

  “Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Forget this... and attaining enlightenment is the least of your problems.”
  –Zen Judaism by Someone Clever

  20.4.2010 20:11 #10

• DVDBack23

  Originally posted by PS13: "Yesterday, Gizmodo broke what promises to be the most popular story of the next few weeks today"
  
  
  ... That's just sad that this will become one of the most popular stories over the next few weeks...
  
  I guess we can understand why our world is going down the shitter. If this Non-Story becomes a Story, then we as a society are done.
  
  *How about we see some reporting the US/NATO occupations of various countries in the Middle East?
  *How about we write articles about how Congress gives hundreds of billions of our tax dollars to bankers who created the mess on purpose in the first place?
  *How about we see some info on the biggest black market business on the planet and expose the CPS sponsored child kidnapping / buying-selling ring?
  *How about we all learn about NEL10 and why it was canceled?
  
  
  No, that's okay...we'll just keep on caring about the latest I-Phone and ignore the real stuff that goes on around us everyday.
  
  I wish people would Wake Up!
  
  
  As was said, this is a TECH site.
  

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  20.4.2010 20:25 #11

• Mrguss

  Originally posted by PS13: "Yesterday, Gizmodo broke what promises to be the most popular story of the next few weeks today"
  
  
  ... That's just sad that this will become one of the most popular stories over the next few weeks...
  
  I guess we can understand why our world is going down the shitter. If this Non-Story becomes a Story, then we as a society are done.
  
  *How about we see some reporting the US/NATO occupations of various countries in the Middle East?
  *How about we write articles about how Congress gives hundreds of billions of our tax dollars to bankers who created the mess on purpose in the first place?
  *How about we see some info on the biggest black market business on the planet and expose the CPS sponsored child kidnapping / buying-selling ring?
  *How about we all learn about NEL10 and why it was canceled?
  
  
  No, that's okay...we'll just keep on caring about the latest I-Phone and ignore the real stuff that goes on around us everyday.
  
  I wish people would Wake Up!
  
  
  I think you are lost......you are in the wrong Web-site....are you need help ?
  
  Gizmodo agree to return the device with the condition to Apple go easy on the Party-Boy.
  for more info:
  http://www.switched.com/2010/04/20/apple...-back-please%2F
  http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/ima...llflickr_01.jpg
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAySXU6OuCw
  

  +4000

  21.4.2010 01:06 #12

• KillerBug

  All in all, they got a great deal...there was that one website offering $10,000 just for a picture of the iPad (and they could not get one)...$5,000 for a hands-on review is a bargain!
  
  BTW...I almost like the way the iPhone is going if this is the future...step 1>get rid of the ugly white case; step 2>get rid of mr jobs so that apps are allowed. step 3> switch to android Step 4> deny the iPhone 2g-3g like the KKK denies the holocaust.

  21.4.2010 05:35 #13

• Jemborg

  Originally posted by PS13: "Yesterday, Gizmodo broke what promises to be the most popular story of the next few weeks today"
  
  
  ... That's just sad that this will become one of the most popular stories over the next few weeks...
  
  I guess we can understand why our world is going down the shitter. If this Non-Story becomes a Story, then we as a society are done.
  
  *How about we see some reporting the US/NATO occupations of various countries in the Middle East?
  *How about we write articles about how Congress gives hundreds of billions of our tax dollars to bankers who created the mess on purpose in the first place?
  *How about we see some info on the biggest black market business on the planet and expose the CPS sponsored child kidnapping / buying-selling ring?
  *How about we all learn about NEL10 and why it was canceled?
  
  
  No, that's okay...we'll just keep on caring about the latest I-Phone and ignore the real stuff that goes on around us everyday.
  
  I wish people would Wake Up!
  
  
  Wrong site. Try the Huffington post mate... you'll love it. That's where I go for that sort of thing.
  

  Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
  
  
  

  22.4.2010 10:58 #14

• pmshah

  Just the fact that they could wipe the phone using MobileMe should be enough to turn people away from ever buying it.
  
  What is the guarantee that it is not hardware based AND that it will not wipe any cracks/hacks that may be installed on it?
  
  We have a lot of mobile phones on the market which have been wrongfully possessed by people such as cab drivers, etc. The first thing that is done is to switch it off and remove the battery before it is hacked!
  
  I am sure any similar future occurrence will be handled such that no remote signal can reach the phone and that its internals can be explored.

  22.4.2010 23:09 #15