If you were on any tech website the past few days, you can’t get away from the story about Gizmodo’s blogger Jason Chen. An Apple engineer lost a prototype of the next gen iPhone. Someone found it at a bar and sold it to Gizmodo for $5000. Gizmodo’s Jason Chen dissected the phone and wrote about it on the Gizmodo website. San Mateo Police raided Jason Chen’s home this week and took a bunch of his computer equipment. You can follow the whole saga here.
Jason Chen with the lost iPhone
 |
 |
Wall Street Journal coverage
|
|
CNET coverage
|
|
According to Gizmodo and the rest of the internet, some Apple employee with the prototype iPhone LEFT it at the bar. An unknown good samaritan picked it up and tried to return it to Apple, which turned him down thinking it was a knock-off. Gizmodo paid $5000 for what was believed to be the “new Apple iPhone” and confirmed that it wasn’t a fake. Apple requests iPhone back and Gizmodo complied.
So why then is Apple calling it a theft? The phone wasn’t stolen; it was left behind by a careless employee. Also, an attempt WAS made to return the property to its owner first. Gizmodo did nothing more than examine and discuss the exterior of the iPhone, without forcing it open or jailbreaking it for other wireless carriers.
I consider it a flagrant abuse of power by Apple.