The question now is: what really happened between Apple and Gizmodo?
We all know by now the basic gist of the story: Apple engineer (or random Apple employee who just happens to have access to top secret content) accidentally leaves the latest iPhone prototype in some bar in the middle of the United States. Some person finds it and is able to assess the device as a next generation gadget (despite the iPhone supposedly not being bootable) then offers it to different websites for an exclusive scoop.
Tech blog Gizmodo takes the deal and pays a hefty sum of 5,000 USD in order to get the device for the scoop. They immediately post images of the phone and take the lead in what could be the biggest exclusive scoop of the year. The following week is exciting with the news and Apple finally steps in, asks for their phone back and ends up confirming the authenticity of the device.
The big scoop of last week was not how the way things unfolded, but how many people were skeptical about how the whole thing unfolded. With so many loopholes in the story, many doubted this to be anything more than a cooperative stunt by both Apple and Gizmodo.
Anyway, it seems like the fine folks at San Mateo County in California have a different take on the matter, and that is the fact that Gizmodo paid such an expensive price for a device they should have been able to identify as a stolen is considered to be a punishable offence.
While tech blog Gizmodo is hardly a fence for stolen goods, it is also unsurprising that many condemn the decision by the company to buy the phone in the first place. Apple has yet to make a comment on the whole thing
Tags: Apple, Apple-iPhone-4G, AppleiPhone, Gizmodo