“Sorry Apple Engineer” Who Lost iPhone Likely ID’d Says Gizmodo Publisher

Gizmodo publisher Nick Denton says the “sorry Apple engineer” who left the 4G iPhone at a bar may have been identified. He says he’s calling the poor bastard, and the story is likely to follow.

Earlier in the day Denton promised to reveal the full story of how Gizmodo acquired the next-gen iPhone. The story will is a “corker” (a good story), Denton tweeted earlier.

Minutes ago Denton tweeted the following:

iPhone update. We think we’ve identified the sorry Apple engineer who left the next-gen phone at the bar. Calling in a min.

Earlier Denton tweeted that Gizmodo had paid for the pre-production iPhone, raising the likelihood that Gizmodo is in possession of stolen goods. According to California law, the iPhone is stolen even it was accidentally left at a bar. The finder is legally obliged to return it to Apple. Instead, they sold it to Gizmodo, who at the time of purchase fully knew it was Apple’s property (how could they not?).

Techcrunch and a couple of other sites are saying the price was $10,000 – but no one is offering any evidence.

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Apple still hasn’t officially responded to the story.

UPDATE: Denton paid just $5,000 for the iPhone, he told the AP. As Merlin Mann tweeted: “Denton inflates traffic for a gadget blog by buying a stolen phone that doesn’t work? It’s like Christmas Morning for why the web sucks.”

9 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in Apple, iPhone, News |

Chapps
If it *is* a preproduction model of the 4G iPhone, Apple simply is not going to acknowledge that. If that’s the case, the engineer in question will be taken on a long drive into the countryside, never to be seen again.
But I’m sorry – I’m really disturbed by Gizmodo buying what is clearly stolen property. They’re smart enough to know that this could be a proprietary piece of property and by buying it, they’re receiving ‘stolen’ goods. Really doesn’t matter if it was found in a bathroom, bar, or in your babysitter’s car – you’re legally and morally required to return to sender (and if the sender doesn’t acknowledge the device … well, that’s a puzzle). Hand it over to the cops, since it’s someone else’s property.
I love reading Gizmodo, but hope that they get slapped with a major legal action for doing this.
Charles
This is pretty crumby any way you look at it. Gizmodo is shameless. They should have returned the phone, and/or turned the engineer in if he was trying to sell it. They are like the National Enquirer of tech blogs. Let Apple release their devices on their own terms.
Juan
Did they have to refer to him as the “sorry Apple engineer?” OUCH! I’m sure he feels lousy enough as it is and most likely updating his LinkedIn page (i.e. online resume) as I type this comment.
Godspeed, whoever you are.
Nathan C.
Havent you guys heard of Finder’s keeps losers weepers? I know its wrong but hey its Gizmodo we’re talkin about here, this is probably their BIGGEST lead on a story ever with near 3,000,00 views on that single article. CHA CHING!
http://www.zatznotfunny.com/ Zatz
The $10,000 number was in the earlier Engadget story and edited out. So I assume that’s the deal they were offered. Who knows what Giz/Gawker negotiated though. And how did they know it was really really until they took possession? Perhaps they already returned it to Apple after posting. Nah.
Donald Jardine
@Chapps – it’s NOT clearly stolen property. It could have been just another Chinese fake. So hold off with the preaching and the ‘major legal action’.
Jerg
I really hope it turns out to be fake and Gizmodo paid $5k for a fake phone. I hope the egg frys on their face when Apple release the real iPhone in June and it looks nothing like this fake.
John
won’t believe it is fro apple until they crack the sucker open ans show the A4 chip inside. Otherwise Gizmodo have been had and this is another knockoff from china. If it is legit, then gizmodo are simply recieving stolen goods and should pay the full penalty the law allows.
CPDubbleU (twitter)
I can’t believe the guy who sold it only did so for $5000. With Gizmondo previously offering 100K for hands on time with the iPad (before we knew the name), it seems he probably could have received a lot more than that.