Jason Chen nominate for gadget personality of year.

[ddavid]

How would gizmodo know that it was the next iPhone? It could have been built in someones basement for all they knew. So why would they give it to apple without proof that it was theirs? If you found some ones wallet would you give it to someone without proof it was theirs?

You don't REALLY believe that do you? Of course they/he knew! Why do you think he paid 5K for it and then posted it on his site?

He should be in jail for theft/extortion/wire fraud/espionage/stalking/conspiracy/receiving stolen property and anything else that fits! The guy who sold it to him should be in jail too! What a POS!

 

[pharmx]

I'm new to this forum so this may be a stupid question...

But why exactly does everyone here hate Gizmodo with such a passion?

Seriously... who here can honestly say they didn't rush to the Giz page when they heard about the story?

I can understand people's feelings about naming the guy, but I feel like a lot of that may have been to add credibility to their story (did you see how many people, even with this info, commented that it was fake?). I agree that their whole extra article about how it happened was pretty unnecessary though.

But I feel like a lot of it has to do with the fact that if something angers the almighty Jobs, then it angers his followers.

Wow...you sure got caught up pretty quickly

 

[Fernandez21]

You don't REALLY believe that do you? Of course they/he knew! Why do you think he paid 5K for it and then posted it on his site?

He should be in jail for theft/extortion/wire fraud/espionage/stalking/conspiracy/receiving stolen property and anything else that fits! The guy who sold it to him should be in jail too! What a POS!

Jason Chen wasn't the one who bought the iPhone, gawker did. He was the writer of the story, but gawker was the one who got him the phone, so gawker would be liable, not Jason Chen. Also I see nothing wrong with asking for confirmation before giving the phone back. Now writing that whole story about the engineer on the other hand, that's was bad.

 

[iceman718]

Wow...you sure got caught up pretty quickly

I am familiar with the Giz story and the whole subsquent announcement/release of the iPhone 4, and I understand why Jobs would have been pissed, but I didn't really understand why everyone HERE hated them.

I wasn't here when that story broke, but I can only imagine how many threads popped up when it was posted. Everyone trying to figure out if it was real or not, so much excitement, blah blah blah. I doubt many people decided then and there that they hate Gizmodo for posting it. But once they saw that it pissed off Jobs... then bam. I don't care enough to search through months of old posts to be proven right or wrong, but I don't think I'm too far off.

As far as being the first major tech blog to post about the reception issue, was everyone just going to hate the first site that brought that up? You don't seriously think no one would have noticed if it wasn't for them, do you?

 

[pharmx]

Well, I don't hate Gizmodo...but after seeing the letter that was sent to Jobs, I can see why others would:

From: brian lam <blam@brianlam.net>
Date: April 19, 2010 04:08:07 PM PDT
To: Steve Jobs <sjobs@apple.com>
Subject: Let’s see if this goes through.

Hey Steve, this email chain is off record on my side.

I understand the position you’re in, and I want to help, but it conflicts with my own responsibilities to give the phone back without any confirmation that its real, from apple, officially.

Something like that — from you or apple legal — is a big story, that would make up for giving the phone back right away. If the phone disappears without a story to explain why it went away, and the proof it went to apple, it hurts our business. And our reputation. People will say this is a coordinated leak, etc.

I get that it would hurt sales to say this is the next iphone. I have no interest in hurting sales. That does nothing to help Gizmodo or me.

Maybe Apple can say it’s a lost phone, but not one that you’ve confirmed for production — that it is merely a test unit of sorts. Otherwise, it just falls to apple legal, which serves the same purpose of confirmation. I don’t want that either.

Gizmodo lives and dies like many small companies do. We don’t have access, or when we do, we get it taken away. When we get a chance to break a story, we have to go with it, or we perish. I know you like walt and pogue, and like working with them, but I think Gizmodo has more in common with old Apple than those guys do. So I hope you understand where I’m coming from.

Right now, we have nothing to lose. The thing is, Apple PR has been cold to us lately. It affected my ability to do my job right at iPad launch. So we had to go outside and find our stories like this one, very aggressively.

I want to get this phone back to you ASAP. And I want to not hurt your sales when the products themselves deserve love. But I have to get this story of the missing prototype out, and how it was returned to apple, with some acknowledgement it is Apple’s.

And I want to work closer with Apple, too. I’m not asking for more access — we can do our jobs with or without it — but again, this is the only way we can survive while being cut out of things. That’s my position on things.

B

=======

I like hearing breaking news (both good and bad), as soon as it is available...and I'm sure most people frequenting rumor sites such as this one feel the same. But do you honestly think that everyone hating on Gizmodo is doing so ONLY because of Jobs? Aren't you giving him just a bit too much credit? Surely you can understand that at least some people reading the email above would view Gizmodo in a negative fashion?

 

[Bobby Corwen]

I thought it was an April Fools joke until i checked the date

its so obviously July tho...

 

[JCCL]

I don't know why every Apple apologist hate Gizmodo. If Gizmodo hadn't bought that iPhone 4 prototype, then the next blog in the seller's google search would. If you are a tech blog, then the next iPhone is like the holy grail. I am sure that if any publications said no before it was offered to Gizmodo, it is because they thought it was fake (many of us did when we say the pics). Gizmodo happened to find it was real and published the stoy. Being a tech journalist, you would be really foolish to let it by. Apple ****ed up by losing the prototype, what Gizmodo did was bound to happen after that, and I am sure Engadget, Apple Boy Genius, or anyone else would have done the same if it had come to them.

 

[Fernandez21]

I don't know why every Apple apologist hate Gizmodo. If Gizmodo hadn't bought that iPhone 4 prototype, then the next blog in the seller's google search would. If you are a tech blog, then the next iPhone is like the holy grail. I am sure that if any publications said no before it was offered to Gizmodo, it is because they thought it was fake (many of us did when we say the pics). Gizmodo happened to find it was real and published the stoy. Being a tech journalist, you would be really foolish to let it by. Apple ****ed up by losing the prototype, what Gizmodo did was bound to happen after that, and I am sure Engadget, Apple Boy Genius, or anyone else would have done the same if it had come to them.

Actually it was offered to engadget first, but two things stopped engadget from going through with it. One, they weren't sure if it was legit, and two the aol legal team advised them against it. Joshua tupolski commented on it on twit a couple months ago whenthe story broke.

 

[SchneiderMan]

His face pisses me off.

X2 and I never knew him before his ass got owned by the POPOS

 

[0098386]

I'd say its well deserved. They've been a good source of news, unswayed by the pressures of companies they're reporting on. I like that.

 

[macquariumguy]

I would vote for him to spend some time in jail. Just put me on the jury.

 

[jiffy]

According to Section 485 of the California Penal Code:


The person who obtained the device from the bar did not give a reasonable effort to try to return the device to Apple, which according to the above would make it stolen property. They then sold that stolen property to Gizmodo. Gizmodo then wrote to Apple saying they wouldn't give the prototype back unless Steve Jobs admitted it was the next iPhone. I'm not a legal expert or anything remotely close, but wouldn't that be close to extortion?

The guy who found the phone contacted Apple. Apple laughed and said it was impossible that he found a prototype.

 

[macbookairman]

The guy who found the phone contacted Apple. Apple laughed and said it was impossible that he found a prototype.

He contacted AppleCare. AppleCare reps are not supposed to take calls for anything but support requests. Somebody calling claiming to have a prototype would be viewed as a prank caller.

 

[jav6454]

He contacted AppleCare. AppleCare reps are not supposed to take calls for anything but support requests. Somebody calling claiming to have a prototype would be viewed as a prank caller.

Apple doesn't have a lost prototype hotline. Best any one can do is call AppleCare.