iPhone HD Leaked?

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by valo403

I don't see how they'd have grounds for a takedown notice, you have to diligently protect things like this in order to benefit from laws that prevent disclosure through things like espionage. Giving a prototype to a staffer who gets drunk and loses it doesn't sound all that diligent now does it?

Don't understand your point. If this was not an intentional leak, the employee would have had all kinds of agreements with his employer about the proper conduct and the responsibilities of having a prototype device. They would have immediatly fired the employee, requested the phone be returned as it is the property of Apple and sent out a take down notice.

Apple legal hands out take down notices like candy whether they have grounds to or not. See the Register the night before Snow Leopard was released. Appleinsider G4 Cube from way back. The product codenamed Asteroid and the demise of Think Secret and PowerPage...

But then again there's the iPad leaks to the NYT and when Time Canada put the flower pot iMac on the front cover before it was announced, no takedown notices there for serious product leaks.

If Gizmodo gets invited to the next special event, we will know the leak was intentional.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Don't understand your point. If this was not an intentional leak, the employee would have had all kinds of agreements with his employer about the proper conduct and the responsibilities of having a prototype device. They would have immediatly fired the employee, requested the phone be returned as it is the property of Apple and sent out a take down notice.

Apple legal hands out take down notices like candy whether they have grounds to or not. See the Register the night before Snow Leopard was released. Appleinsider G4 Cube from way back. The product codenamed Asteroid and the demise of Think Secret and PowerPage...

But then again there's the iPad leaks to the NYT and when Time Canada put the flower pot iMac on the front cover before it was announced, no takedown notices there for serious product leaks.

If Gizmodo gets invited to the next special event, we will know the leak was intentional.

Apparently not. A court isn't going to grant an injunction to force a third party to take down coverage of something that you lost through your own malfeasance, hence no takedown notice. Even if there as one, Gizmodo is well within their rights to simply ignore it until a court gets involved.

BTW, they have requested the phone be returned.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by valo403

Apparently not. A court isn't going to grant an injunction to force a third party to take down coverage of something that you lost through your own malfeasance, hence no takedown notice. Even if there as one, Gizmodo is well within their rights to simply ignore it until a court gets involved.

BTW, they have requested the phone be returned.

You're completely missing the point.

Apple sends out take down notices all the time for things in which they have no legal standing to actually try and have taken down.

They have not done that in this case. But they have in the cases I mentioned above. Explain why.

[Flames0910]

Originally Posted by Barnes

You're completely missing the point.

Apple sends out take down notices all the time for things in which they have no legal standing to actually try and have taken down.

They have not done that in this case. But they have in the cases I mentioned above. Explain why.

I think the why is that the online community would very quickly mock them and it would have the potential to blow up on them.

They trusted a guy and through his own ineptitude he screwed up. That misplaced trust is on them.

To ask nicely for it back, however, is an acceptable response. You gotta know their PR department got involved with this immediately and is trying to manage the process so as to 1) limit/control as much as possible and 2) make sure that it doesn't blow up anymore than it already has. Sending out take down notices in a case like this (lost at a bar) really makes Apple look like the bad guy very quickly. I imagine gizmodo will return it anyway, they've had their fun. And has been mentioned previously, obviously they would prefer attending Apple events to not attending.

[mykalberta]

Does anyone actually believe that letter is from Apple that Gizmodo showed?

It seemed so amateur to me. Even if it was legit, why would Apple comment on it other than to say its a fake.

[iggypop]

Originally Posted by valo403

Go to a bar this weekend and hang out for a while, you'll likely see a similar scenario play out. Drunk person leaves phone, another drunk person points out said phone to someone else, that someone picks up the phone and fiddles with it (or pockets it in the case of an expensive phone). It gets taken home, and the process of figuring out how to profit begins.

The only part of the story I don't believe is the 'we waited around for him to come back' part. That's just somebody trying to pretend they didn't pocket the phone right away.

You're totally right, people lose phones all the time, but what are the chances a techie from Apple completely forgets about a phone of this 'magnitude.' This isn't a 2 year old razor we are talking about, it's an unreleased version of the worlds most popular phone.

I do believe the story, I just really figure that part to comprehend. Unless he was absolutely right smashed, he would have been playing with the phone all night, and would have noticed it was gone the absolute moment he walked out the door. Weird.

[Yeah_Baby]

Interesting to see if gizmodo is invited to the next Apple event.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Barnes

You're completely missing the point.

Apple sends out take down notices all the time for things in which they have no legal standing to actually try and have taken down.

They have not done that in this case. But they have in the cases I mentioned above. Explain why.

Because they knew Gizmodo had a big time scoop and wouldn't bow to a toothless take down notice?

[valo403]

Originally Posted by iggypop

You're totally right, people lose phones all the time, but what are the chances a techie from Apple completely forgets about a phone of this 'magnitude.' This isn't a 2 year old razor we are talking about, it's an unreleased version of the worlds most popular phone.

I do believe the story, I just really figure that part to comprehend. Unless he was absolutely right smashed, he would have been playing with the phone all night, and would have noticed it was gone the absolute moment he walked out the door. Weird.

I'm going with that explanation, or possibly distraction by breasts.

[FanIn80]

[Hack&Lube]

I read on several tech forums that this indeed as a publicity stunt. Other tech companies are coming out with guerilla marketing where their latest unreleased product has been stolen and an ebay listing appears, etc.

I don't know if any of this is true, there's no real proof.

[jar_e]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I read on several tech forums that this indeed as a publicity stunt. Other tech companies are coming out with guerilla marketing where their latest unreleased product has been stolen and an ebay listing appears, etc.

I don't know if any of this is true, there's no real proof.

And ultimately that's the brilliance of it. People can speculate all they want but no company will straight come out and admit to it. I quite enjoy it to be honest...kinda neat. Its a win win for both consumer and company.

[Yeah_Baby]

I don't think it was stunt. It is very un-Apple like.

[kyuusei]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

I don't think it was stunt. It is very un-Apple like.

Which would make it easier for Apple to pull something like this off and have most convinced it was a human mistake... IMO.

[silentsim]

Originally Posted by kyuusei

Which would make it easier for Apple to pull something like this off and have most convinced it was a human mistake... IMO.

But why now? Apple introduces their products and creates major hype just through the keynote's, which lead up to strong opening sales.

Right now Apple has major iPad focus, and why switch that with iPhone HD?

And what about the loss of sales that will occur to the 3g and 3gs models, now that consumers know the HD is coming soon?

[kyuusei]

Perhaps they wanted to test the waters and gauge potential buyers' reactions to the 'leaked' phone. I know Apple likes their big unveilings, so the thing we saw may not really be the final model.

Because the iPad is already out (in the States anyway), it's time to get consumers hyped up about something else? They release a new iPhone every year roughly in the summer, so it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who's paying attention.

All speculation mind you - I'm not entirely convinced either way that it was an accident or intentional.

As for the 3G and 3GS, well, they probably had it in the plans for a while to have a new iPhone released in June. Maybe they'll slow production on the current phones, maybe they'll make them cheaper after the HD is out (or pull the 3G entirely - my mom suspects it's why Rogers is offering me a 3G all of a sudden).

[Russic]

Originally Posted by kyuusei

Perhaps they wanted to test the waters and gauge potential buyers' reactions to the 'leaked' phone. I know Apple likes their big unveilings, so the thing we saw may not really be the final model.

Because the iPad is already out (in the States anyway), it's time to get consumers hyped up about something else? They release a new iPhone every year roughly in the summer, so it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who's paying attention.

All speculation mind you - I'm not entirely convinced either way that it was an accident or intentional.

As for the 3G and 3GS, well, they probably had it in the plans for a while to have a new iPhone released in June. Maybe they'll slow production on the current phones, maybe they'll make them cheaper after the HD is out (or pull the 3G entirely - my mom suspects it's why Rogers is offering me a 3G all of a sudden).

What is Rogers offering the 3g? Special deal or are they just advertising it to you? When the 3GS came out the 3G dropped to $100. It would be cool to see the 3G drop to a bargain bin price, but I'd be shocked if they didn't just drop it completely. Hopefully the 3GS becomes the bargain version. That phone for $99 is a great value.

[kyuusei]

Originally Posted by Russic

What is Rogers offering the 3g? Special deal or are they just advertising it to you? When the 3GS came out the 3G dropped to $100. It would be cool to see the 3G drop to a bargain bin price, but I'd be shocked if they didn't just drop it completely. Hopefully the 3GS becomes the bargain version. That phone for $99 is a great value.

At the moment they're offering/advertising just the 3G to me for the same prices for a brand new 3 year contract. $100 for an 8GB, $200 for a 16 GB.

I imagine that'll be exactly what happens - they'll stop producing the 3G entirely and the 3GS will be the new 'cheapest' iPhone available, which is still a pretty good deal considering it'll get more use out of iPhone OS 4 than the 3G would.

[kermitology]

The original iPhone is being phased out after this next release we expect to officially know about in June.

Within one year, expect the iPhone 3G to no longer be supported.

The product lifecycle indicates that buying a 3G is not in anyone's best interest right now. Especially before WWDC in June. (Likely June 16-19)

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by kyuusei

Which would make it easier for Apple to pull something like this off and have most convinced it was a human mistake... IMO.

So Apple is going to completely blow up their Orwellian like model for unannounced tech on some guerilla marketing technique? Doubt it.