Apple Requests Back the Leaked iPhone Prototype

The tech blog site Gizmodo revealed early Monday that it was in possession of a device it concluded to be a prototype of the unreleased and as-yet-unannounced next-generation iPhone G4. The device was reportedly found last month on the floor of a San Francisco Bay Area bar after reportedly being left by a customer who was identified as an Apple employee.

An examination of the device, which was initially masked in the body of an iPhone 3G, pretty much convinced Gizmodo editors that this was the genuine. The ultimate evidence, according to Brian Lam, the editorial director at Gizmodo parent Gawker, came in the form of a terse letter he received later Monday from Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell.

In his reply, Lam said he gave Sewell a contact with whom he could arrange exchange and that he said: "Just so you know, we didn't know this was stolen when we bought it. Now that we definitely know it's not some knockoff, and it really is Apple's, I'm happy to see it returned to its rightful owner. P.S. I hope you take it easy on the kid who lost it."

The "kid" Lam referred to is reportedly Apple software engineer Gray Powell, who allegedly left the device on a stool at German bar Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City, Calif., last month. The person who retrieved the device apparently tracked down Powell through a Facebook app on the phone before Apple remotely wiped the device.

"And since this was the only missing piece of the puzzle, we have now both extinguished any doubts of its origin but also, we get to give the phone back," Lam said his blog.