Gizmodo now cooperating in iPhone 4 prototype investigation

By on Jul 17, 2010 at 10:59 AM
General July 17, 2010

iphone-4

The District Attorney’s office of San Mateo County has received approval for a request to withdraw the warrant it used to search and seize property owned by Gizmodo editor, Jason Chen. San Mateo Superior Court Judge, Clifford Cretan, gave the rubber stamp of approval on Friday and all items seized in the raid will be returned to Chen. This development comes hot on the heels of a Wall Street Journal report that Gizmodo is now cooperating in the iPhone prototype investigation. According to the WSJ, Gizmodo and Chen have voluntarily agreed to give investigators access to materials that are deemed to be relevant to their case. San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney, Chris Feasel, also confirmed that Gizmodo and Chen have agreed to cooperate with the ongoing investigation. All that legal wrangling over the controversial iPhone prototype seems to coming to a somewhat amicable end for Gizmodo et. al.

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  • Sir Awesome

    It is not so amicable if you consider the fact they will never be given access to WWDC and other Apple functions, which are pretty much the bread and butter of the gadget blogging industry. I hope that massive short-term influx of passive readers was worth the loss of serious readers who have to go to other sites for their liveblogs now.

    • Topher86

      For whatever reason, it seems like Gizmodo now has a sour taste for Apple, even though some of their staffers carry iPhone 4′s and iPads, and they do always have apps postings. It’s cool to be critical against Apple, I have no probs w/ that, but some of the ways they write their articles, you can see a bit of bitterness. I love Gizmodo because they’re the rebs of tech blogs, but I think this whole Apple drama has left a nasty mark on their rep, so maybe they’re just trying to wash their hands and leave it at that. No worries, they still have their serious readers…

      • GeniusBoy

        Did you even watch yesterdays press conference?

      • Tim

        This.

    • SIMBA

      There’s other technology news besides Apple. Android and Winphone7 will take over the iPhone market share lost. You can only get away with bullying people and selling them half-baked products for so long.

    • Sir Awesome

      This wasn’t me saying that Apple products deserve all the press, but I don’t think anyone would deny that dropping the word iPhone with the corollary of news instantly produces hits. More people share the antennagate daily updates on CNN than news about the oil spill. Again, not saying its right, just stating how it is.

      Also, I still read Gizmodo daily… However for my WWDC coverage I had to read Engadget simply because it seems kind of stupid to read a liveblog of a liveblog (how Gizmodo was forced to cover the event); that can’t possibly help them in the long term.

      ^This lack of first-hand coverage caused the Bumper gaffe, along with other miscommunications.

    • strider_mt2k

      As a former Gizmodo reader, I have to agree.

      They lost it long before this though.

      Unfortunate.

  • Bada$$

    More bad press for those Apple douchbags… its all abouy deflection of the blame.. right RORO DOUCHER?

    • JMR

      Yeah you tell em! We all know Apple runs the DA and the police and is able to arrest/prosecute at will. Don’t speak badly of them, they might arrest you next!

      • Woo

        another idiot

      • What You Didn’t Know

        Well, Apple *is* on the board of advisors for the special police unit that’s set up specifically to protect them and companies like them. You know… the ones that kicked in Jason Chen’s door? At Apple’s request? So yeah, in a way, they do run the police.

        Any other snarky, well-informed comments?

      • Jay

        I’d love for you to show me evidence that says Apple told the police to ask for a warrant to bash Chen’s door down. Just because you’re on the board of advisors doesn’t mean you have some invisible control over the police and the DA

  • Roger A

    Id also say amicable would be some form of compensation and consideration from Apple and the sheriff department.

    • Jim

      Hm, if they are thinking of compensation, it’s probably under the condition that Gizmodo will sign an agreement not to take any civil legal action against them.

  • kev

    I’ve read somebody (with a straight face) on some crappy blog somewhere blame Chen for the antenna debacle. After all, he “distracted them from testing” the device properly. :/

    • MikeD

      What messed Apple up probably was the fact that they were trying so hard to hide the new iPhone, that the cases probably prevented them from realizing the antenna issue was more serious than they thought.

      Could the Gizmodo debacle distracted them? Yeah, but its no excuse for Apple.

      • Topher86

        Nah, because seeing how the antenna design was so radical, that would have had to be the first thing tested, way before these devices were out doing real world tests. Plus I doubt they had those cases on the phones while waltzing around the Apple campus…

      • MikeD

        And waltzing around the Apple campus is the model for real world testing. You don’t think they may even have a cell site on their capmus. or a bunch of Microcells. The bottomline is its not the REAL WORLD.

        Clearly you did not read what I typed or you are just seeking to defame Apple.

        So I will repeat. Those cases to hide the phone from the World insulated them from how REAL WORLD coverage is when you hold a bare iPhone 4.

        Its no excuse. Just the fact that they screwed up and this could be the event horizon of it.

  • OldNewOne

    This sentence made me go ‘huh’?:

    “All that legal wrangling over the controversial iPhone prototype seems to coming to a somewhat amicable end for Gizmodo et. al.”

    Ummm, no it’s not. The legal wrangling that *does* seem to be ending is the controversy over whether Chen’s equipment should have been seized via warrant or a subpoena. The rest of the case continues apace — namely, whether Chen and Gizmodo committed any crimes by purchasing the iPhone 4 prototype.

    • tande04

      Well few people are going to be voluntarily be giving up evidence incriminating themselves.

      The fact that they pulled the warrant and Chen et al. are cooperating in the investigation likely means that the investigation is focusing on different people.

  • Perspective

    MikeD:

    You’re behind the curve. This isn’t a testing issue. . .their facility covers that, the one that was shown yesterday. The “problem” referred to is apparently not so uncommon.

    Roger A:
    Typically clueless response. Number one, Apple wouldn’t owe them anything, because they neither conducted the search nor caused any losses. They simply reported a crime. . .purchase of their property from a third party. As for the police, it’s a search. They went in with a warrant. If Chen or Gizmodo had any real claims against the police, they would be releasing those claims in return for their property, instead of agreeing to provide the DA’s office all relevant information (which is all they want anyway).

    And who the hell names a kid Roger anymore? You must be at least 30.

  • iamafkinggenius

    just drink a bottle of patron and use your iphone 4. signal or not it wont work right cause you are offically so messed up that you cant even remember if htc made the iphone and mars was once a doughnut.

  • GeniusBoy

    11:24AM Q: You’ve been communicating with customers through email quite a bit — how is that impacting how you’re dealing with these issues.
    Steve: I always have, and you know, the address is out there and I’ve always emailed people back. I try to reply to some of them because they’re our customers. But now people post them to the web… and some people just make things up. So don’t believe everything you read!

  • gabez

    Remember how the iPhone 4 was found with a case on it? that’s probably why it has antenna issues, because when apple tests them in the real world they have to put cases on them so people don’t notice that’s its a prototype

  • Tyson

    yeah well apple doesn’t have much good will at this point.

  • Cha cha bear scout

    It’s crazy how someone can make a big deal out of nothing

  • Jim

    If you think about how long this investigation has gone on, you wonder how much police manpower (personpower?) has gone into it instead of trying to stop real crime, all at the urging of Apple.

    But also, I seem to recall all the forums filled with comments about how Jason Chen is guilty and will be going to prison… I can imagine all these people are pro Tea Party as well.

  • http://gregstechblog.blogspot.com Greg

    Gizmodo knew more could have been done to return the prototype to it’s owner. The story they were given made it seem “lost”, but the guy who “found” it did very little to return it.

    I found a phone at work once, I think a customer left it. I went into the contacts, found someone he had a lot of info for (someone he contacts a lot) and called. It turned out to be his sister, and she helped us contact him.

    This this person do that? Nope. Is there a chance he stole it? Yup.
    Should Gizmodo be fined for this? Yup.

    They should also stop streading rumors about the iPhone 4′s bad reception because they didn’t get a free ticket to WWDC.

    • Dumbdar

      I think your pink thong panties and too tight and cutting off circulation to your brain.

  • Mike Sully

    You should all watch this video about the iPhone. its short, on point and puts a lot of things in perspective: http://vimeo.com/13406519

    Maybe there are more important things going on in this world than the iPhone debacle…

  • Bada$$

    Apple kiss my arssseeeee!

  • Supa Staa

    Looks like Gizmodo sold out to the man. I guess Gizmodo is not a news organization after all since they have no problem giving out information on their sources. What a joke. I hope any future “tipsters” to Gizmodo realize that crew will rat them out in a second.

    I hope both Apple and Gizmodo fail. Well, I guess Apple already has with the iPhone 4 antenna. Now, I’ll remove Gizmodo from my bookmarks. Meaningless? Maybe, but it’s a start.

  • Shaun2k

    @Roger: I agree totally. Not sure why you were downvoted. If it were me I’d want a friendly apology as Apple need to understand that tech reporting is not only Giz’s bread and butter, but also Apples. And access to WWDC. I think Apple only have themselves to blame and playing pin the tail on the donkey is irresponsible, after all, they are playing with not only their own, but other peoples livelihoods here.

  • Mr.Jobs

    I have confirmed That Gizmodo was on CRACK when He agreed to Cooperate

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