iPhone 4

[[AK]Abaddon]

Yeah, I realize that in California lost property is considered stolen if the finder does not attempt to return it to the proper owner.

There are a couple of factors weighing against that being the case here:

1) The initial finder apparently called Apple and could not find anyone who wanted to take the phone.

2) Gizmodo called Apple and asked if they wanted the phone back (admittedly with the codicil that Apple had to draft a letter stating it was Apple's property).

Main issue is this ... if your shiny new prototype is left in a public place, seems to me it's a free-for-all as far as media coverage goes. There's no NDA, no formal notice that this is a confidential piece of hardware, and no one broke into Apple to steal it. It's just an unusual iPhone that someone unfortunately chose to leave on a bar stool.

But ... then we have the $5,000 payment. Unless the iPhone is ruled stolen, I think that would be considered a payment to a source for a news story. If the iPhone is ruled stolen, it's payment for stolen goods.

I'm not sure how that will wash out.

[[AK]Clay]

Why so jumpy? The facts I'm going on are straight from Gizmodo's article, published before the Meth lab law enforcement treatment ever happened. And repeated in the video that's linked. Calls and pictures are timestamped, if the claims are bogus, I'd like to know it. Do you have an alternate timeline to link?

Oh, and for the record, IMHO Apple transfered ownership when it denied it was thier phone, which is probably why they didn't dissassemble until then.

[[AK]Bribo]

Here's a full time line with all the facts as we know them:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/19459..._timeline.html

My question is why didn't he just call the dude who owned the phone? He had turned it on and identified him through the Facebook app. He could have sent him an email or left him a message ("I have your phone."). It's obvious he did very little to get the phone back to its rightful owner. I think the State of California is agreeing with this and hence the investigation.