How Apple Lost Its iPhone

The tech blog Gizmodo had a major coup on Monday when it published photos and video of the next generation iPhone. How did the blog score the scoop? Miraculously, the iPhone was recovered in a bar in Redwood City, California, where an Apple employee named Gray Powell had accidentally left it. The person sitting next to him found it, not quite sure at his bounty at first, since it was disguised to look like a current-generation iPhone 3GS. Gizmodo then bought the iPhone—a move that Guardian writer Charles Arthur says could put the blog in legal hot water as a possible receiver of stolen goods: after all, California law stipulates that someone who comes across a lost item is supposed to return it to the owner. However, after purchasing the iPhone it appears Gizmodo appears ready to do just that: Gizmodo owner Nick Denton says, “We have received a letter from Apple claiming ownership and, yes, we will of course be returning the phone to its rightful owners.” Meanwhile, Gizmodo says it contacted Powell, the man who lost the iPhone, and he “sounded tired and broken.”