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iPhone 4 prototype discoverer tells his story.

  • 26-06-2013 10:53pm
    #1
    Dman001
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,534 ✭✭✭


    I thought this was an interesting read, albeit an old topic at this stage. The guy (Brian) who found the iPhone 4 prototype in the bar 3 years ago, and caused a media frenzy at the time decided to talk about the event on Reddit through an IAMA discussion.

    Some interesting bits taken from the discussion:

    When asked how much he made from the ordeal
    Gizmodo told me they would give me $5,000 for the story, and another $3,000 after it was confirmed by Apple to be real. They knew that there was no way in hell I was going to be able to ask for the $3,000 after the story aired, but I didn't. I ended up having to hire and expensive lawyer and had to pay him much much more than $5,000.

    How it affected his relationships
    It was extremely tough on my family, there were news vans in front of my house and we ended up staying at a hotel in the east bay for a week until they left. My name got out in the media because my girlfriend at the time made a Facebook post about it, which I asked her to delete, but the press found her and she couldn't deal with all the stress that followed and we broke up maybe 3 months after that.

    When asked what he thinks of Gizmodo now
    Actually nothing happened to them. Jason Chen got his door knocked down during a police raid, but no criminal or civil charges were filed. My friend and I were the ones that took the heat. From my perspective Gizmodo took advantage of me.

    Really feel sorry for the guy. In fairness, he tried to give Apple back the device and did what probably what most people would have done. Okay I may not have tried to sell it, but I sure would have wanted to share it for the whole world to see! :D

    The discussion really paints Gizmodo in a bad light. I stopped reading Gizmodo when they leaked it, solely for the fact that they milked the story for everything it had, trying making non-news into big news, including going on TV for interviews, and a total disregard to what would happen to the employee who had lost it and to this guy who found it. Weeks after, article after article was a no-news story related to how they had exclusively the iPhone 4 prototype. At the end of it all, the editors paid no repercussions and Brian and the employee (who has since been rehired by Apple according to the discussion) had to pay the price.

    Anywhoo, it can all be read here:
    http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1h2m81/i_leaked_the_iphone_4_ama/


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