Fearing “huge” losses in sales after pictures leaked of its fourth-generation iPhone, Apple Inc convinced police to launch a felony investigation and CEO Steve Jobs contacted the offending website himself to try and recover the gadget.
A California court unsealed a search warrant on Friday in the case of the lost or stolen prototype 4G iPhone whose inner workings ended up on popular gadget site Gizmodo — weaving a bizarre tale of beer gardens, paranoid lawyers and emails to the Apple chieftain.
Apple, which has released a new iPhone in each of the past three summers, is known for its secrecy. It is widely believed to be releasing its latest model this summer.
The story of the missing iPhone that belonged to an Apple engineer has captivated Silicon Valley since news broke last month. The missing phone apparently caused concern among Apple executives, according to a meticulously detailed April 23 search warrant by Mr Matthew Broad, a detective with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s office.
An outside lawyer for the company considered the missing prototype “invaluable” and publication of its details “immensely damaging” to Apple’s future sales, Mr Broad wrote. The detective is a member of the county’s squad that investigates high-tech crimes. The loss of the prototype, owned by Apple employee Robert Gray Powell, in late March prompted a meeting between company executives and law enforcement. “Riley stated the publication of the device and its features is immensely damaging to Apple,” wrote Mr Broad in the warrant, referring to Apple’s outside counsel, George Riley of O’Melveny and Myers. — Reuters