Apple to Gizmodo: Hand Over Our iPhone

So it wasn't a plant by the marketing department after all. Apple has officially requested that the tech blog Gizmodo return a lost prototype of a 4G version of the iPhone. In a letter sent to Brian Lam, editorial director for Gizmodo's corporate parent, Gawker Media, Apple kept it short and to the point:

"It has come to our attention that Gizmodo is currently in possession of a device that belongs to Apple. This letter constitutes a formal request that you return the device to Apple. Please let me know where to pick up the unit."

The letter was signed by Bruce Sewell, Apple's general counsel.

Lam said Gizmodo would comply with the request - and also put in a plug to "take it easy" on the Apple employee who lost the device.

"I don't think he loves anything more than Apple," Lam wrote.

On Monday, Gizmodo announced it had come into possession of the next-generation iPhone, which it said had been found in a bar. That led to a flurry of speculation whether Apple purposely intended this as a leak to drum up advance interest in its next product launch. Here is Gizmodo's chronology how it came to acquire the hush-hush iPhone after an Apple employee lost it while enjoying a brew or two in a "nice German beer garden in Redwood City, California."