iPhone Finder Regrets His ‘Mistake’

The continuous debate regarding the iPhone 4G prototype incident is not going to stop anytime soon. Legal and ethical issues surrounding the event will continue to surface as the even slowly unfolds. I am not here to make a judgement call. I am, however, trying to satisfy my interest in the event by doing as much research as I possibly could. This is, of course, the wonder of the Internet.

Just a couple of hours ago, Wired.com ran an article entitled “iPhone Finder Regrets His ‘Mistakes’” and one of the paragraphs really stood out for me:

After the friend’s purported efforts to return the phone failed, several journalists were offered a look at the device. Wired.com received an e-mail March 28 — not from Hogan — offering access to the iPhone, but did not follow up on the exchange after the tipster made a thinly veiled request for money. Gizmodo then paid $5,000 in cash for it.

I am not interested in finding out which publications those journalists belonged to. I am, however, fascinated by the fact that Wired.com (and perhaps other publications as well) ceased to pursue the exchange of the prototype after the tipster made a request for money.

$5000 is probably not a large sum of money for major publications such as Wired, Gizmodo and Engadget. The question I hav about the exchange is this: What ultimately made Gizmodo decide to pay for the iPhone 4G prototype (considered as Apple’s trade secret) while other publications turned it down?

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Internet drama of the year.