The Case of the Lost-Then-Found iPhone 4G Prototype

A 21-year-old bar visitor named Brian Hogan has been identified as the person who gave a technology blog Apple’s iPhone 4G prototype. Hogan’s attorney said Hogan thought the $5,000 payment was for exclusive access to the prototype. Other technology sites have reported they got inquires about access to the iPhone 4G prototype.

It’s unlikely that spending time in a bar ever made anyone as famous as Brian Hogan. The 21-year-old Californian was identified Thursday and quickly became well-known, since he was the remaining unknown character in the Case of the Missing-and-Then-Found iPhone 4G Prototype.
Earlier this month, technology blog Gizmodo posted photos and details about a prototype of an upcoming 4G version of Apple’s popular iPhone. The blog, owned by Gawker Media, said the prototype had been left in a Redwood City, Calif., bar, found by someone, and sold to the blog for $5,000.

That someone who found the prototype is now known to be Hogan.

‘Nothing Wrong’

Through his attorney, Jeffrey Bornstein, Hogan said he thought the payment by Gizmodo was for exclusive access to review the phone. His lawyer also told news media that the technology blog had said “there was nothing wrong in sharing the phone with the tech press.”

Wired.com first identified Hogan. That site said it followed clues on social-networking sites and verified his identity with someone involved in the prototype case.

According to his lawyer, Hogan was in the bar and someone else handed him the prototype after finding it on a bar stool. The person who handed the device asked if it was Hogan’s and then left the establishment. Hogan asked others if it was theirs, and then, when no one volunteered that it was, left the bar with it.

He then tried to look at a Facebook page on the phone, but it shut down and became inoperable. After removing a fake cover from the device, Hogan said he realized it wasn’t an iPhone currently on the market. A friend called AppleCare, Apple’s support service, to find out whose phone it might be, but was unsuccessful. Hogan made no other efforts to return the phone.

Apple reportedly wiped the unit remotely once it went missing. According to news reports, the employee who misplaced it in the bar was Apple software engineer Gray Powell, and the device was left at Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City while he was celebrating his 27th birthday.

Backlash for Apple?

Several technology sites, including Wired.com, have reported they got inquiries about getting access to the prototype, but Gizmodo was the one that replied. After Gizmodo published the story, Hogan said people purporting to be Apple representatives appeared at his home and asked permission to search, but their request was denied.

Hogan said he has been interviewed by legal authorities, but has not been charged with any criminal activity. However, authorities in San Mateo County have been saying in the last week that they wanted to look at the person who found the iPhone as a possible theft suspect.

Bornstein said Hogan attended Santa Barbara City College as of 2008, but is now working and hopes to return to college.

Ken Dulaney, vice president for mobile computing at industry firm Gartner, said he doesn’t think Apple is suffering any negative publicity from this episode — at least so far. But Apple shouldn’t “try to be nasty about this,” he said.

“When the next iPhone comes out,” he predicted, “the lines will be longer than ever.”
NewsFactor Network