Apple Asks That 3G-enabled MacBook Pro be Returned

Apple wants to control everything, and their zealots are happy about.

Talk about pathetic.

apple should pay for it,,,,unless they can prove it was stolen property,, but at least have decency to reimburse the guy for some of the troubles he had --- considering apple already had the thing in their hands at one time.

Is it me or does it look like an older pro book.

Powerbook 17" or the macbook pro 17" with the first intels inside

Give him some free stuff - a new macbook, an iphone, and an ipad - and call it a day. You can't blame the guy for wanting to sell the unique computer, but it's also hard to blame apple for wanting to keep their prototypes away from prying eyes.

Apple should have to pay the $70,000 ebay price. Apple has no right to make ebay end an auction like that. The guy paid for the item he owns it, and he should be able to sell to who ever wants it. Apple NEVER reported it stolen. Apple only got involved after it hit ebay.
Apple, YOU SUCK. If you dont believe in the rights of the american, then move your corporate HQ to china with your other communist friends, FOXXCONN

I wouldn't give it back.

Then Apple will do what they do best ... sent their army of lawyers after you ...

I'd actually be willing to take the lawyers up on that. Since the laptop was taken to a mac store, and they refused to service it claiming it wasn't an apple product, this sets a precedent for it not being stolen property. In court I'd simply say "it was returned to apple, and at that point they had an oppertunity to claim ownership, they did not, thus is must not have been stolen", and as long as you can prove it isn't stolen property, apple can't do anything other than to ask nicely to have it back.

You clearly do not have any experience with the law......does not matter how much you paid for it, you could have even traded a kidney for it - if it was not obtained through legitimate means it is stolen property and you will not get any reimbursement or even a thank you when they seize it (which they could probably have the sheriff come and do). It is obviously Apple's intellectual and physical property. Sure someone stole it a few years ago and Apple may not have made a stink about it - that does not make it any less theirs.

The fact that everyone is hating apple for this is pretty pathetic and shows how ignorant the majority of society really is....you can bet Apple is trying to identify who was in custody of this prototype when it went missing and will be firing them if they still work there. And I can't blame that at all for that.

I am in no way a fan boy, had an ipod touch and stopped using it completely when I got my first android phone - that is my total involvement in Apple products. No I do not like them much as a company but in this case I have to take their side.

Don't let fanboy hate blind you guys.....you can hate apple and still understand why they would be reacting this way.

Is it also "evil" of Intel to block the selling of ES chips? Exact same thing....

And how can you prove it was not stolen? Can you trace it back to the apple store where it was purchased? Or the agreement where Apple handed it off to someone as their property now. Just because the current owner did not steal it does not make it not stolen.

Yeah, and this is EXACTLY why I work against Apple in every way possible -- they're bastards.


"Over my dead body" is what I'd tell them. Even then, I'd glue the Laptop to my dead body, so they can enjoy taking it. It's that dudes laptop, and they have no right whatsoever.


I'm sick of these Nazi bastards thinking they have ultimate and unquestionable control. You paid some Chinese man/woman/child some pathetic wage to produce this product, and now you're getting all self righteous as if you're the good guys.


Please! They should've shut them down and fined their asses when they purpose and willfully submitted fake and doctored evidence to courts -- out of pure spite to get their way with Samsung.

Is your back red yet from all the self-patting you've done?


You act like just because it's a "Law", that it must be blessed by the big man himself as being completely correct and morally sound.


This is bullshit in it's purest form. We all know that even if it WASN'T stolen, Apple would produce fake evidence or witnesses to say THAT IS WAS STOLEN.


Seriously, you think Apple can't just print some document right now to say: "Hey, yeah, It was stolen a while back and now we want it back". I'm sure they even ringed Mr. Jobs..."Hey, Stevie my man...do you think you could whip up a quick word document claiming our property was stolen again?"......"Oh, you can!? Great, talk to you later Stevie o'boy!"


They already got caught blatantly lying to the Euro courts -- what stops them from doing it here? Nothing apparently, because no one went after them in Europe.

It seems to me that you have to prove that a law was broken, not that you didn't break the law. Is there any proof that it was stolen?

If the macbook has been stolen, then Apple should give the guy a new macbook in exchange for the prototype and write it off as a class-act PR move. Consider it a reward offered for finding the lost item.

Remember that guy who found the iPhone 4 prototype in a bar that tried to sell it to Gizmodo? Apple sent the police to raid his house and Apple got quite a bit of public backlash for that move. Have they learned anything from that?

That left a taste of fanboy.....any ways.

You think Apple would completely forge a document over something like this? If caught they would probably be fined a few hundred million to be made an example of.

Altering the appearance of something (while I agree despicable) and completely fabricating a false document are not really comparable actions.

And as for your remark about the law, you are welcome to right your representative to propose to have it reviewed and amended. I think it has been this way for a long time for a reason, it makes the most sense.

Allow me to make an example for you: Some one steals your car. They sell it. You would not want to take your car back because the current "owner" paid for it and that is not fair to them?

If they can prove that it was never sold or given away (which they most likely could) then the only conclusion that could be drawn is that it was stolen.

@scook9

if it was stolen or went missing some kind of police report would have to be issued therefore police involvement would be required to at least clean up the case file even if it was settled amicably, in short there was no police involvement so it was never reported stolen (and i yet to see someone successfully file a police report for an item that was stolen 3 years prior)

of coarse it was stolen how else would a prototype get out to the public? just like the iphones get left in a bar. if you still take it then it is steeling.

Actually, it's the other way 'round. Apple has to show that it was stolen - not misplaced, not discarded, not sold but actually stolen.

Fairly safe to assume that it was never reported stolen since the serial number turned up nothing in Apple's system. At least if I were apple, I would have the serial flagged in the system, just in case.

Also the people who stole the iPhone prototype were charged with misdemeanor theft. So assuming the laptop was also stolen, then that should also be misdemeanor theft and further assuming that it was stolen 2+ years ago (2007 prototype, so potentially 4 years ago), then I believe the statute of limitations is past. So even if the thing was stolen, then there is potentially nothing Apple can do.

Or that someone made their own modified version. If they cough up the design of that exact model, then you could probably say it was stolen. But I don't know if even that would fly in courts. Socalboomer makes a good point. They'd have to prove they didn't just discard it.

$70K for a laptop that will be outdated in a year? Jeeze people have money to waste.

The Apple tech assumed third party parts, what he or she meant, was the serial numbers were not registered apple parts, if this is in fact a prototype the part model numbers would not be on the registered lists of official and supported apple hardware. That's just my logical conclusion, any manufacturer would do the same thing, and the tech at the apple store isn't going to have access to the prototype product listing.. why would they? It's a sales store, not a development lab.

i don't like Apple and the Apple iDiots fanboi , but if it was stolen , buying a stolen goods are illegal ......

Lots of anti/pro Apple bitching and moaning here...but I think we're missing the interesting question:
What's in that computer that Apple doesn't want circulating publicly? They obviously want their prototype back for a reason, even though the hardware is outdated. I wonder why... thoughts?

I was thinking the same thing. The only things special about it that nobody has seen yet are the integrated 3G and the magnetic antenna.

You'd think if it was taken to the Mac store they would have run the serial number through their system, generally that's how they ID the device and the components within the device without having to open it up first.

You'd think if this prototype was actually stolen the serial number would have triggered some sort of flag.


Of course if there is no serial number, how can you even prove theft? There's no traceability at that point.

the moment someone comes to take something of mine i purchased, and had no idea it was stolen, and no proof it was stolen, and offering no compensation, it would be a fight to the death



ok, lets look at it this way, you know for a fact that a car is stolen when you buy it, and only a moron wouldn't. lets equate this to... you are buying a older used computer for a linux box. after getting it, for a fair market price, cops come and tell you it was stolen, and you must give it up.

or lets go another way, you go to a garage sale, and find a silly fake ring that is 50 cents, you buy it because why not, later you find out that its real, so when taking it to get appraised, you are told its stolen, and you are getting NOTHING for winning the lottery





oh no, another conclusion is that they threw it away, but let an intern do it, and he didn't know it was prototype and needed to be thrown away in a special way, so he chucked it in a dumpster.

some one dumpster dove, and pulled it out.

now when you throw something away, its public property, and up for grabs.

The legality is not whether or not it was stolen, but whether or not it was reported as stolen. If there is not a police report for theft of the object, then there is no basis for "stolen property". If there is a police report that filed this specific device as stolen, only then can Apple claim it back as stolen property. Apple can't forge this, because it would have to be filed with a police department. Leave it to a high paid team of lawyers to find a loophole though, laws are for the poor.

I think I would demand that apple pay me a hefty sum of money in return for the laptop. It was purchased legally, so if crApple wants to take possession of my legally owned property, they can pay me for it.

Also, this just goes to show what kind of "geniuses" work at the genius bar... HAHA