Excerpts from Apple’s letter to Valleywag.com’s parent Gawker Media:
While Apple values and appreciates vibrant public commentary about its products, we believe you and your company have crossed the line by offering a bounty for the theft of Apple’s trade secrets. Such an offer is illegal and Apple insists that you immediately discontinue the Scavenger Hunt.
[…]
The information you are willing to pay for, such as photos of a yet-to-be released product, constitutes Apple trade secrets.
[…]
Apple has maintained the types of information and things you are soliciting—”how it’ll work, its size, the name, the software,” as well as any possible details about the product’s appearance, features, and physical samples—in strict confidence.”
“Sure, it could be a note protesting the scavenger hunt in principle, speaking to any and all confidential knowledge of any unreleased Apple product, but this scavenger hunt is purely for Tablet evidence,” Diaz reports. “And, do companies send C&Ds for non existent devices? Not in our experience.”
Full article, with the letter, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “CYxodos” for the heads up.]
LOLz. Gawker just pwnd apple. nice.
looks like there is a ‘mom’ over at Gawker. moms everywhere use this trick on kids to confirm suspicions.
wow.
hahahahaha.
“Apple confirms tablet existence with cease and desist letter to Gawker”
That is the same level of logic as me working for the CIA and writing a mars requeating the aliens stop kidnapping and probing me. Therefore aliens exist.
They sued over Asteroid, which was never released. This only confirms that Apple is legally consistent when protecting their trade secrets.
Sometimes my iPhone fails me, once more with those pesky word things
“Apple confirms tablet existence with cease and desist letter to Gawker”
That is the same level of logic as me working for the CIA and writing a letter to mars requesting the aliens stop kidnapping and probing me. Therefore aliens exist.
The only thing this confirms is that the Gawker Media app will not be coming to the tablet.
This is a blanket legal statement. I can’t believe people are reading so much into it. Gawker is crap as it is. It was encouraging illegal behavior.
This doesn’t confirm anything. But confirmation is irrelevant at this point. Everyone knows that a tablet device is coming, even if we don’t know what it will look like or what features it will have.
So I agree. Meh.
Apples letter made me lol, I really loled, they are just funny, messing with us
“Apple is telling these asswipes to take their contest and shove it up their sphincter, or they will get to ante up in court.
This online feces has got to go.”
totally. although its pretty bold, let’s be honest, this contest is inciting people to either a) camp outside Steve Jobs’ house with cameras or b) sneak into the Apple campus with cameras.
So if these ‘contestants’ get shot, that’s cool?
@Tt
You are so right!! Apple is enjoying every minute. A company this great wouldn’t have it any other way. Goodbye to Microsoft!!!!!
Sneaky sneaky…
manipulation of the media.
Brilliant
?
(:
Tablet…what tablet!?!
This is the kind of ‘rumor’ evidence I like!
It’s not a Tablet. It’s an iPod Touch with a bigger screen.
I love being a nerd. The rest of the world goes bounty hunting for unseen celebrity baby pictures…
And by the way “X”, your whole rant there is a Freudian NIGHTMARE…
“I hope they do cancel it – not just to spite everyone, but because it I still don’t see how the tablet/slate will possibly ever live up to all these expectations. It’s a niche product at best, IMHO, and am still waiting for someone to convince me of it’s practical application.”
So prior to the iPhone, very few people believed there would be much demand for it, similar to the iPod and itunes store before it. Now look at how “Practical” all three have become.
Now ask yourself why?
They took existing products and extended their use beyond what was conventionally “practical”. They reinvented the device and were so successful they changed the entire category of those devices. That made it easy and fun for the consumer to use and showed us new capabilities and exciting uses and ways to interact with the device and even ways to put content on the devices. So just what makes you think this will be any different. Remember Apple skates to where the puck is going, not where it’s been.
“Apple confirms tablet existence with cease and desist letter to Gawker”
i hope apple collects the bounty they earned!!!