Boy Genius Geller Paid 4 iPhone 4 Steve Jobs' Death Grip Emails- Yes-Buts, Source of iPhone 4 Exchange Named

Formerly titled an "exclusive" conversation with Steve Jobs on iPhone 4 antenna problems, the Boy-not-so-Genius defends what he says he thought was a legitimate email exchange with Steve Jobs.

Those of us who have been writing about technology from the early days, know  that you don't mess with Steve Jobs or his email. We also know some people will do anything thing to get into the limelight of their favorite blogger's website. It's now completely clear that the boy-bloggers are paying at least a couple of hundred dollars for "leaks" up to the now infamous $5,000 Gizmodo paid Brian Hogan for the found lost iPhone 4 in a bar.

What we find the most interesting in the correction post, claiming everything to be real is that it now  it is absolutely clear that Jonathan Geller (aka Boy Genius) pays for his stories, which public relations representatives for the carriers and manufacturers have known for a while.

The defense is full of yes, buts.

"Yes, BGR runs rumors and
information that is not always completely
confirmed. That is part of the game we are in. What we and other quality
sites do is research, confirm, and make our best editorial judgements
before running information that is not yet confirmed. Over the past 5
years, I've had more exclusives in the mobile field than anyone or any
site on the entire planet, and my accuracy rate has been ridiculously
high. I'd guess above 95%."

Geller writes that people familiar
with email headers confirmed that "yes, that they were legitimate,
and that the entire
thread would be extremely hard to fake, if not impossible."

What's
new in this apology is that he actually names his source, Jason Burford
who "wanted to be compensated.'  Geller checked Burford's email
account. One email was copied incorrectly and then Apple wanted it corrected. Poor little boy-genius was sent emails to correct it, but they were in the spam holder Postini.(When it doubt blame it one the spam filter!)

Dugh, why would someone want to remain anonymous unless he was not legitimate?

This is the longest post we've ever seen Geller write, the legal team has probably warned the now-millionaire of his obligations.  We've seen him call PR people names when he makes corrections. Once again he "picks on the PR rep."

"But there isn't any amount of spin Apple PR honcho Steve Dowling could
throw on at this point because those email messages came from Steve
Jobs' email box, and that's all I or Jason care about."

Fortune magazine reported that when asked on the record whether Steve Jobs was the author of any of these
statements, a top Apple spokesman emphatically denied it.

AppleInsider reported that they were contacted by Jason Burford of
Burford Advertising, a small family run firm that creates video
commercials for a variety of local businesses. In the email, Burford
wrote "email exchange from jobs. 'Calm down' 'rumors.' for sale. Will
send headers for proof." When asked for more information about what he
was presenting, Burford replied, "I do not wish to share all of it
because I kinda went off on him and it is embarrassing."

Burford told Information Week in a phone interview "They said they'd pay for it and,
stupidly, I said OK. It wasn't a
lot of money, and anyway, it wasn't worth it."

The webpage for Burford Advertising is down, but there is a cached version still in the Google cache and J. Jason Burford has a Facebook photo. We were also able to find Burford's photo from from his real estate website that is now down.

This whole story doesn't make sense, Burford works in advertising, he knows about media. He makes commercials. He knows that anything  iPhone 4 gets massive media coverage...

Apple was stunned at the iPhone 4G "death grip" attentuation issues after a call for dissatisfied customers for class action lawsuit, and announced the problem was miscalculated bars and that a software fix was in works. The laws governing the entire country also cover CEOs and boy-bloggers.

We don't pay for leads at Wireless and Mobile News, because legitimate news sources know that you get what you pay for and you can get in big trouble. Whenever a source is anonymous or unnamed, we know it could and can be wrong. We've noticed that this "pay for tips" has caused people to pimp their information to multiple sources like Brian Hogan did with the iPhone 4.  Somehow, these peddlers know where to ask for money, suggesting that the policy is ubiquitous, and shows the sad state of the blogoshpere.

Wireless and Mobile News maintains good relationships with corporate PR people who can't leak information due to SEC regulations. Public companies can't reveal their secrets because it can change the way stocks are traded.

We take time to review the news write full-length features about topics our readers care about such as today's iPhone 4 Review of Reviews.  And we don't end our rants like Boy Genius does with a phone number and contact for our corporate Media Contact.

On the other end of the honor and integrity spectrum, at the recent Uplinq conference in San Diego, a reporter from a major news source, revealed at the opening night party, that he thought he had violated a conflict of interest by consuming a couple of Mahi Mahi tacos and a beer!