Apple officials told police investigators that the publication of photos of an iPhone prototype was "immensely damaging" to the company and represented a "huge" loss, recently released court documents show.

Those documents, released Friday by a San Mateo, Calif., county judge, reveal details of a meeting between police and Apple officials that ultimately led to the seizure of several computers from the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen.

Gizmodo published photographs and analysis of the iPhone prototype -- widely believed to be similar to the smartphone Apple will launch next month -- on April 19. Gawker Media, the company that operates Gizmodo, has admitted it paid $5,000 for the phone after it was left at a Redwood City, Calif., bar by an Apple software engineer.

More: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9176818/