First thing first: Gizmodo should have taken high road, and that email was certainly a mistake ...
But it is also important to note that Steve Jobs called Gizmodo after the whole story was published (I guess so) this puts Gizmodo in very risky position if they don't give an CONVINCING explanation to their readers regarding whereabouts of iphone ... nobody will believe if they said that Steve Jobs called them and they returned the phone ...
If I were Gizmodo, I wud have called Jobs before publishing anything and got myself in his good books and I guess Jobs would have certainly returned my favor in one or other way ... alternatively If he (Jobs) called me after details were published, even then I wud have returned the phone by being as humble as possible at the same time making sure that I dont loose face in front of my readers (again I guess Steve Jobs wouldn't have ignored my favor)...