When Gizmodo published a report on a leaked iPhone earlier this week, it was unclear just how far along in the design process the handset was. According to new information, the answer to that is "pretty far along." In fact, it is probably the next-gen iPhone in its final form.Daring Fireball's John Gruber -- who is very plugged into the Apple scene -- is pretty certain that the iPhone obtained and photographed by Gizmodo is pretty much what we're likely to see Apple announce in the next few months.

Gruber writes, "According to Gizmodo, one of the barcodes attached to the unit read 'N90_DVT_GE4X_0493'. According to several sources (of mine) familiar with the project, 'N90' is Apple's codename for the fourth-generation GSM iPhone, slated for release this June or July. 'DVT' stands for 'design verification test', an Apple production milestone. The DVT milestone is very late in the game; based on this, I now believe that this unit very closely, if not exactly, resembles what Apple plans to release."

He's probably right. There might be a few tweaks here and there, but Gizmodo landed the real deal. As much as Gizmodo was able to tell us, however, there's still plenty left unknown.

Meanwhile, the fallout of the entire episode continues. Apple hasn't said if it intends to pursue any legal action against Gizmodo or its owner, Gawker Media, but many think it should. Gawker's owner, Nick Denton, is unapologetic. During a panel discussion held Wednesday in New York City, he commented that his only regret was outing the engineer who lost the device. As far as Denton is concerned, $5,000 was cheap for all the publicity it brought the site. Gizmodo typically gets 500,000 unique hits per day. On Monday, it saw over 2 million.