So, Apple held a press conference this morning where Steve Jobs came prepared to address the iPhone 4 reception issues. There was a lot of speculation prior to the press conference about what Apple would do. Guesses ran the gamut from a full recall of the iPhone 4 to issuing simple bumper cases free to anyone who had a reception complaint. So what did Jobs have to say?
Jobs started out his sales pitch (I’m calling it that for lack of a better term) by demonstrating how other competitor smartphones experienced reduced reception when held normally in the hand, just like the iPhone 4. Do you see where he’s going with this yet? After demonstrating that the competition was no better, he moved on to compare the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 3GS, citing AT&T dropped call rates. According to AT&T, the iPhone 4 experiences only one additional dropped call per hundred over the 3GS.
Finally, Jobs gets around to addressing the “small number of users” affected by the dropped call problem. Citing the Consumer Reports article that says bumper cases solve the problem, Apple is going to offer a selection of cases (they can’t make enough bumpers for everyone to have one – over three million iPhone 4s already sold) on the website starting next week, which they will ship to anyone owning an iPhone 4. In addition, the offer of a full refund is still open, up to 30 days after purchase, as long as the phone isn’t damaged. That about sums up the response to antennagate.
Other announcements of interest from the press conference include:
- White iPhone 4 to ship in July
- Proximity sensor problems are being worked on
- July 30th, iPhone 4 goes to 17 more countries
In closing, Jobs says over and over again that they do what they do because “We love our users.” Really, Steve? So what took you so long to admit there was a real problem instead of trying to pass this off as a software issue? Sounds to me like Steve Jobs is trying to kiss some ass in order to save face. Will it work? Sure it will. After all, Apple has the most devoted fanboys in the industry.
(Image Source: Engadget)
