Apple iPhone 4 press conference post-game - TiPb and SPE sound-off
The sun has set and risen again following Apple's unprecedented iPhone 4 press conference, and the folks behind TiPb and the SPE network have had time to listen, absorb, cry fair and foul, and figure out our thoughts. Here's the post-mortem from your favorite editors and writers at TiPb, Android Central, CrackBerry, Nokia Experts, WMExperts, as well as the Cell Phone Junkie.
Hit the jump to hear what we think, then hit the comments to tell us what you think.
Dieter Bohn, Editor in Chief, Smartphone Experts
Apple has addressed my biggest concern, which is the not-so-vague feeling of distrust, uncertainty, and genuine malaise I was starting to feel towards the reception of my iPhone 4. Until the press conference and Apple's admission that "we're not perfect," I would constantly worry that I was not holding different. I've dropped more than a few calls and with previous iPhones and other phones, it never gave me much feeling for concern because I always figured it was just AT&T. However a trip to New York, iPhone 4 in tow, had me at my wit's end. I was unable to connect calls, keep calls, or get data in anything approaching an reliable manner.
Normally, as I said, I would have chalked it up to AT&T. With this iPhone antenna issue, however, I was constantly wondering if I was just holding the phone wrong. I'd keep trying with increasingly awkward hand positions when normally I would have given up and let AT&T defeat me. When you introduce an intermittent variable that a human may or may not have intermittent control over to a technical problem, what you're really introducing is a troubling mistrust.
Although Steve Jobs made the kinds of "we love our users" points that you'd expect him to make, I was actually gratified to hear them - because they were combined with an honest admission that the iPhone 4 drops marginally more calls than it ought and that there is a "weak spot." Now if I drop a call or lose data I have the same sorts of questions that arise with intermittent, human-intervention technical problems, but I have less of a feeling of doubt about the whole thing.
All that said, when signal is medium to strong, I have great reception. Also, when I use an iPhone case, I have no problems whatsoever. So a case it is. That, or per Steve Jobs, I'll preempt Eminem and see if I can't get stylin' with a well-placed band-aid.
Chad Garrett, Writer, TiPb
I think Steve did a great job laying down the facts around the iPhone 4 antenna issue. Frankly I have been tired hearing about this since most users like myself, don't encounter any issues unless they play show-and-tell with their friends.
Apple made a clear design decision to create a radical antenna design to allow for better reception and internal storage to make the thinnest and arguably sexiest smartphone to date. However, this radical change had unforeseen consequences; every media outlet thinks that the iPhone is somehow broken or flawed if you touch the case a certain way. I can tell you that my iPhone 4 works just fine regardless of how I hold it. I am sure there are people that have issues with their iPhone 4, I am not denying that. But I am betting that everyday people outside of the tech sector are returning their iPhone 4's for the same reason someone returns a BlackBerry, Android or Palm phone; they just got a lemon. For example, a co-worker of mine is on their 4th Palm Pre due to constant hardware failures (screen, keyboard you name it).
No the iPhone 4 is not perfect, but it is darn close compared to it's competition. Sure you can touch the "magic spot" and make some bars go down. At the end of the day, no one is forcing you to buy an iPhone 4. Though, with 3 million sold in 3 weeks, one has to wonder if there is not some kind of mind control going on.
Leanna Lofte, Writer, TiPb
First of all, I loved that the press conference opened up with "The iPhone Antenna Song" video. Pure win. As for the content of the conference, it went pretty much exactly as I was expecting. I was never convinced that the antenna issues were a software problem, especially when talk of it being a problem on other devices started to surface. I believed it was hardware related from the very beginning. The problem with the iPhone 4, is that there is a visible line on the device that initiates the reception failure. This makes it psychologically seem like a bigger deal when compared to other phones. In reality, maybe we should be grateful that we know exactly where we shouldn't touch? Ok, maybe that's going a little far, but the fact remains that this issue isn't isolated to the iPhone 4. I was never convinced that Apple would recall millions of phones unless they had a guaranteed hardware fix for the problem, which seemed highly unlikely to me. Apple had to do something to make customers happy and calm down a bit, so free bumpers it is! In reality, this "fix" will cost Apple pennies and it was a smart move on their part.
I was surprised to learn that the iPhone 4 is only 1% worse in terms of dropped calls compared with the 3GS. I wonder if this statistic is skewed in some way, but it's more likely that I got buried too deep in the hype. My personal experience actually matches Jobs' claim; dropped calls and reception between the iPhone 4 and 3GS is the same - no noticeable difference.
Jerry Hildenbrand, Writer, Android Central
I can appreciate the candid, old style Steve Jobs way he handled the event. Poking fun at yourself and others, and flashing a big grin is the "work all night in the garage" Steve everyone loves. However, to me the real situation is that signal attenuation was not the issue. A design that places a trouble spot in an area very likely to be touched is the problem, and this was brushed to the side. This is why a rubber bumper can fix the issue on the iPhone4, but isn't needed on previous iPhones or the competitors products.
For those in areas where "bridging the gap" causes dropped calls or slow data, the bumper will alleviate it, and offering them to those who need one was the right call. There really is no other plausible solution. But ignoring the questions about the antenna design, or deflecting them by showing "bars" from other manufacturers isn't the response I had hoped for from someone who holds the trust of millions.
Craig Johnston, Podcaster, CrackBerry.com
My experimenting with Smartphone signal issues revealed that all Smartphones (and likely all phones) with internal antennas experience a signal drop when held. If I hold my iPhone 4 in my right hand, nothing happens. If I hold it in my left hand however, I see a 3 bar signal strength drop. My Nexus One has an issue no matter which side you hold it on, and my BlackBerry Curve 8900 suffers a drop too. My BlackBerry Bold 9700 however, sees a signal drop, but not as big. This could be due to the faux leather battery cover, I'm not sure.
My conclusion is that the badly calibrated iPhone 4 signal meter shows an artificially large signal drop which has alarmed people who have not seen such a drop on other phones, even though the drop in signal is likely the same in reality
- Craig's demo on the Mobile Universe videocast [YouTube link]
Ally Kazmucha, Writer, TiPb
I would have liked more of an answer as to why touching one specific spot causes such an issue, and why Apple didn't just make the break in a place users are less likely to come in contact with while on a call or browsing the web. Free bumpers will not appease everyone, but as El Jobso stated, if you aren't happy with your purchase, bring them back for a full refund. I live in an area where service isn't the greatest, and I think sometimes the service issues are confused with hardware issues. I think it really comes down to what you need to do with the phone and how unwilling you are to part with it. Technology is always changing, if you're going to be an early adopter, you have to roll with the punches. The iPhone 4 is no different.
Malatesta, Writer, WMExperts
Windows Mobile and Windows Phone may suffer from such occasional hardware inconsistencies (CDMA Palm Treo Pro is just awful for reception, see this doozy of a fix), but having multiple devices for consumers to choose from, instead of just one-flagship phone, gives consumers options. If you're going to put all of your eggs into one basket, you better make sure that basket is 100% perfect or nearly so. Kudos to Apple for giving away those free cases, but we think that this problem should have never had happened in the first place.
Kevin Michaluk, Founder, CrackBerry.com
I used to really like Steve Jobs. After today's BB 9700 slander and antenna propaganda, not so much anymore. So much he said she said mamby pamby I know you are but what am I bull$#!t.
Matt Miller, Editor, Nokia Experts
Steve Jobs said that everyone in the smartphone industry has a problem with reception and the iPhone 4 is a marvel of engineering. I don’t recall him specifically mentioning Nokia, which makes sense since my personal experiences with over 25 Nokia smartphones shows them to clearly have superior RF reception. Even though Nokia clearly shows where the antennas are in their manuals, I find I get excellent reception pretty much no matter how I hold my device.
Phil Nickinson, Editor, Android Central
Steve Jobs and by extension Apple (or vice-versa) remains the P.T. Barnum of our era. You're going to get a hell of a show, and some of it might even be true. Apple's in PR damage control mode, that's largely a new position for them. Showing a Windows Mobile phone (Samsung Omnia II), an Android phone (HTC Droid Eris) and a BlackBerry (Bold 9700) almost seemed like blatant deflection. "Yeah, we may have a problem, but check out these guys!" There is a larger problem, and that is that everybody -- all of us -- are trying to become amateur RF engineers. We're not. We're not going to be.
I would have paid money to have been at the presser, if things really got as heated during the Q&A as it sounds. Apple's relationship with the media -- mainstream and otherwise -- has always been interesting. But Jobs is sorely mistaken if he thinks every media outlet should want to be Apple's friend. That's not our job. True, it's far too easy for false or otherwise trivial information to be blown out of proportion or reported incorrectly. But that's also the world that Apple's products have helped perpetuate.
One last thing: Glad Apple spent $100 million or so on testing facilities. But I'd love to hear from somebody at the FCC.
George Ponder, Editor, WMExperts
From the get-go, I think the problem was handled poorly by Apple. I agree that other phones have similar issues but Job's handled the iPhone's problem poorly. Job's initial solution, don't hold the phone with your left hand, should never have left the confines of his office.
I've loosely followed the iPhone 4 saga and have only read recaps of Job's conference. While there are issues with the iPHone 4, Apple customers should be grateful they have a new phone to complain about. I can only hope us Windows Phone owners will be so lucky come October. With a new phone that is. Apple can keep all the performance issues....
Anyways, here's my two cents.
Apple should have caught this design flaw and while the bumper case will solve the problems, customers won't be happy. The look of the iPhone 4 (without the case) is part of the phone's appeal. It's like using a bumper sticker to cover up a ding on a Porshe's bumper.
It sounds as if Job's spent a lot of time pointing the finger elsewhere instead of at Apple for not catching this from the start. As if Apple can do no wrong.
Oh... and what happens after September 30th? Will the next batch of iPhone 4's have a design fix? Or will those customers get stuck with dropped calls or the cost of a case?
Bla1ze, Editor, CrackBerry.com
I've watched the conference video. I simply cannot replicate the issue with my BlackBerry Bold 9700 as Steve Jobs demonstrated. To be fair, I am on Rogers and not AT&T although not exactly sure how much difference that makes.
I'm still not convinced the issue with the iPhone 4 is as big of an issue as some media outlets are portraying it to be. But, to say that the issue does not exist entirely is a farce.
Mickey Papillon, the Cell Phone Junkie
Going into the Press Conference, I figured we would see Apple announce a couple things. First, I did not expect a full on recall, so no surprise there. Thinking about the cost of the bumper and how much of a profit center Apple has with this, i did not expect them to be given out. What I did think was that they would be letting those that had issues return the iPhone for a newer model that would have some sort of Stevie dust on it that would make it work. Actually, i expected them to say they would be insulating the antenna moving forward so that the attenuation didn't happen moving forward. The fact that they didn't mention anything about what they plan to do with new devices moving forward was troubling. I assumed they would at least try to make changes (even slight ones) for future ones to calm everyone down.
Regarding the demo of the different devices, showing that they could have the same issue was a cop out. Of course this happens on any phone. It's a RF transmitter and receiver. What they didn't cover (which should have been the main thing they talked about) was that your body is conductive, and it de-tunes the antenna when you simply press your finger on the black strip, bridging the 2 antennas. You don't need a "death grip" on the phone to make it have problems.
Also, I think the proximity sensor issue was downplayed. I (and my wife) have had lots of problems with this. Many disconnected calls, calls put on mute, and DTMF tone transmissions from this flaw. It should be corrected immediately.
Finally, the AT&T HSUPA issue is a big one for certain markets. In tests I ran this week, my 1st Generation iPhone has faster consistent upload speeds than the iPhone 4. Realizing this is only in certain markets, and fixable by Alcatel Lucent, maybe they didn't think to mention this. However, its one of the biggest reasons for the time being that I am not using the iPhone. AT&T should be giving all customers in these markets credits each month that the issue exists. Sending email is a chore when your upload speeds are only 50kbps, not to mention the 2MB photos that the camera takes. Upload a photo to Facebook while on the go? Forget it...it'll take you 10 minutes a pic...
Overall, I think they said what they needed to, and this will eventually blow over. However, I still am not thrilled by the continuous denial of issues even existing.
Rene Ritchie, editor, TiPb
This was a no win situation for Apple. Ever since the problem surfaced and Apple and Steve Jobs issued "hold different, buy a case" emails, the win-ship set sale and they weren't on it. All they could do was damage control, all they could do was try to move the mass media frenzy on to the next story.
Their strategy to do this was humility (showing the video, claiming to be human, apologizing), deflection (showing other smartphones suffer from the same problem), and bribery (free bumpers and cases for everyone).
The humility part worked. They got off to a good start. The deflection stuff didn't. They spent too much time on what should have been a bullet point. Sure every smartphone has this problem but no other smartphone has an external antenna with such a visible and inconvenient single point of problem. Luckily for Apple, RIM and Nokia have chosen to respond, ensuring they're now part of the problem. We'll see if HTC and Samsung are smart enough to sit this out. As to the free bumpers, at first the bribery seems to conflict with the deflection. If there's no problem, why give bumpers? Simple. People like free stuff.
Apple made a technological trade-off. In order to get bigger battery size and better reception overall, the consequence is that single point of attenuation (sure, design factored into it -- but it really is better for battery life and for reception as well). Not stating that was what causes the apparent conflict. However, since the real problem for Apple is one of public perception now, giving away free bumpers becomes a precedent-setting public solution. (One Nokia, RIM, and Apple themselves for the 3GS might later regret).
Overall it was ugly and ham-fisted in parts, and the deflection section weighted far too heavily, but hey -- free bumpers. Apple wants to make every customer happy. They're battered and a little bloody but more than likely they're past this now.
Phil Nickinson is right, though -- heaven help whomever releases the next big phone. YouTube is going to light up instantly with antenna tests, and message boards with free case requests, now and for a long while to come.
Jeremy Sikora, Writer, TiPb
Deep down I was hoping Apple was going to be able to pull a rabbit out of their hat and say software update would fix it and those of you with the issue could rest easy. That clearly wasn't the case and it's free cases for everyone, which I'll gladly accept even though I don't suffer from the "death grip" syndrome.
And your take?
You're part of team TiPb and the Smartphone Experts community as well, and we want to hear your thoughts. Sound off in the comments!
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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I'm a little older than most, here...maybe all.
Anyway, I remember a lot of Apple history highlights. Pointing out everyone else's possible issues & trying to explain away your own technical shortcomings is new. And it makes Steve Jobs a very small person & Apple a very "small" company. If I had my way, every iPhone user would send back their iPhone in protest. But I suspect most are already jammed too far into Apple's one size fits all mold. As much as I think the iPhone is good (previous to 4), the Mac is awesome for graphics, & the iPod is a great music player, I'll only buy Apple products if I absolutely have to. I certainly wouldn't feel better about sailing on a ship if it had issues with sinking. And learning that other ship builders sometimes had similar issues would do nothing to make me feel better about your engineering incompetence. So much for trust.
I think Steve Jobs is brilliant. Well it was already beginning to happen before he had the conference but he put the icing on the cake. Steve has basically redefined the problem.
Phil from Android Central pointed out that we're all going to be RF engineers now and apparently as I've seen in a couple of comments its already happening. There are supposedly death grip videos out for the Droid X and Galaxy S phones. Well theres a little problem with the death grip videos coming out. THEY DON'T CAUSE DEATH. The original issue was that physically touching the antenna caused such a problem with reception that CALLS DROPPED. It was never simply that the bars went down. But now its all about seeing if you can make bars drop rather than killing calls and slowing down data rates.
On top of that there is a difference between shielding an antenna and touching it. This has been common sense until this past Friday. Now people seem shocked to find that if you shield an antenna you loose signal strength. And now even worse people believe touching an antenna or bridging two together are the same thing. And yet the iPhone still needs a case to solve a problem that the rest of the phones displayed do not need. Its going to be interesting if everybody starts pulling up their dropped call and return statistics. HTC has already done so and put the iPhone statistics in perspective....they are huge.
And I find it mighty ridiculous to call a problem with the phones basic functions overblown when you had folk sitting phones on styrofoam blocks (something you'll never do) to prove there was a touch screen grounding problem. Fanboyism can be fun and all but to accept having your money taken for a product that doesn't perform and then defending it is crazy.
Ha ha! Look at all the haters and the fandroids screaming in a vacuum. Jobs and Co. just sucked the oxygen out of this story, and they can't stand it.
:):)
Granted there are extremists on both sides of this issue, but there were a few glaring omisions at the press conference I consider to be inexcusable. But first, the good:
1) The humility (as noted by some) was a good way to go.
2) The free bumpers were a good way to go. They are cutting a bit of a cash cow to provide a solution to people in poor reception areas where the radio antenna flaw really hurts.
3) The 30 day no questions asked return period with no restocking fee (barring damage). This will really help customers make up their own minds without the feeling that Apple is pulling something over on them.
Now...what didn't work:
1) The deflection to other companies. Especially because it missed the entire point. Yes, if you place as much of your hand around a cell phone the signal gets attenuated. That's not the point, the point is that several independent groups, including CR and the excellent people at Anandtech have shown conclusively that even when held normally (but while bridging the two antennas) the amount of attenuation is greater on the iPhone4 than deathgripping other phones. The fact that they have videos showing bars going all the way down feels very staged; there were absolutely now data on the test conditions given (were they all made under controlled conditions? In the same place? Was the amount of radio frequency held constant during the tests?) The total absence of ANY form of data on the conditions should raise the hackles on anyone with any science or engineering background at all.
2)Bait and switching the design flaw itself. Yes, we get it, covering parts of any phone causes attenuation. The point is the larger drop could easily have been solved here if an insulating coating had been put on one antenna. In that case, the benefits of the external antenna (more space inside, better job of finding low-power signals) would have remained without the call-and-data-ending attenuation that occurs if people bridge the gap in the same lower radio signal areas it was supposed to help in.
Let me say this very clearly: they can brag about their testing facilities and care all they want but there is no excuse for not having realized that one of the antennas needed to be insulated (even by a fine, clear coat of something non-conductive). Either they didn't test well enough, or their testing procedures need to be reviewed. One minor change could have eliminated this problem and shown all the benefits of their design without the problems that effect users in low-signal environments.
3) Finally, the end date in September. I realize that they can't give bumpers our for free for forever, but the thing is, this is going to bite them on the rear later. My guess as to how they picked that date is it's when they will be able to start producing iPhones with insulated antennas. But they didn't say this. So when September rolls around and they announce that they have discovered a way to fix it so you don't need a bumper...how do you think all those customers who can no longer return their phones but need to use a bumper will fell?.
I have to say, they should have copped to the fact that there is an obvious engineering fix, that the main challenge is integrating it into the product line in a cost-effective manner, and then provided people with free bumpers for the current ones. Sure, there would have still been some grumbling, and it would have made it clear that there was in fact a design flaw (or at least a design oversight) but people would have had the choice to take the bumper, not worry about it, or return the phone now and wait for September. I'm sure in fact that the latter is exactly why they didn't come clean. But it's going to make them look duplicitous come fall when the manufacturing change happens.
Mark my words, this will end up in worse press for Apple in the long run, not better. And they have created greater enmity amongst competitors and sowed the seeds of longer-term customer distrust in the process.
@AnotherBrian
"Come on some people have major problems but it’s small compared to the people that don’t."
But it's HUGE compared to other phones. 20-70% more dropped calls than all the other phones on AT&T (including the 3GS)? You can't tell me that's not a huge failure on Apple's part.
And of course, most people blame it on the network, since AT&T is known for dropping calls anyway (despite that they claim only 1.4-1.7% drop rate). That easily explains those "only" 0.55% complaining (which is still 35 times more people complaining about the iPhone's reception than about the Droid Eris).
No matter how you look at it, if you have a closer look at their numbers, there's only one possible conclusion: This issue is huge.
I didn't like the press conference. I wanted Steve to talk about what they were going to do to fix the problem. Not show me that other phones do it. I want to know that when I buy my iPhone 4 later this year, this problem will be fixed.
@Scott,
Your point to consumer mistrust will only be proven if sales of the iPhone 4 will significantly drop off in the coming months. To date 3 million phones in 3 weeks even with the negative press tends to lean contrary to your points.
I am an informed consumer and only owe allegiance to products and services that work for me. If the iPhone fails to work for what I need it for (including phone calls) I will migrate elsewhere. Mind you I am in NYC whichmhas traditionally been a sore spot for ATT the last couple of years. My iPhone 4 has experienced many of the signal attentuation issues in bad signal areas. However where there is good signal (which is improving in NYC) the performance of the iPhone has been excellent. Overall, that will keep customers coming.. You can yak that to the bank.
Correction.. Take that to the bank.
"20-70% more dropped calls than all the other phones on AT&T (including the 3GS)? You can’t tell me that’s not a huge failure on Apple’s part."
I forgot to mention that; talk about insulting. Their shenanigans about how yes, the iPhone4 drops more calls than the 3GS, but by "less than one additional call in a hundred" without providing data on the rates of other phones is such tripe; most phones don't even drop 2 calls in a hundred, so 1 extra call is a huge, huge number. They are just playing on the fact that most buyers don't know anything about statistics or analysis.
Haters and fandroids: wahwahwahwah!
@jngold: Well, those sales were front loaded. They had 2 million sales the first weekend, so I'm not sure that an additional million over the following 20 days is really evidence that people are ignoring the bad press.
My point is not that the iPhone is a bad device; I don't really care for the lock-downed OS and lack of customization, but it does provide a more seemless user experience and almost no learning curve, so it's great for a lot of people.
My point is that the press conference was misleading in several parts, and while I think the occasional humility shown, the free bumpers, and the 30 day return policy will help deflate the issue now, I think it will harm their image come this fall when it becomes clear that they know the solution (anyone who took college physics ought to) but they chose to give away free bumpers rather than cop to the problem and its incoming fix and risk a large number of returns. (also, if anyone with the proper background tries to replicate Apple's claims about other phones...oh wait, some already did: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3821/iphone-4-redux-analyzing-apples-ios-41-signal-fix ) people will see that Apple wasn't being honest about the issue...those stories will still be echoing around to be reported when the manufacturing fix comes this fall).
I still think the iPhone 4 will sell well, and honestly it should, it's one of the best devices out there (if not one of the best phones at the moment). But the damage isn't whether they can sell a ton now, it's whether they are losing the image they sell with it, and I think they are really risking that. Believe what you want, but people who buy Apple products buy more than just a device, they buy into an image of a company that they believe acts in the customers' interests more than other companies. And both their initial handling and their ongoing handling of what is otherwise a minor problem to most is hurting that image, and with the pace at which competitors are growing (and even at which RIM is overhauling its system, although that won't be obvious for several months) the real question is how will this impact their market standing in years to come. At least, if you're a shareholder that's what the concern ought to be.
@Scott
"I forgot to mention that; talk about insulting. Their shenanigans about how yes, the iPhone4 drops more calls than the 3GS, but by “less than one additional call in a hundred” without providing data on the rates of other phones is such tripe; most phones don’t even drop 2 calls in a hundred, so 1 extra call is a huge, huge number. They are just playing on the fact that most buyers don’t know anything about statistics or analysis."
EXACTLY. As I've explained, one more dropped call per 100 means an increase of 20-70% over other phones. That's HUGE.
@Scott,
I see. So RIM's famous data outages, HTC's well known "driver gate" (with class action suit) and poor 3G Nexus one performance (with no solution from either company) don't matter? What's important here is Apple took in in the eye and have a temporary shiner because of it. However like the examples stated above, those companies had a history of providing quality products and services and they recovered. You talk like this will have some catastrophic effect. I will not. People love Apple products whether hey mare perfect or not. Like I said Rim data outages made front page press and yet they are still a market leader. I would not bet against Apple on this.
@alexander
How else would you point out an industry problem without giving examples of other phones? Would you believe them if they had just said it was a problem and take their word? Or would you want proof?
@Ddot
It's not an industry problem anyway. Of course you can shield any phone's antenna with your hands, but no other phone allows you to bridge the antenna with other metal parts with just one finger. And of course, other companies make sure that shielding the antenna with the hand isn't the natural way of holding the phone. In the case of the iPhone, the "death grip" causes not only much greater signal drops, since you bridge the metal parts, but it also happens to be the obvious, natural way of holding the phone. And all you need to drop a call is one finger, not the whole hand. The claim that this is an industry problem is an outright lie.
@Jngold,
No, all of those were serious problems as well. Rather than once again deflecting from the issue, why don't we look at them and how they apply here:
RIM data outage: Several times in the past 18 months or so there have been temporary outages on RIM's push servers. Usually it hasn't impacted email much, but other data certainly has. RIM largely didn't address the issue, or when it did blamed it on specific carrier or software problems.
Fallout: Um...have you seen RIM's general popularity and stock value trends over the last two years??? If that's something you want to see with Apple, then sure, I guess the way Apple is handling this isn't a problem at all...
HTC's Drivergate: HTC's attempt to prove itself in the smartphone business with WinMo smartphones and ATI silicon ended up not being the home-run they'd hoped when there were persistent driver issues that impacted video (and later audio) for customers.
Fallout: Since HTC was really just trying to build their name and corporate image, there wasn't as much to hurt (and Apple can't really replicate that strategy). Notably, they address the fact that the problem existed (they also deflected some, pointing out that the phones had many other benefits than video playback). That said, a lot of their current success really came after they shifted away from WinMo and their older driver-problem-ridden platforms towards the newer Android-based phones that have generally gotten very high marks.
As for the Nexus One, I'd say that in general Google has taken its lumps over that, although making hardware is an almost non-existent part of their business, so it doesn't really matter much overall. Also, the product serves as a good developer phone, its open status has attracted something of a cult following despite the poor launch.
Apple: Like RIM when it had problems, Apple is a large company with an established brancd; it can't attribute the issue to growing pains the way HTC could (or rather, its customers could). Presumably Apple doesn't want to see its stock and market share drop the way RIM has the last couple years, so they should have reacted sooner and more honestly. Instead, while there were highlights to the press release, there were also parts that were blatantly misleading, and some of those parts will become more obvious this fall when the hardware fix goes live (unless they plan on selling the phone the way it is now indefinitely...which doesn't seem like a good idea either).
No one is saying that the problems with the iPhone 4 are unique or unprecedented...in fact they are pretty minor for most users. But Apple markets itself as better than those companies. As more in tune with customers and less beholden to corporate greed. Unfortunately for them, the way they've handled this does not reinforce that view at all, and that may haunt them when the iPhone 5 and 6 are launched...
Remember when we didn't have cell phones. God life was better.
^^^^ published on my 3GS.
I have the iPhone 4, I always use a case, I decided to test this problem for the first time during my watching of the press conference. I tried a finger (bridging the gap), I had no visible change. I tried the deathgrip, no visible change. I even invented the double hand deathgrip, with pinkie gap-bridger, with no change in reception. I actually believe the complaint numbers that steve gave. My biggest problem is the proximity sensor, cheak dialing. I'm glad that they mentioned it! I'll take a bumper, but I'm selling that gay thing on ebay. If you have the problem I would suggest exchanging it because not all of the phones are as described by most these guys.
Anyone who thinks that Apple's press conference is going to do anything to alleviate things to any significant degree is naive. There is only two ways to fix this. 1 Change the antenna design so it is no longer on the rim OR 2 change it so that the gap isn't in such a prominent place, for example at the bottom center or top center or even top right or left, where the average person does not. Either way it is back to the drawing board and a redesign. This isn't caused by a software issue, but a software issue made it more noticeable. Even if this second choice is taken, future iPhone 4's should come bundled with optional TRANSPARENT bumpers in case the user happens to hold it in a way that still causes problems. These cost them pennies to produce in those quantities so it is the least they could do.
The fact that Uncle Steve didn't acknowledge this, and instead chose to try to deflect the blame by insinuating that other phones have the same problem (they do but not nearly to the degree, and in normal every day usage it would never even be noticeable, unlike the iPhone 4; has made me respect Apple and Steve Jobs even less than I did before. I own an iPhone 3G S, but now have no intention of upgrading to iPhone 4, 5 or any other future phone from Apple.
Your loss. Even with this "design flaw", the iPhone 4 is a great smartphone.
Sent from my iPhone in NYC
@ Tim - I enjoyed your post above. It is good to read an honest opinion of someone on this site that is not completely drunk on the Apple Fanboy Kool Aid. Thank you so much for your opinion and perspective! A wonderful post my friend.
@ Jngold - How can you say that? You really are drinking the Apple Fanboy Kool Aid my friend. drphysx has a valid point. 1 call per 100 is huge! How can you possibily sit there and believe that the iP4 is, to quote you "a great smartphone", "Even with this 'design flaw'"? How can you honestly sit there and believe that? Please inform the world about why it is so great.
Does the fact that it drops calls over and over again make it great? B/c when I spend that much cash on a smartphone it had better have the capability to make a phone call. Otherwise it is just a smaller version of the piece of crap iPad.
Oh, I know why you think it is such a great smartphone! It must be the AMAZING customer service the iSheep have been getting from your imperial leader Steve Jobs. I just don't understand all of the Apple fanboys on this site. You all would do ANYTHING to uphold the image of your precious Apple toys including tell lies to protect your fearless leader SJ. Unbelievable.
Just look @ Johnny Duke's post! "I believe Steve"? Really JD? (If you were wondering, this is what some people like to call sarcasm) I need a drink....
@ Rene - Could you please take the time to go through here and filter out all of the non topical, Pro-Apple biased posts so that we can have a fair and balanced discussion here? Oh wait, if you did that, then there would probably only be about 5 posts per topic on here. I am sorry for your dilema.
@ Scott - I am sorry my post wasn't as long as yours. I tried to make it as long, but I just could not sustain it. Maybe next time my friend.
I use Apple products in part because they are sleek and trendy looking; sort of like a European convertible. So imagine what it would be like if the car maker told you you had to drive with a car cover on because the engine won't run when you rest your arm on the door....
@irishcharlie I'm sorry you have problems with your phone, I don't ( no sarcasm )
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