Apple just wrapped up a press conference in Cupertino a few minutes ago, where they went through a bunch of data on the antenna issue which has become known as “the antennagate”.
Steve Jobs doesn’t believe the issues with the iPhone 4 antenna are any bigger than what other smartphones are experiencing. Only 0.55% of all iPhone 4 users called about antenna or reception issues and only 1.7% returned their iPhone 4 compared to the 6% of iPhone 3GS returns for early shipments. He also claims that iPhone 4 has the highest customer satisfaction of any smartphone today.
As for dropped calles, AT&T does log it but will not give out the data due to competitive issues, but they did say that the iPhone 4 drops “less than 1 out of 100” calls more than the 3GS.
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On stage, Steve also showed videos where they demonstrated how other phones suffer from the “death grip” as well. Blackberry Bold 9700 went from 5 bars to 1, HTC Droid Eris from 4 to 0 and Samsung Omnia II from 4 to 1 bar.
“But it’s important to understand the scope of the issue — the data says the issue has been blown so far out of proportion, it’s incredible.” – Steve Jobs
Apple invested $100 million in state of the art testing facilities and they have 17 anechoic chambers and 18 PhD scientists and engineers working for them.
Steve Jobs and Apple wants to make sure every user is happy, so they’re giving away a free bumper/case, one for each iPhone 4 or a refund if you already paid for one. They also offer a full refund for your undamaged iPhone 4. The free bumper/case promotion goes through September 30th and since they can’t make enough bumpers for everyone, they are going to offer you the case that you want and they’ll send it to you. There’s really no reason now to whine about whatever antenna issue there might be…
“It’s fun to have a story, but it’s less fun to be on the other end of it. So here’s what we’re going to do. Yesterday we released iOS 4.0.1 that fixes some of these bugs with our algorithm. We recommend every iPhone owner update to it.
Secondly: a lot of people have told us the bumper solves the signal strength problem. Okay. Great. Let’s give everyone a case. We want to give everyone is going to get a free case.
One for every iPhone 4, if you’ve bought one we’ll give you a refund, and we’ll keep this going through September 30th.
Now, everything in life is more complicated than it seems on the surface. We’ll send you a free case. But we can’t make enough bumpers. So what we’re going to do is source some other cases — you’ll pick a case, and we’ll send it off to you.” – Steve Jobs
Finally, Steve confirmed that 17 more countries will get iPhone 4 on July 30th and the white iPhone will start shipping end of July in limited quantities.
UPDATE: Apple launched a new section at their website that explains more about the antenna: apple.com/antenna – they also made a video from the press conference available online.
Pictures from engadget live blog.
Ya know, I tend to agree with Steve on this one. The antenna thing is an issue that has gotten SO much press it may overshadow the product launch itself. I thought the inclusion of the YouTube video in the opening of the presentation was REALLY telling as to what the content of the presentation would be.
I’m sure the likes of Gizmodo and everyone else will highlight how “empty” this olive branch feels as they write story after story badmouthing the company that provides them with half their content.
Steve and Co. +1.
ABOMINABLE !
Certains n’hésitent pas à critiquer notre vénéré iGourou !
Pourtant, notre Très Cher Steve nous a expliqué que si la réception en GSM et en 3G était déficiente, l’iPhone n’y était pour rien, car cela venait des utilisateurs, qui ne savent pas le tenir en main.
C’est d’ailleurs un fait établi, et cela pour au moins deux raisons :
1 Comme chacun sait, l’iPhone est parfait.
2 De plus, notre Très Cher Steve a toujours raison.
La conclusion est évidente : ce sont les lois physiques régissant la propagation des ondes en GSM et 3G qui ont tort !
Il est donc nécessaire de procéder d’urgence à leur modification.
Nous, AppleFanBoys de France, proposons qu’elles soient réécrites comme suit :
– Premier principe : L’iPhone représente un sommet absolu et indépassable quant à la propagation des ondes en GSM et 3G.
– Deuxième principe : Tout téléphone qui viendrait à égaler la qualité de réception de l’iPhone sera impitoyablement retiré du marché, et ses concepteurs seront éliminés dans pitié.
Ainsi, les problèmes d’antennes seront définitivement résolus, pour la plus grande satisfaction de la foule en délire.
Alors, mes frères AppleManiaques, n’hésitez pas :
– Venez soutenir la pétition pour une modification immédiate des lois physiques régissant la propagation des ondes en GSM et 3G.
– Remerciez avec enthousiasme notre Très Cher Steve, car dans sa grande bonté il a décidé de nous faire cadeau d’un bumper, afin d’apporter une solution à un problème qui n’existe même pas…
– Faites savoir partout que BIG BROTHER (alias Steve Jobs) nous surveille, et ne manquera pas de châtier comme il se doit tous ceux qui osent critiquer l’iPhone (car ils sont manifestement de mauvaise foi, étant donné que l’iPhone est parfait)
Je compte sur vous pour agir avec fermeté, et sans la moindre pitié.
Et n’hésitez pas à recopier ce post sur un maximum de forums, afin de faire progresser notre juste cause !
Vive Notre Vénéré iGourou !
Et n’oubliez pas que Notre Très Cher Steve possède beaucoup d’actions boursières. C’est donc notre devoir sacré de stimuler ses bourses, afin de faire monter son plaisir, pour notre plus grande joie à tous.
Votre dévoué Président des AppleFanBoys de France.
I had to run your text through Google Translate – but it was a funny read 🙂
good posting… i like this article
thanks for sharing.. bestregards
I think Apple has even worse problems than this – I have found several videos on youtube that shows that it’s enough to just touch the iPhone at its seam with a finger to make the reception drop – quite scary actually…
You’re right, Lars. And those who doubt you should take a look at the videos you collected in your last blog post (link above).
So how do we go about getting a free bumper, there doesn’t seem to be any info on Apples site?
The info should be there within a week or two, as far as I remember. By the way, I assume “iPhon” is not your real name – please respect my comment policy if you want to keep a link to your website, use a real name and not keywords.
Thanks for the info, got my free Bumper yesterday, adds a bit of bulk to the iPhone but nice to know it is protected (a bit).
The free bumper case is nice but its not really a solution, come on Apple, fix the actual problem!
Got my free Bumper yesterday, adds a bit of bulk to the iPhone but nice to know it is protected.