If you’ve been following the story of the iPhone 4’s reception problems when held a certain way – the so-called ‘death grip’ – you’ll be interested in what was said at the last-minute press conference held by the company yesterday. As expected, Steve Jobs was on hand to talk to the gathered media about the escalating concern over the iPhone 4’s antenna.
He didn’t pull any punches at the beginning either, targeting three other phones to demonstrate that the problem was not exclusive to the iPhone 4 – the BlackBerry Bold 9700, the Samsung Omnia 3 and the Motorola Droid Eris – then backing up this with evidence that despite considerable media attention, the iPhone 4 has been returned fewer times and has been the subject of fewer AppleCare telephone calls than the 3GS. The final figures came courtesy of US carrier AT&T, who provided their data on dropped calls from the iPhone 4, but rather than give the exact amount they revealed that it was one more per one hundred calls that the 3GS.
Then came the solution. Many iPhone 4 owners had noted that a case had cured their antenna problem, so Apple will be offering a free case to all iPhone 4 owners and seeing as they can’t make enough of their own Bumper case, they will offer a selection of third-party cases. This will be for all owners internationally and will be available via a special website until the 30th September, when it will be reviewed again. Steve Jobs also re-iterated that anyone not satisfied with the phone or this solution, could return the iPhone 4 to them for a refund.
A Q&A session followed the presentation with questions ranging from requests for an apology to investors – which was not forthcoming – to Steve’s current health – he’s fine, by the way. If you want to watch the conference for yourself, Apple have put a video of it on their site, and it’s certainly worth watching for the considerable detail it goes into early on.
So, is this the end of ‘antennagate’? If you’ve had problems with your iPhone 4, has this satisfied you, or do you think Apple should be doing more? Judging by the official data, we’d say what they’re offering is pretty good and should go some way to restoring faith in both Apple and the iPhone 4.
Recent Comments