During a special press event Apple CEO Steve Jobs places the problem with the iPhone 4 antenne in perspective. The company does not make an apology, nevertheless it gives a solution.
The press event comes a stunning 22 days after discovering the first signs of a problem. And the event starts with a remarkable comparison. The infamous 'Death Grip' gets applied to other popular smartphones, all with the same results.
Both the BlackBerry Bold 9700, the HTC Droid Eris and the Samsung Omnia II showed similar results when given a "Death Grip treatment" in relative weak signal aereas. Jobs calls this a problem that effects the whole industry, not only the iPhone.
Research
Luckely, Apple didn't only point fingers to the rest of the industry, it also did some research of its own. And as it found out only 0.55% of the new iPhone 4 customers have complaint about their signal. The percentage of customers that returned their phone got stuck at 1.7% what may seem a lot, but is low compared to the 6.0% of the earlier 3GS customers. But how about dropped calls? According to AT&T the amount of dropped calls is less than 1 dropped call per 100 calls compared to the 3GS. Not that shocking, but still more than its predecessor.
Jobs has its own theory about this; the number of customers carrying a 3GS using a case is much higher than iPhone 4 users. New cases are hard to get. And "without a case the reception of the iPhone 4 is remarkable lower" according to the findings of Consumer Reports.
Free bumper
Hand out free bumpers. Apple is doing just that. Free bumpers for every iPhone 4 purchased through September 30. And a refund if you already bought a bumper. Apple cant make enough bumpers at the moment so it will offer a choice of cases.
Still not happy? You can always return your undamaged iPhone within 30 days of purchase.
For those waiting for the white iPhone; at the end of july it will become widely available.
Image: Engadget.com