Notes are in reverse chronological order.
• End of press conference.
• Jobs: Okay. Thanks for coming. Has this helped? I would have liked to have done it in the 1st 48 hours after launch, but then you wouldn’t have much to write about.
• Q: Beyond September 30th? A: We’ll evaluate.
• Q; Does free Apple bumper offer extend outside U.S.? A: Yes, it does.
• Jobs on email message being posted online: “It’s a bit rude. And now the most recent thing is to just make them up (which is why we said Jobs had to stop doing it – MDN Ed.) Jobs: “Don;t believe everything you read.”
• Q: Why is San Fran AT&T reception so poor? Jobs: In Texas, it’s 3 weeks to get a cell tower approved, but in San Fran it could take up to 3 years because everyone wants better coverage, but nobody wants a cell tower in their backyard. That’s the single biggest problem AT&T’s having.
• Jobs: We can’t make iPhone 4 units fast enough.
• Apple is selling very iPhone 4 unit it can manufacture right now.
• Cook: Apple has sold well over 3 million iPhone 4 units to date.
• Q: Any impact on sales, you think? Cook: We’ll announce our fiscal Q3 financial results next Tuesday and give fiscal Q4 guidance then, too.
• Q: NYT article says there’s a possibility for a software fix? A: Scott Forstall asks for Mic and says that article info is “patently false.” Can we tune the phone to finely adjust the holding calls? Yes, wWe do that all the time. Says the NYT article though is “patently untrue.”
• Q: Was recall ever considered? Jobs: The way we work is data driven. We tried find out why customers were experiencing what they were experiencing and we sent people all over the country to figure this out. We get emails from all over, I dispatch these emails, and we send teams out. Literally, two days after their email, they get a knock at the door from a bunch of Apple engineers. ‘Can we plug this in? Can we test your phone? Can we log this?’ Mansfield: “For the record, we told them we were coming.” Jobs: “And we didn’t bash down any doors!”
• Jobs continues: I guess it’s just human nature: when some group or some organization gets successful, there’s always a group of people who want to tear it down. I see it happening with Google, people trying to tear them down, and I think to myself: why are they doing this? Google is a great company… And now they’re doing it to us… I don’t understand it… What would you prefer, that we were a Korean company, that we were here in America leading the world with these products? Maybe it’s just to get eyeballs for these websites, people don’t care what they leave in their wake. I look at this whole “Antennagate” thing, and I say: ‘Wow. Apple has been around for 34 years; haven’t we earned the credibility and trust from the press? I think we have that trust from our users, but I didn’t see it exhibited from some of the press. It was blown so far out of proportion. Not saying we didn’t make a mistake – we didn’t; know we were putting a bully on the phone (line on lower left corner for users to try to cover) but this has been so overblown. But to see how we could do better is going to take some time.”
• Jobs continues: Some people want us to go faster, but I don’t think we could have. I’ve seen cars in the parking lot all night and we’ve got people sleeping oncots in the engineering building. I don’t think we could be working any harder to get to the root cause…
• Q: Anything you’d do differently or that you’ve learned from this? Jobs: Don’t know yet. We need to get a bit of distance. I kno wone thing we’ve learned: How much we care about our customers. We were embarrassed by the Consumer Reports thing, but we didn’t need it. We didn’t say anything for a week because we didn’t know anything yet. All of the data I shared earlier, we got that just 3 days ago…
• Q: Do any of you use bumpers? Jobs, Mansfield, and Cook all hold up iPhone 4 units without bumpers. Jobs: I don’t and I hold it like this (so-called “death grip”) and I never see problems.
• Q: Why didn’t Apple give case makers iPhone 4 specs before unveiling? Jobs: If we tell people what our next product is, they stop buying our current products. Sometimes websites buy stolen property and they get out there… and case makers have a history of showing off their new cases for our new products. The case vendors haven’t had a history of helping to keep our work under wraps.
• Q: Does the refund apply only to Apple branded bumpers? A: Yes, no refund for third-party cases
• Q: Why September 30th cutoff date? Jobs: We’ll reevaluate then. Maybe we’ll have a better idea. “Maybe Eminem will come out with a band-aid that goes over the corner and everyone will want that.”
• Jobs: We aren’t perfect. We try to make the best possible phone, but it is not possible to make a cell phone without weak spots.
• Q: Will AT&T offer refunds; can people get out of their contracts? A: “I believe so, yes.”
• Q: Did you make a choice between form and function (MDN Ed. – Obviously not a question from someone who’s ever designed anything; there’ always a tradeoff somewhere). Jobs: “We try to have great design and great performance.”
• Q: Will you apologize to investors? Jobs: To investors, you invest in the company, so if the stock goes down $5, I don’t think I owe them an apology.
• Q: Bloomberg article said you were told of antenna concerns? Jobs: “It’s a total crock… Total bullshit.”
• Q: I can’t get my BlackBerry Bold to drop right now, maybe you can show me how to do it? Jobs: You may not see it in certain areas.
• Q: Considering any iPhone 4 antenna design changes? Jobs: “We’re pretty happy with this. If we were at fault with the iPhone 4 antenna, it’d be that we waved a red flag by putting the ‘touch me, grip me here’ lines on it.”
• Q: How’s your health? Steve Jobs: “I’m doing just fine… I was doing better earlier this week while on vacation in Hawaii.”
• Q&A: Tim Cook and Bob Mansfield join Jobs.
• “The data supports the fact that the iPhone 4 is the best smartphone in the world, and there is no Antennagate. There is a challenge for the entire smartphone industry to improve its antenna technology so there are no weak spots. So, today we’re going to take care of our customers.”
• “If users are having a problem, it’s our problem.” Working hard to understand the issue, so when we solve it,we really solve it to customers’ satisfaction.
• “We love our users so much that we built three hundred Apple Retail Stores for them in order to to give them the best buying experience in the world: With Genius bars, and seminars. We had 60 million people through our doors last quarter.”
• “We love our users. They reward us by staying our users.”
• “We love our users. We connect them with great Apps and content.”
• “We love our users. Macs, iPods, iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, App Store,…”
• “We love our users. We try very hard to surprise and delight them.”
• On July 30, Apple will launch iPhone 4 in 17 more countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland. Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
• White iPhone will start shipping at end of July
• Proximity sensor issue will be fixed in next software update
• For every iPhone 4 purchased prior to September 30, 2010.
• If you’ve already bought an Apple bumper, you’ll get a refund
• Free Apple bumper case for every iPhone 4 (users get choice of color)
• “Even though the issue affects a small percentage of users, we care about every user.”
• Jobs attributes the very slight call drop increase to lack of iPhone 4 cases available. Only 20% of customer leave Aple Store with iPhone 4 bumpers because Apple can’t make enough quickly enough.
• “iPhone 4 drops less than one additional call per 100 than the iPhone 3GS. Less than one.”
• AT&T call drop rates: iPhone 4 does drop more calls than iPhone 3GS: iPhone 4 drops less than 1 additional call per 100 calls. (illustrates the hype/FUD, again – MDN Ed.)
• AT&T return rates: iPhone 3GS – 6.0%. iPhone 4 – 1.7%. “That’s 1/3 of the 3GS.”
• AppleCare data: 0.55% of iPhone 4 users have called about attenuation (illustrates the hype/FUD – MDN Ed.)
• “Smartphones have weak spots.”
• Apple tests in a state of the art facility with 17 anechoic chambers, a $100 million investment, 18 PhD scientists and engineers…
• You’ll still see a drop “we haven’t figured a way around the laws of physics yet.”
• We’ve corrected that with recent software update
• “We had a reporting error.. screwed up our algorithm…”
• This is a challenge for the entire industry
• “Phones aren’t perfect” (theme of the day so far, reinforced – MDN Ed.)
• Samsung Omnia II: 4 bars to 1 bar.
• HTC Droid Eris: 4 bars to 0 bars.
• Happens with many phones: BlackkBerry Bold 9700, hold it in a normal way, 5 bars go down to 1 bar.
• Attenuation “not unique to iPhone 4.”
• Antennagate. “Apple’s been working our butts off for 22 days…”
• iPhone 4 has highest customer satisfaction of any iPhone or smartphone
• iPhone 4 is #1 smartphone according to Wired, Engadget, PC World, Consumer Reports
• 3 million iPhone 4 units shipped to date
• “We want to make all our users happy.”
• “We’re not perfect. Phones aren’t perfect.”
• First, a 15-minute presentation
• Steve Jobs takes the stage.
• Apple’s press conference begins with this video:
—
Other sites offering live coverage include:
– AllThingsD
– Ars Technica
– CNET
– Engadget
– MobileCrunch
– San Francisco Chronicle
lol @iknowthefix I think this whole issue will be resolved when phone number 5 is out. Apple can’t admit they screwed it up so they talk this and that to make amends. If this reception whatever issue is handled with a case then I am sure Apple finds a way to fix it during production, like non-conductive coating or something similar.
Some (hater) posters need to comprehend what they are reading, and not just jump on a few words out of context.
Apple points out that there is an issue (antenna attenuation). But it is not specific to the iPhone4 (affects all phones). And for close to 99% of the users, not a noticeable problem (so for those users NOT AN ACTUAL PROBLEM).
That is a big problem with the media now-adays. More concerned about controversy, less on education, on giving the scale of the issue, the context. If the MS Kin (before it was axed) had doubled its marketshare, but the media forgets to mention that there was a 2-for-1 sale going on, that is very misleading.
“I see it happening with Google, people trying to tear them down, and I think to myself: why are they doing this? Google is a great company…”
I thought this was one of the most interesting statements from Steve during the press conference. I hope it puts an end to MDN’s attacks on Google and suggestions that Steve Jobs hates Google and whatnot. It figured that stuff was bogus from the start.
thrasycon, so if you were running Apple every time there is a media uproar over a problem that isn’t really a problem you are going to give stuff away? That’s the precedent Apple just set if this problem is just imagined.
I guess we will really know when the design is adjusted (and pointed out during the intro) with iPhone 5.
Now don’t theses people making all this noise seem a bit silly.
I suspect the white iPhone will arrive with a clear, non-conductive coating on the stainless steel antenna band, and that production is gearing up to do the same with future black iPhones.
Well, let’s see…
Problem 1: false signal display. Fix – reduce expectations
Problem 2: proximity sensor doesn’t work. Fix – we’ll see
Problem 3: drops more calls than prev iPhones. Fix – sorry ’bout that
Conclusion: Jobs claim that this is the best phone ever is a lie. He has admitted it. Not only is this phone no better than the rest, it’s not as good when it comes to supporting phone calls.
Apple’s darkest day in memory. Sympathetic lemmings will still line up at the stores, but the bloom is off this fruit.
And, don’t believe the recall fever is cured. We’ll see you in court, Mr. Jobs – see you in court.
@ Has this helped?
See you in court? What damages are you gonna claim dumbfsck?
I’m not going to read any of the comments here, because I’d glanced and seen more of the same. There are some people who won’t and weren’t going to be satisfied no matter what.
Macworld had the best, most detailed blog. I was fascinated to see all three executives, including Steve, with no cases on their phones.
I think it was beautifullay handled- you don’t like it- bring it back. Get a free case of your choice (from what’s offered).
Definitely overblown. Great humor and commitment to customers. Competitors will try to claim their phones are different and have absolutely no problems.
Was like a therapy session with the press. What other company could do this, what other country would we care about doing this?
BP could learn a thing or two from Mr. Jobs.
Jobs is also right on about cell towers- not just an AT & T issue. I live in an area with lousy coverage from anyone (particularly Verizon!- Sprint’s actually the best around here)- becuase of the “not in my backyard” mentality. We want better coverage- but we don’t want no stinkin’ towers.
Buncha hicks.
I’m also going to write my senator Chuck and tell him to shut up about Apple in particular and tech in general and instead get himself educated. I sign a lot of human rights petitions that go to him- I haven’t asked for help regarding the iPhone. It’s not his jurisdiction.
So Apple is now largest mobile phone manufacturer in world if you measure it by the revenua. Apple gets more profit from the mobile phones that Sony Ericsson makes revenua. Nice.. very nice indeed. Can’t wait for the tuesday. If they sell million phones per week and they are not selling in every place in the world yet. This is amazingly good news.
Clearly, from some of the posts here (and I’m sure elsewhere around the internet) there are a lot of people who just are never going to understand the idea expressed by “We haven’t found a way around the laws of physics…”
They represent the flat-earthers of the 21st century. The ignorance of their “commonsense” prevents them from grasping the reality of their own ignorance.
@DS
Does it physically hurt to be as much of an idiot as you appear to be?
As we have seen on YouTube, as as Steve mentioned: other phones, including the Samsung Omnia II, HTC Droid Eris, BlackBerry Bold 9700, and others also have attentuation.
So Apple gave an explanation, free cases, and a full refund.
Now for the real scandal…why have Samsung, Rimm, HTC and others not revealed their problems…apologized, and made it “right” for customers?
And why the media frenzy against Apple…and a complete silence and coverup for everyone else?
Did anyone else get the sense that Steve was pissed that he even had to do this news conference?
I almost imagine Steve in military garb (gasp) and portrayed Col. Nathan R. Jessep from the movie “A Few Good Me”.
You know Steve wanted to say, “You friggin people, you don’t know how to make a phone! Is it you HTC? You Google?! All you tech blog people did was bring our stock price down… temporarily. Sweet dreams!”
In reality, hopefully Apple has learned one thing. Silence is not Golden. Just because you don’t have hard data and nifty keynote pie charts and the like, Apple, Steve and Co., could have quelled some of this squeaky wheel ranting, simply by acknowledging the fact that they have received reports and complaints from customers and were looking into them and will report back when the findings are complete.
That would have saved Apple so much grief. Next time Apple, make an official announcement that you heard the gripes and are checking into it versus not letting the public know you heard the problems and are checking into it and thus nobody has a clue as to what efforts the company is putting forth.
Steve said “but we weren’t silent because we were ignoring it, we were silent because we were working to understand it … if we had spoken out on this a week ago, we wouldn’t have had the data we needed … “
Steve, I’m sure you love your wife. I’m sure your wife knows that you love her. However, I bet every now and then she’d like to hear it from you.
Steve, we know Apple knows there might be a problem to investigate and if they indeed find something we know that Apple will do it’s best to fix it. However, for those who paid a few hundred bucks and are tied into a contract for a few thousand more, if the main product in their particular hands has issues, they’d want to hear from you. The sooner the better. Data be damned and Keynote slide shows, screw that. Just verbally acknowledge you have heard the cries from those afflicted and are looking into it and will release the findings soon. It’s all anyone asks.
There was a portion there, where Steve Jobs was sounding a bit like Rush Limbaugh yesterday. I think those two have more in common than differences, which illustrates the stupidity of the “liberal” and “conservative” labels defined and assigned to people by the media. We are all “liberal” in some ways and “conservative” in other ways, not polarized robots.
> AppleCare data: 0.55% of iPhone 4 users have called about attenuation
About what I expected. That’s basically 1-in-200 customers folks, so 199 out of 200 iPhone 4 customers are happily and silently using their iPhones without “reception issues.”
> AT&T return rates: iPhone 3GS – 6.0%. iPhone 4 – 1.7%. “That’s 1/3 of the 3GS.”
1.7% includes OTHER reasons for returns. For example, the iPhone 4 may be a Verizon customer’s first ATT phone. ATT’s network signal may be weak at the user’s home or work location, compared to Verizon. Because of this difference, the customer returns the iPhone 4 to go back to Verizon. [This is actually the case where I live, even though I live in a large city – Verizon (and Sprint) phones have much better reception compared to ATT phones.] Or the customers could have decided they want to wait for a white iPhone 4 or get one that has higher storage. Or they decided (after the excitement wore off) that their iPhone 3GS (bought less than one year ago) was good enough for a while longer. MANY other possible reasons.
Considering the return rate is 1/3 the return rate of the previous iPhone, this is a great stat for Apple. The returns due only to a perception of “antenna design issues” is no doubt much less than 1%.
Apple better make sure they have plenty of bumpers (in all colors) in stock at their stores.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> Or the next media melodrama exercise will be “bumpergate” (“Apple keeping bumper inventory low so that customers cannot get one for free before 9/30”).
I feel sad for the haters that see only what they want to see…too stubborn to let facts get in the way of their beliefs.
Hmmm, sounds like another vocal minority in this country.
You wanna abandon Apple? Sell your shares and get a Droid. BTW- the lawsuit is a bad joke & nothing more than a scheme to make some lawyers rich. In a settlement of such class actions, they will keep the bulk of the money and the class members will get enough to buy an iTunes Gift Card.
I have already contacted Apple as a customer and told them that the court granted “class” does not represent me & I would be happy to file a friend of the court breif against the theiving bastard lawyers pushing this case.
Appel did what it had to do: admit there is small problem with the antenna. You do not like your iPhone 4 .. ? OK bring back; undamaged and within 30 days. Fair enough. And a free bumper case for the rest of us. . . Still not happy ? Do not buy an iPhone.
HAHAHAHAHA. Consumer reports can kiss my ass. In their ‘”controlled highly technical testing environment”…..
High tech vs. Hardware store… you decide…
Recall? Just return the phone. Your trolling is pretty obvious Confessions. Does the phone have some issues? Sure. Are they as bad as you make them out? No. Is the iPhone 4 still better than any other smartphone currently on the market? Yes.
I think this is very important
• Jobs: We can’t make iPhone 4 units fast enough.
• Apple is selling very iPhone 4 unit it can manufacture right now.
• Cook: Apple has sold well over 3 million iPhone 4 units to date.
What it says is that actual iPhone 4 sales have NOT been affected in any way by the antenna hysteria. You cannot sell more than what you can make. The only possible impact is the length of the waiting list of people wanting to get an iPhone 4 at any given moment. If there was such an impact, expect to see the wait get even longer.
Interesting:
most of the media (including MDN) have already outlined the solution space: free bumper, no recall, SW change to worn callers. Why the heck it took so long for Apple to figure it out? They could have avoided a lot of hoopla and at least the CR evaluation.
Prediction:
1. iP4 will be the only cell phone with exposed (to direct touch) antennas… ever.
2. SJ will soon hire PR lead who’s focus will be to handle bad press.
I followed the press conference with Engaget on my iPad, 4 blogs on my Mac and CNBC HD on my HDTV . The 8 commentators looked and sounded like a gaggle of High School freshmen Gossipers who had zero understanding of what Apple was doing and saying. Was really quite hilarious listening to those idiots make incredibly stupid statements. Steve did a masterful job of putting to rest all the bogus copy that has been written these past few weeks.
Giving everyone a bumper or case is an extremely generous gift from Apple to their customer base. I only wish they had said what day they will begin taking orders for White iPhones. Hope Speck Pixelskin cases will be one of the third party choices.
Has anyone mentioned this song. It’s brilliant, I think…
@Erdogan,
If you understood basic electro-magnetism it would make perfect sense. The human body is an electrical conductor. If you donʻt believe it, try sticking your fingers in an electrical outlet that has power.