“Amid increasingly loud complaints about spotty service and reports of potential hardware flaws on the 3G iPhone, Apple had just two words for both its longtime fans and first-time customers: ‘No comment,'” Ashley Phillips “reports” for ABC News.
MacDailyNews Take: “Potential.” “Increasingly loud complaints” = media echo chamber.
Phillips continues, “If there is a problem with a chip, an iPhone recall could be possible, according to Rob Enderle, an independent Silicon Valley analyst. ‘If it’s a chip problem, those are going to need to come back,’ he said. ‘I don’t think they’ll be able to fix the problem’ with a software update.”
MacDailyNews Take: “If.” “I don’t think.”
Phillips continues, “‘It has the feel of a product that was rushed to market and went through testing too quickly,’ he said. ‘They were very concerned about the number of competitive products coming to market so they rushed the phone out. And the end result was it wasn’t done, it wasn’t cooked.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Proof? None.
Phillips continues, “Currently, it’s unclear whether the problem lies with AT&T’s network or Apple’s handset.”
MacDailyNews Take: It’s currently unclear, but that did not stop ABC News from subtitling their article, “Analyst Says That iPhone Recall Could Be Possible.” Said “analyst” being quote-for-hire Rob Enderle who’s got a lot of “ifs” and “i don’t thinks,” of course, but zero facts.
Phillips continues, “Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg characterized the problem as a minor one.”
MacDailyNews Take: After the headline and the opening page have done their job, Phillips finally gets around to reporting the truth from a real analyst on page two. How responsible.
Full article, Think Before You Click™, here.
Jessica Mintz “reports” for The Associated Press, “Spotty wireless broadband connectivity for some of Apple Inc.’s new iPhones most likely results from a hardware problem introduced during mass production, a Swedish technical magazine reported Wednesday. Ny Teknik, Sweden’s foremost engineering weekly, obtained a report on tests conducted by unnamed experts that showed some handsets’ sensitivity to third-generation network signals is well below the level specified in the 3G standard.”
MacDailyNews Take: A fargin “Swedish technical magazine” and cork-soaking “tests conducted by unnamed experts.” This is what passes for “journalism” in the mainstream media nowadays.
Mintz continues, “Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T’s wireless unit, said AT&T has not received a significant number of complaints and that, ‘overall, the new iPhone is performing just great on our 3G network.’ In an interview, Siegel recommended that iPhone 3G users sync the devices with Apple’s iTunes program frequently to take advantage of improvements that may come via updated software.”
MacDailyNews Take: Sprinkle in the actual truth and then get right back to business:
Mintz continues, “Connectivity is just the latest of Apple’s problems with the iPhone 3G.
“Just hours before the new phones were set to go on sale, users of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s old data-synching service were locked out of their accounts when it took Apple longer than expected to get the new version, MobileMe, up and running,” Mintz rehashes. “On launch day, Apple’s servers buckled as buyers tried to activate new iPhones in stores, while owners of older iPhones and the iPod Touch were updating and reactivating their devices at home.”
“Francis Sideco, a senior analyst for El Segundo, Calif.-based research group iSuppli Corp., said the connectivity problems described by users – dropped calls and the low number of bars in particular – could be caused by any of a number of parts, from the phone’s antenna and amplifier and the radio frequency transceiver to the baseband that processes the digital signal and sends it to the speaker or screen,” Mintz continues. “Without knowing exactly what is going wrong, Sideco could not say whether software or firmware updates could fix the glitch, or whether Apple could be facing the possibility of a recall.”
MacDailyNews Take: “Without knowing exactly what is going wrong.” But, leave the prospect of “recall” right there as the last word just to make sure that even Zune owners can grasp the message: FUD.
Full article, Think Before You Click™, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers too numerous to mention for the heads up.]
Nothing of substance. Massive conjecture. Leaping to conclusions with little or no evidence. Quoting shills who charge to help shape public opinion about products regardless of the facts or lack thereof. These two articles are excellent examples of just how horrible mainstream “news reporting” can be.
Be critical of everything you read, hear, and see, regardless of the subject matter.
From what we hear, and we will state clearly that this is not the official word from Apple, AT&T, Infineon, or any other party that is actually involved, but that it does come from trusted sources and is the best information we have right now: iPhone 3G reception issues most likely can be and will be taken care of via software/firmware and the issue as should not involve a product recall.
Yes, we used “most likely” and “should not” because we do not currently have definitive confirmation from Apple, AT&T, and/or Infineon. Rather than invent things, we’re content to simply report the best information we have at hand.
[UPDATE: 12:14pm EDT: The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that “Apple Inc. is working on a software fix for its new iPhone 3G to remedy dropped phone calls that some users are experiencing” and that “new iPhone software aimed at addressing the problem is expected to be made available in the coming weeks to iPhone 3G users, who will be able to download and install it on their devices through Apple’s iTunes Store.”]