“We’re seeing a preview of Apple’s death today with the hardware problem vexing Apple’s new star product, the iPhone 4. Users report drastic signal strength loss if they grip the phone while touching the lower-left edge, so their hands bridge two antennas designed to be separate,” Wagner writes. “How serious is this problem? Hard to say. For some people, it’s very real, and it makes the iPhone unusable. Others love their iPhones, and aren’t experiencing the problem.”
Wagner writes, “I fall in the second camp. I’ve had my iPhone 4 since last week, and I’m very happy with it. I think I’ve been able to reproduce the grip problem, but I’m not sure, which is an indication that it’s inconsequential for me.”
Regardless, “one day Apple will face a real crisis, and when that day comes, the company will remain silent while public opinion — including investors and customers — turns against it,” Wagner writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we’ve already written: The iPhone 4 in a proper case has the best reception of any iPhone to date. In fact, it beats Google’s rebranded HTC Nexus One Android phone in tests, for what that’s worth. All cell phones suffer from some attenuation when held in certain ways. The problem, as is often the deal with Apple, is not really the hardware or the software, but the company’s handling mishandling of the situation from a public relations standpoint. All that said, we reiterate: The iPhone 4 is the best smartphone/pocket computer we’ve ever used. We wouldn’t give our units up even if they had to held with salad tongs.
Some day?
Maybe by then Apple will be promising a new vapor ware product every other week and it will not matter at all that there is a problem.
GM was hard as a rock many watchers declared. Appel is rock solid as long as Steve is around !
Sorry ubermac, I do own an iPhone 4. In fact I own two of them, both of which suffer from reception issues. I love the phone otherwise, I just want Apple to get off their high horse & fess up. More than that, I want MDN to quit denying that the issue exists & quit bad-mouthing anyone who says this is a real problem. .
Microsoft had a real problem and everyone turned against them when they found out that Windows 95 had over 60,000 bugs.
So they all dropped Windows 95 and paid for the Bug Fix (AKA Windows 98). Microsoft has been going downhill since then.
Apple is probably in the same boat but they will send you free bug fixes electronically.
Thanks Apple.
How can you honestly take seriously anyone who claims he/she knows how a company will die up to 50 years in the future. Many companies start peak and die in less time than that, whole industries change or die in less time than that. However Apple is run now I doubt that there is any likelihood that over that time period it will be run in the same way, be it for good or for bad. Even Microsoft will likely be a very different company within that time span, if it is still going at all.
Sure, many companies die. Their CEO leaves or the next and then a company can lose vision.
To base it on this non-issue is just retarded. Any any idiot who agrees with this is just that…an idiot.
“For some people, it’s very real, and it makes the iPhone unusable. Others love their iPhones, and aren’t experiencing the problem.”
– name some names besides a handful of paid off bloggers.
@right on you are completely douchebag…stop pretending to be intelligent, when you are claiming an unsolicited and unprofessional opinion.
look it’s easy..
Right on, you suffer from classic YouAredumbassim.
now go back to your depressing life and feel sad that your chance for schadenfreude today will not come to pass
“I’ve had my iPhone 4 since last week, and I’m very happy with it. I think I’ve been able to reproduce the grip problem, but I’m not sure”
What he meant to say is “I think I have credibility, but I`m not sure”
If Apple were to give bumpers out, it would be an admission of fault. The fact that the MAJORITY of iPhone owners have no issue with their phone reception is perhaps the reason why Apple doesn’t want to take that path. And by the way… these indicator bars for a digital system like 3G cellular is really antiquated and erroneous. Digital communication either has a signal strong enough to work or it doesn’t. It’s on or off. Good or bad. It’s binary. It doesn’t matter if you have 5 bars or 2. It is undeniable that MOST people, even those witnessing indicator bar reduction, are NOT dropping calls. I really don’t see why there is an expectation that Apple drops it’s corporate pants and bend over. For all I’ve read on this subject there is a small problem, which has created the ‘perception’ of a bigger problem, which has been utilized by anti-Apple opportunists to whip up a lot of hysteria.
*Disclaimer: if Apple does determine that they have problem (they will redesign if it is as bad as it is being made out to be) they need to make good, and I suspect that they will. I only been a matter of weeks since the introduction of the phone. They said that they are investigating. Let’s see what they come up with. If you have a serious performance problem with YOUR particular iPhone, take it back for a refund.
the funny thing is. the tech bloggers last year, said the 3Gs was the end of apple because the phone did not have a Front facing camera, full multitasking, no memory card slots. Which is dumb, who wants those cards when they change faster than the phones themselves. I know someone still rocking the first iphone.
now that everything is on the iphone, they have backed themselves into a corner. What else can you add to an iphone? what some crazy ass 3D projector that does not even exist.
These guys have to invent problems or over-hype the small things to just to stay relevant. There is a lot of backseat guess-timating going on.
Now what?
There is no “customer-relations crisis,” since the people complaining about the iPhone 4 are mostly people who are not “customers.” By definition, a “customer” is a person who has actually purchased the product.
Considering there are multiple millions of iPhone 4’s out in the real world in the hands of silently happy “customers,” if there really was a “crisis,” there would be lines of people at Apple Stores, waiting to get a refund. Obviously, there are none, and the Genius Bar at the local store here didn’t seem any more busy than usual.
I ‘d just read that article- sensationalistic headline, trolling for hits.
This is the Swift-Boating of Apple- a lot of nuts and ant-Apple bias out there. Unfortunately, child psychology will not work here- Apple has to tackle this head-on and fight the perception. Reality is not enough. On TV today, all I heard was “CR won’t recommend the new iPhone due to antenna and reception issues.” Nothing further. Sounds serious. The man on the street is gonna think- “lemon.”
Hell- it’s even got Me worried! Should I wait?….. I want my iPhone!
Damn,
I remember when the Quadra was the sign of Apple’s coming demise. Haven’t we heard a string of “this means the end for Apple stories over the years?
Just shut up and go back to using your iPhone 4, which apparently works just fine for you. Just like me and all 12 friends who have one.
So Wagner AND Dvorak write anti Apple posts. Where dies Brahms stand on this issue?
Also, if the iPhone 4 is unusable than just return it you fools!
What a hit wore article… Stopped reading after a few lines.
He summed it up beautifully when he said about Apple “I love their products but the company drives me nuts”…anyone who has been dealing with apple for years will echo that same sentiment. They are consistently one of the most exasperating companies on the planet to deal with…
just posted this to their blog:
“There is a huge question as to Consumer Report’s methodology here- I think you need to state explicitly which phones you have subjected to this test. If you have not tested all the same way, why not? Why are you holding iPhone to a different standard? Why use a different yardstick to measure iPhone’s performance? How can you state this is a problem unique to iPhone, if you have not tested ALL of the other smartphones for the same problem? You need to explicitly confirm that you have. Saying you tested “several other AT&T;phones” is not nearly good enough.
As you may know, “anecdotal indications” are that MANY smartphones are subject to antenna attenuation- there are videos on Youtube of other phones with the same phenomenon, and Apple stated as much. Unless you can dispute that claim, explicitly, and back that claim up with test results for other phones, you have no right to hold iPhone to a different standard. Should other smartphone makers be forced to provide cases with their phones? Or just Apple? Are there other phones you should have called “not recommended”?
This was your only strike against the iPhone- if other phones have the same problem, then, all things being equal, the iPhone would still be the best, no?. The best, but “not recommended”?
It is a simple yes or no answer- did you or did you not test EVERY PHONE in your ratings for this problem of antenna attenuation? Please state this for the record. If you did not test each phone , how can you possibly justify your blog post?”
Curious to see if they post it, and respond in any way. They should be held accountable for their methodology. They’ve never said they’ve tested all these Android phones for the problem.
Until they do, their opinion is worthless.
Oh, and the experts are saying their testing methodology was deeply flawed anyway.
@ rhetoric.assassin
You pathetic loser… your response to my post didn’t even address the point I made – successfully, I might add, since you couldn’t deal with it other than some sorry personal attack which you believe is clever but is actually boring as hell.
Mitch Wagner of Computer world: “a vision of the future. It’s a look at how Apple will die…”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
How long has it been since we’ve had an Apple Death Knell? Let’s find out!
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/death_knell/
January 13, 2007 by Matthew Lynn of Bloomberg. (Yeah, I know John C. Dvorak pulled on this past January 29th. But let’s face it. Making fun on mentally challenged people is not politically correct).
“I think I’ve been able to reproduce the grip problem, but I’m not sure”
(o_0)
Oh wait.
Mitch Wagner is also mentally challenged.
I recant.
Never mind!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Seriously: Apple made a hardware booboo. It’s called a hardware ‘bug’. It is very real, and the only people who care are those in low signal areas. No one else need bother with it. What percentage of people it affects remains unknown.
I take exception with MDN doing their ‘tongs’ line about the phone as it helps no one and it entirely ridiculous.
Nevertheless, the hardware bug has been blown out of proportion and today was poorly described by Consumer Reports, who treat it like THE PLAGUE, which is laughable.
Solution: ELECTRICAL TAPE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE iPhone 4. All done! Problem gone. Happy day.
“I don’t know when that event will happen. Could be next year, could be in 50 years.”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, sums up the current state of tech punditry.
You are reading the folly of a biased blog/publication. As with MDN, there is nothing but roses for the operating system/company that it supports. Computerworld is a useless publication hell bent on supporting the Windows PC genre. So is MDN to Apple.
When I see recommendations from both blogs, I take them with a grain of salt. Neither is reputable (MDN after your shenanigans yesterday) and must be read with deep skepticism.
Everyone seems to have an opinion about what Apple should do. As the saying goes, opinions are like a$$holes…
Did you hear?
Apple just hired the Mel Gibson PR Crisis Management Group to help with their image.
How does that work?
Simple, highlight Mel’s crisis next to yours and things don’t look too bad afterall!
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