Apple offered “a mea culpa, an explanation, a free case and a money-back guarantee,” Elmer-Dewitt reports.
“Was it enough? Wall Street seemed to think so. The stock, which had fallen as low as $248.41 a share by 1 p.m. Friday, jumped before the press conference was over to more than $254 a share,” Elmer-Dewitt reports. “And then it got slammed along with the rest of the market.”
“And what about Apple loyal user base? Time will tell. But frankly we never thought Apple’s customers were as concerned as its critics were,” Elmer-Dewitt opines. “It’s clear, given the latest sales figures, that they never stopped buying iPhones. Apple still can’t make them — or the Bumpers — fast enough to meet demand.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Some PR damage will linger due to Apple’s slow PR response, however, today much of it has been reversed, refocused, or dispersed. Apple did all the right things today, finally. And this doesn’t hurt, either:
I think Steve Jobs and the others were able to provide much needed perspective to this frickin’ joke of an “issue.”
Does anybody remember the furor over iPod scratches a few years ago?
You know, the one that brought out all the whiners and trolls?
Deja vu all over again…
Great company, great products and perfect response.
They look even better than before the problem!
This was a manufactured issue from the start. All cell phones have similar problems. Only a 1.7% return rate for the iPhone 4…..other phone manufacturers would kill for that!
And, even if the rare user had a problem when holding it in the left palm, it’s easy to remedy. Just hold it more with the fingers. The less one touches any cell phone the better the reception will be.
Yes. Later than it had to be, but yes the legs on this story are officially gone.
But there’s some damage to the brand that could have been avoided if only Apple had said, “We’re looking into this, and we’ll get back to you shortly (as they did today with the proximity sensor). The failure to do this and allowing the story to get overblown in the absence of authentic information has injected negative CR reviews, unflattering “Top-10” lists, and the re-birth of the term “death-grip” into the cultural zeitgeist in which previously Apple has enjoyed an untouchable perception. That “do no wrong” perception has been diminished, not by the engineering mis-steps, but by the PR mis-steps.
If I was Motorolla, I’d get Leonard Nimoy on contract immediately for a series of adverts designed to keep this “death-grip” idea continuously associated with their competitor. It would be funny, and tragically avoidable.
As we each enjoy our weekend, let’s just put this iPhone 4 issue behind us. Next week will see some outstanding (+) financial numbers from Apple, despite the antenna mass hysteria.
Those that can’t do this, should snuggle up closer to their bong.
I haven’t been able to really understand the drama this has created, other then just saying that a lot of humans really like drama. This is a minor inconvenience at worst, a trade off for have the best cell/wifi/gps signal any of my phones I have ever had.
All it is is one corner that you can’t smother into your palm. You can still hold it with your left had, hell, you can still rest it in your left palm. If I took photos of holding it in the “death grip” and holding it so the phone functions perfectly, you wouldn’t be able to tell which was which.
I was impressed. Jobs and company discussed problems, gave insight and offered preliminary remedies in the form of yesterday’s software release, free bumpers and no-questions-asked refunds for those who want to cut and run.
I liked the way the participants aggressively attacked the issue as an engineering problem, dismissed bogus rumors and pledged allegiance to customers.
There will be more to this story down the road but I like what I’ve seen so far.
Thank God Senator Scummer held Apple’sfeet to the fire in this issue. The poor helpless American consumer can now rest. My only concern is that Apple didn’t publicly concede to free software updates. Hopefully the good senator will continue to beat that drum. Dumbass.
Slow Shmow. Apple got the data it needed. It couldn’t have done this any faster than it did without that data.
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) will take full credit for this solution. Without his open letter Steve wouldn’t have known what to do.
To paraphrase Steve Jobs:
If Apple had responded in a knee jerk fashion a week or so ago they would not have had half the data they had to show and backup their facts today.
When I hook jumper cables to my iPhone 4 to jump start my Volvo 240, the bars drop from 4 to 1 (even while using 4.0.1!). Come on, Apple! Fix this!!!!
Whatever the “PR problem,” there is apparently no SALES problem. From the press conference:
• 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.
Well, you can’t sell MORE than you can MAKE. So Apple did not sell any fewer iPhone 4s because of the antenna hysteria. And return rate (for ATT) has been less than 1/3 compared to iPhone 3GS. The only possible impact is in the length of the waiting list of people wanting to get an iPhone 4. After today (and with iPhone going on sale in even more markets), unfortunately, the wait will get even longer…
I think getting other phones involved (showing they can drop bars too) might come back to haunt them (those companies will fight back with their own tests and say Steve was wrong), but otherwise good. Glad to hear the white ones are on the way.
Masterful presentation. Only wish he had given us the date when orders for White will begin.
I think they waited too long and that let the presstitutes run with the story, and make Apple look very bad.
The Death Grip Drama Queens
http://jimlynch.com/index.php/2010/07/16/the-death-grip-drama-queens/
@mas – Agreed. While Apple wasn’t trying to hurt the other manufacturers, competitors products shouldn’t normally be on your web site, ever. Conversely, Apple’s pictures of PC’s are always beige boxes. That makes them look junky, and it anonymizes them.
I see no problem with the time (22 days) it took to respond. What did you want? An immediate response from Apple before the data was collected?
Apple doesn’t take care of whiners which would have been the interpretation if Apple responded immediately.
Apple did the smart and timely thing and Apple proves it values and takes care of it’s customers.
@mas
I doubt it, Apple is not the only one with videos showing signal reduction in other smart phones. Even CR could have induced a significant signal reduction in competitors units if they aproach the problem correctly bit they did not.
@future media
I believe in the video Steve said July 30th. But I’m not sure.
“And what about Apple loyal user base?”
They’ll still be there. Hence the loyal part.
good thing no one is defensive about this! LOL! if it wasn’t a problem Steve-o would never have deigned to have any kind of a response other than tough shit. i rule and you are all wrong.
@Deus ex Technica
Other than a vague claim by Motorola/Verizon that the Droid X “allows you to hold it anyway you want to and can be used just about anywhere” (great wording to avoid the inevitable class action lawsuit), where is the evidence that the so-called “double antenna” solves the attenuation problem? It seems to me that if Motorola/Verizon had any support for this claim, it would have been released by now.
Strangely, the downside is that I can’t BUY my bumper because they’re giving them out free and won’t have any left. I don’t want it for free as I’m not experience the antenna problems.
Also, its well known in marketing that you’re better off having a problem and solving it well, rather than not having a problem at all! It builds a much better relationship with the customer so I don’t think this will hurt Apple at all – in fact it will help!