“It’s fair to say that any lasting impact of the July 16 press conference involves longer-term consumer perception. In that context, Apple certainly waited too long to bring out Jobs as spokesman, nearly three weeks after the media, the Internet and the consumer marketplace began to buzz about the antenna problem that appeared to be threatening the iPhone 4’s launch,” Levick writes. “Who more than Jobs should know that in the digital age you must control the narrative from the very start?”
Levick writes, “When he finally did seize the moment, he did so with a strategic mixture of conciliatory giveaway and spirited defense… Assuming the iPhone 4 case giveaway works and customers are kept satisfied, Apple will reinforce its brand more emphatically than if the crisis had never happened. Apple will have delighted the crowd, all the more so because the crowd held its breath to see if Houdini would escape the trap. If the fix works, Jobs’ demeanor at the press conference only reinforces the zeal of his loyalists, and it likely wins new adherents to the cult, too.”
Read more in the full article here.
it may be too late for some of you who have iPhones and have gotten or requested the free bumper Apple is offering
but I think it’d be a noble move and more importantly a big F-U to the knee-jerks/media, not to get the free case if you’re not having reception issues.
just sayin’.
STAY NAKED!!
@alanaudio
Houdini was much more than just an illusionist. He is most well known for being an escape artist, and I believe this was the comparison being made.
In my opinion the two men truly have much in common regarding they’re ability to generate publicity and their egos. They are two of favorite heroes.
It’s so funny how it takes Steve Jobs to educate you all about the laws of physics. Now you can’t stop talking about it! What a bunch of sheep. Apple, being aware of the laws of physics (I hope) should not have placed the antennae such that the problem would be exacerbated.
It’s like designing a plane that can’t get above 10,000 feet and excusing it by saying “haven’t you heard of gravity? Can’t break the laws of gravity.”
AlanAudio
Absolutely,
Perception: people is stupid / Apple products are bad.
Reality: they are not.
Some day Apple may get behind the industry and this is going to be for 2 reasons: Apple’s own fault, and better products from other companies.
The illusion is how the rest of the industry tries to see themselves compared to Apple’s new products (I expect something good from HP but lets see). Many need to get real and stop thinking they will keep selling bad or mediocre products with good press and big marketing campaigns and either that Apple is mostly a big marketing company. Apple does its homework and they fail too but even when Apple fails they have a very strong base.
With this real antenna problem the bashers “dreamt” Apple was in a corner, but it was an inflated perception. Well, let me tell you when people is mostly satisfied they wont return a product for one problem they can handle with a change in how they hold the device or a new bumper case, if at all they are having the issue. If the iPhone 4 had a real mayor problem people would had being returning the bad product, they are not going to wait until some wise guy says something. People is not that stupid, or zealot, or just fanatic (at least, most of them). But none of those journalist neither the bashers took note of how many iPhones where selling and how many of those where being returned. That speaks volumes about people’s own perception and attitude. Everybody knew there was a problem, and sure many were concerned and even unhappy with the iPhone’s issue but give us the numbers of how manny really returned their phones.
Obviously we all want perfect products, but how many times we have one. We have learned a bit to live with our own expectations and our real experience.
“…the media, the Internet and the consumer marketplace began to buzz..” Yes the media, yes the internet, very little noise from the consumer marketplace, Levick is another Forbes flunkjourno.
Yeah… Except that the iPhone 4’s antenna is excellent.
The units suffering from signal failure when they’re put in the Death Grip are part of a defective factory run.
Normal iPhone 4s(e.g., the majority of them) don’t have this problem. Although crooked “journalists”, and trolls like you, would sure like to to pretend they do.
“The units suffering from signal failure when they’re put in the Death Grip are part of a defective factory run.”
Really? How interesting. That should be easy for Apple to fix then. Just recall and replace the defective units from that run.
Strange though, that Apple have never hinted at this simple explanation and solution.
Hahahahha youncall writer an idiot for saying if the bumper works but this is not literal but for example indo not want to be forced ton wear a condom so I will sleep with sprints evo 4g phone Incan talk unprotected apple fan boys can be so lame
Just quit with the “cult” crap. It’s not a cult, Jobs is not a god, and we’re not dewy eyed disciples. The company simply makes better products than anyone else.
Very easy to say that Apple should have spoken sooner. The fact is, they did all the stuff they normally do, and the lines were twice what they were for the 3GS, and the new phone has dozens of amazing features. The camera, the screeen, the speed! It’s a completely usable little computer. As for calling, well, they stayed on AT&T. They could have given us a lecture on antenna design (snore), which convinces people of nothing. They said, we know it’s a problem, but it’s exaggerated. It’s better with weak signals. I quickly learned not to hold it the way I have. It’s a matter of moving one finger. But still, I like the case and I don’t have to worry. End of “issue.”
The point is, they have to know they don’t control their launches anymore. There’s competitors, Android has fanboys too, and there was an effective anti-iPhone campaign from the beginning. If you’ve looked around the comments sections (about as good an idea of public sentiment as those useless web polls, where there are active political campaigns to get your side to have more clicks), it’s been a kind of street revolt. Anti-Apple zealots have been around for a long time, but they finally have their “open” phones — given to them by a Gargantuan company for commercial gain — and that makes them see red. What it has done is harsh the buzz, as it were.
Unashamed Apple Fan — not a boy anymore.
Remember this article from one month ago?
“Shares of Apple Inc. today rose $2.29, or 0.84%, on average volume of 25,709,680 shares to set a new all-time closing high of $274.16. Apple’s previous closing high was $271.87 set yesterday. Apple’s all-time high (intraday) stands at $275.00, set during trading today. Apple’s 52-week low is $132.88. At market close, Apple’s market value stands at $249.39 billion. ”
Let’s do it again!
More Media Fud.
Bite me bongo
The iP4 is not fixed, the problem has been covered up with a rubber band or some other kind of case – it remains the design blunder of all time for Steve Jobs. It is being re-engineered as we speak with a new antenna configuration.
The real test comes when it’s ready to ship. Will Apple cheerfully exchange all the non-working models for the newly designed ones with the good antenna that does not need a cover up in order for it to work like it is suppose to or will they shaft us?
I can’t wait to see what the answer to that question is going to be.
“‘Antennagate’ is such pig shit!”
You are 100% correct and sadly it all started with Gizmodo who sets new standards in “pig shit”. They wanted Apple bad after being humiliated for buying stolen goods. If the antenna hadn’t worked out for them I’m sure they would have found something (anything) to put their resources behind. On the good side I believe they have lost so much credibility with Mac community and others that it will be a long time before anyone takes them seriously. I for one will never allow them on my Macs again.
@ Cover Up
Hey moron. If there were any “non-working models” out there, they would have been returned for either an exchange under warranty or a refund already.
> or will they shaft us
“Us”? What are you talking about…? You obviously don’t own an iPhone 4.
I think that the antenna problem that the iPhone4 is having is due lax quality control on the part of Foxcon. This is not a deliberate action but due to a lot of other pressures due to the unexpected high demand of the preorders and also to the high suicide rate of workers flinging themselves out of the windows.
If anyone who is familiar with production, there is bound to be a small quantity in every batch that will be out of quality specifications. Due to Foxcon’s trouble with its workers’ unhappiness, the quality control function was temporarily out of whack that Foxcon has found itself in.
That explained why only a few owners found their iPhone 4s behaving erratically.
@ vsp
That’s an original angle to say there is a quality control problem with iPhone 4, but it’s just as untrue as saying it’s a design issue, and for the exact same reason. 0.55% of the AppleCare calls from iPhone 4 customers were related to the antenna or reception. That’s about 1 in 200, but it’s NOT 1 in 200 of ALL iPhone 4 customers. It’s 1 in 200 of the small subset of iPhone 4 customers who needed to call Apple’s tech support for ANY reason. So the actual number of iPhone 4 customers reporting an antenna or reception problem to Apple tech support is almost too small to be measured.
So while there probably are a few iPhone 4s out there (out of “well over three million”) with a physical defect in the antenna, there are probably more manufacturing defects related to a complex and delicate component, such as the Retina Display or 5MP Camera.
And considering the return rate for iPhone 4 at ATT is less than one-third of the return rate for iPhone 3GS, I think the overall quality control is quite good. After all, it’s quality control that is preventing the white iPhone from being released for sale.
@ morons
The phone doesn’t work. Period. At the presser Steve Jobs himself said the phone doesn’t work the way he described it at the WWDC launch – the best phone ever – will change everything again – and, the now infamous claim of a superior antenna design.
When you can cause a dropped call by placing a single finger on a spot along the edge of the phone – that means the phone doesn’t work.
All of us early adopters – yes I am one and I do have an iP4 – are now stuck with a phone that is defective. Apple is in the process of fixing the problem. When they do and ship the re-engineered iP4 without the antenna problem, I want to exchange the one I have now for one of those.
Don’t you? If not, why not? Don’t you want the phone that Steve promised at WWDC? If you do, face up to the reality that you, as of today, do not have that phone for which you paid the highest price for any phone AND signed a contract with ATT that makes it even more expensive than any other phone.
Quit trashing my motives and deal with the facts. Morons.
@Eric
Do you even stop to read what you’re writing BEFORE you post?
@ Bongo,
If you ever lived or worked in a area with very poor signal strength you would know that every cell phone, digital or analog, has more bars on your desk or dashboard than in your hand.
It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out that your hand blocks signal no matter what phone you use, internal or external antenna.
Idiot.
I think people are missing the most important thing here. Apple is just a cult! Anyone who buys anything from Apple is really only buying an inferior product that has been “prettyfied” and blessed by Steve Jobs. People do are not really satisfied by a “better user experience,” or by “innovative technology.” No, they are just being duped by Jobs! He should be imprisoned!
But I want to point out an even bigger and more disturbing cult. This consumer cult has taken over even more people than has High Priest Jobs!
It is the chocolate ice cream cult. Have you ever been in a good IC shop and watched them as they take their first taste? Their eyes role back in their head – a blissful smile comes over their face. UNEQUIVOCAL SIGNS OF A CULT! We really must join together to save people from this pernicious mind stealing cult. Remember – they only BELIEVE that thy are getting pleasure from the ice cream. It is not real. They would should be just as happy with onion ice cream, or maybe kidney pie ice cream. They are all dupes of the chocolate industry!
Fools! Fools! FOOOOLLSSSSS!
@cover up. You say:
“The phone doesn’t work. Period. “
So, then all the 3 million people who purchased the iPhone will soon be running back to return them – yes?
I mean – If it does not work then then people will not be happy with them – right? And owners will be filing complaints about reception – right?
But this has not happened. They have a return rate a fraction of the previous model, and miniscule number of complaints about the reception.
So I guess your analysis does not hold up to the facts.
Period.
“Quit trashing my motives and deal with the facts. Morons.”
Yes, let’s deal with the facts. First off you are NOT stuck with the phone. Return it, go to a hemdroid phone and make this site a better place. Second, the phone is not defective. The phone shares an industry wide weakness along with every other cell phone. Apple caught the brunt of it because Gizmodo has an axe to grind. The third and final fact is that you are the moron and won’t return the phone because you love to have something, anything to bitch about!
@ Cover Up
> yes I am one and I do have an iP4
So you are admitting that you are really a moron, and not just a incompetent troll?
You are saying that you have a smart phone that “doesn’t work”? Not only does it not work, it does’t work, “period.” That you paid at least $199 plus tax for it? That you are paying at least $55 a month to ATT? And it doesn’t work? And you haven’t returned it yet…
It seems the answer is YES.
Wow, that is pretty moronic, even for a troll. Any reasonable person looking out for their own self-interest would have asked for refund instead of keeping such a terribly designed product. Steve Jobs is giving you 30 days. Even for the very first iPhone 4 “early adopters,” the 30-day point is today.
So next time you come here to spout off with your fantasies, make one up that is semi-believable. Otherwise, use the screen name “I’m a moron” just to get that part out in the open.