“Investors might be interested to know whether this really did hurt sales,” Fool TV reports. “Fool analyst Rex Moore says we’ll find that this brouhaha had almost no effect. He did some channel checks, and nearly two months after its launch, the iPhone 4 is still hard to find. New units are only trickling in to AT&T and Best Buy stores, and they tend to sell quickly. Things aren’t much different at Wal-Mart, and Apple’s online store is quoting three weeks for shipping.”
Fool TV reports, “The bottom line is that ‘Antennagate’ had no material effect on sales. A more likely damper could come in the form of these supply constraints. Investors should hope to see some phones flooding into stores in the next month or so before the holiday season hits.”
Read the full article and watch the video (if you can, it’s foolishly Flash-only), here.
MacDailyNews Take: Two for two: Antenna FUD fails to dent iPhone sales – again.
MacDailyNews Note: Ask the Motley Fool why they are foolishly ignoring 100+ million iOS users by using Adobe’s exclusionary, closed, proprietary Flash for their online video here.
Move the iP4 fiasco to the top of two lists:
1. Biggest blunder in history of Apple Inc.
2. Steve Jobs marketing genius (aka lying about his products)
Also, I iCal’ed MDN’s early and absolutely correct (if not revolutionary) outrage over the revolutionary Jobs’ failure in launching his most defective product ever.
His recovery via the presser where he said, “yes the antenna is faulty, but here’s a cover up to shut up the media outcry, and don’t forget all the things I have done for you morons. I’ll be back around the first of October with a new version of the phone that actually fixes our stupid mistake and I’ll fire somebody in the meantime.”
PS Question: how do we know that demand and sales would not have been double or triple what they have been had it not been for the fact that the phone doesn’t work very well. Hmmmm… You still hear about it every day.
I certainly considered the iPhone and wisely waited for the early adopters reports online.
After carefully reviewing the issue, I decided it was going to be a problem so I didn’t buy one until they fix it.
However, most customers Apple depends upon don’t rationalize before making their purchases. They just want it to make a fashion statement, a status symbol or satisfy a tech buying urge.
Kind of like buying a Hummer to drive the kids to school with, might be necessary in the desert but overkill on paved roads.
@Not FUD
Yeah, I can’t stand this device. Damn thing gets signal in places my 3GS never did.
Really pisses me off.
And, that damn Jobs, coming out and providing facts to support the truth that there is no greater problem with the iPhone 4 than any other smartphone. I hate when they make rational arguments.
I’ll be thrilled when they release something that actually causes the return rate to exceed that of the prior iteration and AppleCare calls to rise above 0.55% of all iPhone 4-related calls. I mean, look at that right there. They could have shown us the number as a percentage of all AppleCare calls. But, NOOO, they showed us the biggest number they could by limiting the universe of comparison to just iPhone 4.
Where are all the long lines and sold-out inventories for Android phones?
Not FUD:
Let’s see: independent testing, as well as anecdotal evidence, supports the claim that the reception of the iPhone 4 is better than any previous model (no matter how you hold it), and is generally superior to most, if not all other AT&T smartphones out there.
Second, the iPhone 4 had the fastest, best launch, and continues to sell faster than ANY other smartphone on the planet, including previous iPhone models.
To speculate about the sales to be double or triple the (already stratospheric) numbers is pretty much ridiculous. Not even Apple can accomplish that.
Antennagate was EXACTLY what most have deemed it to be: anti-Apple blitzkrieg campaign that failed.
And anyone who has an actually deffective iPhone 4 (with problems with the antenna) should send it in for repair/replacement. The device has a full year of warranty. Take advantage of that warranty and of Apple’s legendary customer service.
Granted it doesn’t seem like a wide-spread issue, but it was an issue for some. My sense is that it was a bad run that slipped through QC. Jobs’ “don’t hold it that way” probably wasn’t a smart thing to say. His press conference was handled well, but his flip remark was not good. When Apple was the little guy, everyone was pulling for them. Now that they are bigger and a major force, people want to knock them down. He needs to measure his words because of this.
The comments that make me say “huh?” are the ones where Jobs evidence must be wrong, because the iPhone 4 is “fatally flawed”. Why it is “fatally flawed” is never explained, just assumed based on early rumor mongering.
I just want my white IPHONE 4. Apple hurry, hurry, hurry. Or will I just have to wait for IPHONE 5!
I disagree completely with this article. Yes, sales are still strong, but we’ll never know how much stronger they’d be if the story hadn’t been spread so wide. Everyone who comments upon seeing me use my iPhone 4 — and I mean literally everyone — asks about the antenna issue and whether I’m affected. (Sadly, I am).
I thought this issue would mostly be a geek thing, but I get comments about reception from a HUGE cross section of folks, some of whom probably don’t even have a computer.
This has gotten HUGE press and publicity, and I think it’s a huge stain for Apple’s reputation. I’ve met a LOT of people who are substantially less interested in getting the iPhone because of this issue, whether it’s real or not.
I have an iPh4 and would never ever go back to 3Gs. The antenna issue is real but minor. The proximity problem is also an irritant, however, even with the flaws, this is such a magnificent phone/device I consider it one of my wisest purchases ever. Nothing else out there can touch it, and I have enjoyed every day spent with it.
@WriterGuy…
When you are selling all you can make, sales cannot be stronger even if public perception in your product is higher.
I’ll stipulate that there is a slim possibility that the Antenna issue may have shortened the lines for iPhone 4 and may have prevented fist fights over the 3 units sent to your local Walmart every two weeks.
WriterGuy:
Well, even if there had not been the ‘antennagate’, we would still never know how many Apple could have sold, because ever since launch, Apple has been selling iPhone 4 as fast as they could make them. In other words, they simply cannot make them fast enough, and are continuously struggling to ramp up the production.
When Apple planned their production volume originally, they couldn’t possibly know there were to be an ‘antennagate’. They planned for a flawless launch and the planned rates were higher than any prior model. Even with the ‘antennagate’, these production rates haven’t been sufficient yet to satisfy the demand.
Any speculation regarding the demand being even higher, had there not been the ‘antennagate’ is just pointless right now. If anything, Apple may even be grateful for the ‘antennagate’, if the problem in fact did soften the demand. Can you imagine the frustration if the demand was so huge that the delivery waiting period was twelve weeks or something like that?
Hilarious.
Nice to see the fudsters in such a lather.
Something’s not going right.
Lol!
@WriterGuy
Considering that your recearch consists of people in the world of you, please substansiate your findings with the detail demographic, quantitative and qualitative information needed to decide whether your findings are anything more than your skewed opinion.
@Not Fud
Are there unicorns in your world?
LOL
This is really sad. Talk down the best product and they others try to copy some of the features and do give away’s like Buy 1 get 1 free. These idiots will need to do a Buy 1 get 4 FREE or just take a few and see if you can get someone to use it while smiling. (Please send in the picture for our happy user ads.)
At last night’s dinner birthday party, if they weren’t showing of their new iPhones they were asking when Verizon or Sprint would offer the iPhone. This war is over and Apple won this market too. On to next market to dominate!
I love it. Apple-Loathing dweebs twisting themselves into little knots of hate trying to elevate their precious identity-defining AntennaGate FUDfest 2010 into something that anyone really cares about.
Apple can’t keep iPhone 4 in stock.
Anywhere.
Epic Fail!
Uh huh. In SOME little world. Somewhere.
ROFLMMFAO
Look at it from Jobs perspective – he knew it was not an issue, and he figured enough folks out there understood attenuation as well. This is where he underestimated things – most folks did not understand this very complex physics thing – and they panicked. I understood it, and I understood the explanations, and I never had a problem with it, or my new iPhone 4 either. This is a new economy of ignorance and information and mis-information. Jobs underestimated that. Otherwise, he went above and beyond – giving away a free case to all the purchasers? Wow – totally unnecessary, just like the $100 rebate on the original iphone, totally unnecessary, and did nothing to help sales, but it was good PR, and made angry people (angry stupid people) happy.
Thinking this was all FUD, I upgraded to an iPhone4.. I have the antenna issue and proximity issue. Covered the antennas with scotch tape. Ghetto.
@Jesus
If you have to scotch tape it, get a new one. You’ve got a bad unit.
I get signal 350′ into a subway tunnel where my 3GS has moved to ‘No Service’ maybe 25′ in.
Every person I know with an iPhone 4, except one, says they get better reception, better sounding calls, and fewer dropped calls.
I got an iPhone 4 the first day available. I tried hard to replicate the issue and couldn’t. Much better reception than my original iPhone and my wife’s 3GS. None of my friends who have iPhone 4’s can’t replicate the issue either. We all do agree that AT&T sucks in our respective areas i.e. SF and NYC.
You guys are hilarious! Business-wise you can say what you want, but all this stuff about being smart and doing the right thing by waiting to find out there was a problem?…hilarious! I’ve had iPhone 4 awhile now. EVERYTHING about it is FAR superior to past models, including the reception. This thing is unbelievable. Responsive, stable, a work of art design-wise. It has surpassed my expectations in every way. I’m speaking from experience, and not purely as a fan. I live in one of the two greatly complained about service areas in the US. I’ve found this phone to be far better than my 3G in the couple of REALLY bad spots I’ve known about in town. I’ve yet to drop a call, by the way.
My point being that if you’re proud of your insight being smart enough to hold off on upgrading from a past iPhone or any other brand, you are prolonging your own suffering. Most likely suffering you’re not fully aware of now, but wait until you’ve got one of these babies in your hand for a few days-
@ the FUDsters
Antenna attenuation, at least the aspect of it the consumer has to be aware of is a pretty simple one actually.
Regardless of where your antenna is located in, or on, your cell phone if you put your hand, or any other part of your body, directly over your cell phone’s antenna you should expect signal loss, up to dropping a call in some areas
I mean, come on, this is not a new issue or one that only affects iPhones. My very first Nokia brick suggested in the user manual not to cover the antenna. If you aren’t sure where your phone’s antenna(e) are located then you should read the, uh, friggin’ manual.
If the antenna attenuation issue is still confusing to you:
Antenna touchy BAD
NO touchy antenna
It’s just possible I wouldn’t really give a Damn if my iPhone 4 didn’t do a damn thing at all. Really. If it was a brick I think I’d love it. It’s that much of an engineering marvel. It’s a pleasure to pick up. And it looks pretty cool sitting on my desk.
Ok, that was kinda weird I know, but I’m pretty sure a lot of the FUDsters have never even held an iPhone 4.