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Apple's iPhone 4 saga concludes Friday; Bumper case bash on deck?

By | July 14, 2010, 6:21pm PDT

Apple is holding a press conference Friday and there aren’t many details. However, it’s highly likely that the company is going to address its iPhone 4 antenna issues.

The press conference, according to folks getting all of the invites, will apparently go down 10 a.m. PT Friday.

As noted earlier, Apple has a few options to pursue. It could:

  • Hand out bumper cases to all iPhone 4 buyers so far;
  • Do a full recall (highly unlikely);
  • Or have a press conference just to tell Consumer Reports and all of its customers to just hold the phone differently (again).

My bet would be on the cheap yet effective bumper cases for all. Maybe Steve Jobs can descend from the ceiling tossing bumper cases to the crowd of live bloggers.

iPhone 4: The saga


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Apple iPhone, Apple Inc., Press Conference, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

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Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan has nothing to disclose. He doesn’t hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.

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RE: Apple's iPhone 4 saga concludes Friday; Bumper case bash on deck?
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 11th Oct
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0 Votes
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RE: Apple's iPhone 4 saga concludes Friday; Bumper case bash on deck?
Rama.NET 14th Jul 2010
thats what my opinion also. These cheap rubber bumpers wouldn't cost Apple a fortune, if it gives away bumpers all iPhone buyers, it brings mixed view:
1. Apple is generous and giving away $30 worth of bumpers free
2. Apple knows/recognizes the issues, so to calm everyone and possibly escape from a class action suite.

If the public view is more on point 2, then the issue is Apple's credibility at stake regarding its design. Bigger question is why it has slipped the QC of Apple before releasing the product?
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RE: Apple's iPhone 4 saga concludes Friday; Bumper case bash on deck?
agentcrtr 14th Jul 2010
@Rama.NET Well if you look at it from the standpoint that one of the people that was suppose to be testing the antenna reception for Apple lost his iPhone 4 in a bar I think that pretty well sums up their QC. They might of started it and on the production floor it worked flawlessly, but introduce a human and it sucks.
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Nevermind free bumpers...Get your gas masks...
SonofaSailor 14th Jul 2010
Because we're going to see alot of smokescreen.

Sure, they may "address" the antenna issue, by addressing it I mean, they may say something like we weren't aware of any issues at product release, but even still, only small percentage of people may have been able to duplicate the issue as they have seen on tech blogs, but it's still the most "magical" antenna out there, and the problem still lies with AT&T. "HEY! YOU ALL HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT HOW CRAPPY AT&T'S NETWORK IS!!! But! our upcoming patches will take care of all of that!"

Also expect them to focus more on the CR smartphone rating rather than whether CR recommends it. Nevermind CR's final decision, focus on only the positive CR had to say about it.

And, they will try to distract attention by bringing up sales figures for iPhone 4, what's going on at the app store, and lastly...iOS4 for iPad, no doubt they will throw some BS in about that.

But a press conference scheduled at 10 a.m.? NO, they aren't doing a recall. If they were going to do a recall, they would announce it Friday AFTER the stock markets closed, to give time for the stock market to cool off over the weekend. Same reason earnings reports are released after hours.

Free Bumpers for everyone? odds? you pick 'em...but I'm leaning to no seeing as they've already sent internal docs to employees saying not to hand them out, and given how arrogant they were in their original stance.

In short, expect Apple to adopt the same delusional, arrogant, idiotic view about their products that their brainwashed fanbois do.
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RE: Apple's iPhone 4 saga concludes Friday; Bumper case bash on deck?
ashworth102680 15th Jul 2010
@SonofaSailor

I agree with your views mostly, but the issue has escalated in the media since they sent the internal memo to their customer service reps, so bumpers might actually happen.

Still, if they go that route they damn well better be taking my iPhone 4 dock back from me, even if after the 30-day return limit. The iPhone 4 with bumper won't fit in their precious dock.
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No win situation really
ozguy 15th Jul 2010
My theory is Apple never found this problem because all the test units in the field were contained within some sort of case to mask their identity and never properly used without one. Apple testers would not have come across the problem to any great amount and not thought much of it..

Now if they do a recall, it will cost them millions, not to mention loss if cred. If they hand out bumpers, they are effectively admitting to the fault, which opens them up for class action...

In my view they have no choice but to continue to deny there is a problem, but if customers want a bumper, they will be offered for free..
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RE: Apple's iPhone 4 saga concludes Friday; Bumper case bash on deck?
wolf_z 15th Jul 2010
@ozguy

"If they hand out bumpers, they are effectively admitting to the fault, which opens them up for class action..."

Actually, no. By handing out the bumpers they would remove any actionable reason to sue *at all*. Always assuming they hand them out for *free*. Any charge, of course, is a stink of a completely different dead fish...
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RE: Apple's iPhone 4 saga concludes Friday; Bumper case bash on deck?
MacNewton 15th Jul 2010
Apple will provide a free inservice to exchange the case with new improved unit. - just a short visit to a authorized Apple shop to do the repair.
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RE: Apple's iPhone 4 saga concludes Friday
Userama 15th Jul 2010
The chance of this saga ending on Friday is about the same as the chance that the sun will rise in the west on Saturday.
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RE: Apple's iPhone 4 saga concludes Friday; Bumper case bash on deck?
mrgoodall 15th Jul 2010
Apple may resolve the issue Friday, but the internet blog n' rant machine wont be done with them for a while. It's a fact that posts/stories with the words "Apple", "iPhone", "iPad" in the titles, are page hit Gold. People that don't own any Apple products will continue to call people that buy them sheep, etc, ad infinitum, wash, rinse, repeat.

As long as Apple remains a leader, villagers in other villages will always protest too much.
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RE: Apple's iPhone 4 saga concludes Friday; Bumper case bash on deck?
ALISON SMOCK 17th Jul 2010
I think either way, if they don't fix all of the phones and soon, they will really be taking a bath. Read this about apple's troubles:

http://bit.ly/dC5coA
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RE: Apple's iPhone 4 saga concludes Friday; Bumper case bash on deck?
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 11th Oct
We had been executing a investigation and learned this webpage. I confess that cheap authentic nfl jersey this helpful guide is on levels! Normally always keep it up. I'll be subsequent your written content

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