Irrelevant, you have fast selling defective hot cakes. Sales numbers doesn't mask iPhone 4's numerous issues and Apples inept way of handling them.
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Apple Quietly Kills Antenna Attack Page
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Irrelevant, you have fast selling defective hot cakes. Sales numbers doesn't mask iPhone 4's numerous issues and Apples inept way of handling them.
Those "numerous issues" don't seem to be increasing the return rate for the iPhone 4. Hate me if you want but I am still absolutely happy with my iPhone 4 and my house has absolutely horrible reception (at least though ATT). Since I got my iPhone 4, I can finally use my cell phone at home. So far: 0 (ZERO) dropped calls (got it on launch day). Yep, thats right - my iPhone 4 fixed that problem for me.
Can I make it drop calls or lose bars by holding my phone in a particular way - that I wouldn't otherwise do for any reason? Maybe. Probably. Don't care. Haven't experienced any the other "numerous issues" either. If I did, it might bother me and I might take my phone back. But then I would S.T.F.U. Unless of course my motives were something OTHER than to have good/ working phone that I liked....
Ehh. **** happens, it's not going to decrease sales. I feel my 4 is too fragile. It's always going to be cased, or have a bumper. Returned my incipio case, put my bumper back on. Not a problem. Could care less if it has an "antenna issue". I feel bad for those who rock their devices nude though. I feel where they're coming from putting myself in their shoes.
To be fair - there are no reports or data discussing the return rate nor will their be - at least from Apple.
So the truth will never be revealed as to the impact. Nor will we ever know how many COULD have been sold but weren't.
But ultimately - doesn't matter. I have the issue. I emailed Jobs about it and he gave me the reply that became "famous" and I still love my iPhone anyway and keep it in a case.
Again - Apple's PR was a bigger problem to Apple than the actual issue.
Of course it is relevant, because this "alleged" issue cropped up within the first two days or so after people first got the phones, and they are selling faster than ever.
How could that not be relevant?
Perhaps you are not familar with what happens when people buy a product that really is flawed and/or does not work properly?
I can assure you it is much different than what you are seeing with the iPhone 4.
From the "Antennagate" press conference:
"The AT&T return rate for early shipments of the iPhone 3GS was 6% -- the return rate for the iPhone 4 is just 1.7%. That's less than a third of the return rate for the 3GS. (This is very significant.)"
Yes, I agree that they royally screwed up from a PR perspective
That figure was given before the press conference and before people's 30 days were up. I guarantee they won't be releasing the most current numbers. Just sayin.
Man, you are a one trick pony, aren't you? Did you sign up to MacRumors just so you could kvetch about a phone you aren't gonna buy? Don't you have a job or something?
I've had ex's who were less vindictive and relentless...
Fair point. I still doubt the return rate is very high....but you are also probably right that they wont release any more numbers.
It just seems to me that a large percentage of the complaints are coming from people don't own, have never owned and will never own an iPhone. I could be wrong, thats just my perception.
It's an unusual disorder isn't it? I don't want an Evo. Don't dislike them - just have a phone that I love and which meets my needs. I do find the Evo commercials....lacking to the point that they slightly annoy me. I cant imagine myself going on the Android forums and complaining about....how annoying the Evo commercials are.
I own the phone, it has problems, the spot is a pause/resume button for my data and I can drop the call if I touch it.
Now, have I returned the phone? No, all the other stuff it does is worth it to me to keep, other than the antena I love the phone, however just because I kept it doesn't mean the problem doesn't exist nor does it mean I'm just gonna keep "quiet about it" and not tell anyone about the problem or pretend it doesn't exist.
And yes, apples PR has been crap in regards to this issue. All steve jobs had to say at the press confrence was "We decided to go with this antena design because we felt that the added battery life and faster processor in a smaller casing far out weighted the added interference when holding the phone in this particilar spot. The antena also gives better overall preformance when its not held in that location. But we understand how people can get frustrated with this, and for that we're sorry. And to help with the situation, we will offer free bumpers to our iPhone customers, and if you still feel that our antena design is a problem for you and how you want to use your device, you can return it for a full refund. But we feel the added features and design still make this the best handset around."
If they said that, the story would be mostly blown over. Yes some people still would harp on having to avoid the spot, but apple's image would've been better.
Ummm. I dunno why you are responding to my post in particular. I agree with most of what you said. I stated several posts above that Apple screwed up the PR on this issue. I also think the issue has been more than a little blown out of proportion. Perhaps we disagree on that point.
However, since you did respond to my post and you seem like a reasonable and intelligent person - I have to ask:
Does a case or bumper resolve the issue for you? If so - why not just keep it in a case and be done with it?
Also (and I mean no offense by this) - when you say that you aren't going to "keep quiet about it" then are you doing anything other than posting here? Either way, what is it that you hope to accomplish? Convince others that the problem is real or as big as it's being made out to be? Encourage Apple to fix the issue for you?
When something doesn't work as I think it should I am the first one to open my mouth and complain. But I do try and direct those complaints toward people that can do something about the problem. If I get served cold soup - I complain the waiter, the manger, the chef etc. But not to the guy next to me whose soup is just fine. If I did, and if kept complaining to him - never saying a word to anyone that works at the restaurant, I expect that at a certain point he might get annoyed at me.
A case does for the most part helps, I need to actually "palm" it to slow the data connection and I don't hold it that way when on a call so it solves a wondering finger causing a dropped call. The hard part is actually finding a case I like, been using a bumper and right now I have a frogz case and I'm getting the hd skin from apples case program. On my 3G I went through like 5 or 6 cases in the 2 years I had it before I found one I liked, hopefully I can find one sooner this time. 
And maybe I worded it wrong, but I have already complained to apple about it, but I don't go around harping about every chance I get. The thing that keeps going around on this board is for people to just shut up about it and return the phone, I don't like this attitude, especially when new people asking about the phone come on here with questions, but if you mention the antena thing other member just pound on that post. While I do love my iPhone, if someone asks me about the issue I show them and let them know what's up. And if people on the discussion board are discussing it I enjoy reading it and getting insight/ideas with how other people are dealing with it.
Sorry if maybe I mistook you for someone else posting in this thread, I usually read these boards on my iPhone and it's zoomed in on the posts and I don't see the members name on the left, i responded to yours based on the direction the thread was going and on your comment on how you believe that the people posting on this board don't even have the phone and are just hating on the iPhone for no reason.
Edit: also, for your soup comparison, remember there are 3 million iPhone 4 users as of a couple weeks ago, so to everyone experiencing the issue, it's their first time and when they post it, to them it's just one. While sometimes it does get kinda monotonous seeing the same complaint over and over again, it's not like it's the same person posting over and over again, and to me it's unfair when people get on them as though it was them posting it everytime. So to make you analogy more accurate, it would be like if you were at a table of like $20 people and one by one they got their soup and complained about it being cold then you snapping at number 10 because he also said his was cold and then saying the you don't believe person 10-20 even got the soup and just complaining for sake of it.
And maybe I worded it wrong, but I have already complained to apple about it, but I don't go around harping about every chance I get. The thing that keeps going around on this board is for people to just shut up about it and return the phone, I don't like this attitude, especially when new people asking about the phone come on here with questions, but if you mention the antena thing other member just pound on that post. While I do love my iPhone, if someone asks me about the issue I show them and let them know what's up. And if people on the discussion board are discussing it I enjoy reading it and getting insight/ideas with how other people are dealing with it.
Sorry if maybe I mistook you for someone else posting in this thread, I usually read these boards on my iPhone and it's zoomed in on the posts and I don't see the members name on the left, i responded to yours based on the direction the thread was going and on your comment on how you believe that the people posting on this board don't even have the phone and are just hating on the iPhone for no reason.
Edit: also, for your soup comparison, remember there are 3 million iPhone 4 users as of a couple weeks ago, so to everyone experiencing the issue, it's their first time and when they post it, to them it's just one. While sometimes it does get kinda monotonous seeing the same complaint over and over again, it's not like it's the same person posting over and over again, and to me it's unfair when people get on them as though it was them posting it everytime. So to make you analogy more accurate, it would be like if you were at a table of like $20 people and one by one they got their soup and complained about it being cold then you snapping at number 10 because he also said his was cold and then saying the you don't believe person 10-20 even got the soup and just complaining for sake of it.
Define "defective." iphone 4 has a drawback - it will drop calls if all of the following conditions are met: 1) no case 2) held such that lower left corner is covered 3) medium-weak coverage area.
You can say that makes it "defective," but the bottom line is it's just one drawback. Every smartphone has drawbacks. Is blackberry's terrible OS any more or less of a drawback than iphone's attenuation issue? The palm pre's terrible hardware keyboard? The Evo's awful battery life? Well, that's for an individual user to decide. You're trying to make this particular drawback more than it is by calling it a "defect." Ultimately, the question is how much the issue, whatever it is, affects how you use (or don't use) the device.
Getting back to the original post, I think the reason Apple killed the Antenna page is because the news coverage of the issue has seriously died down, so Apple doesn't want to highlight it anymore. They are launching in new countries and would prefer people forget about it entirely (or at least the media does).
A case does for the most part helps, I need to actually "palm" it to slow the data connection and I don't hold it that way when on a call so it solves a wondering finger causing a dropped call. The hard part is actually finding a case I like, been using a bumper and right now I have a frogz case and I'm getting the hd skin from apples case program. On my 3G I went through like 5 or 6 cases in the 2 years I had it before I found one I liked, hopefully I can find one sooner this time.
And maybe I worded it wrong, but I have already complained to apple about it, but I don't go around harping about every chance I get. The thing that keeps going around on this board is for people to just shut up about it and return the phone, I don't like this attitude, especially when new people asking about the phone come on here with questions, but if you mention the antena thing other member just pound on that post. While I do love my iPhone, if someone asks me about the issue I show them and let them know what's up. And if people on the discussion board are discussing it I enjoy reading it and getting insight/ideas with how other people are dealing with it.
Sorry if maybe I mistook you for someone else posting in this thread, I usually read these boards on my iPhone and it's zoomed in on the posts and I don't see the members name on the left, i responded to yours based on the direction the thread was going and on your comment on how you believe that the people posting on this board don't even have the phone and are just hating on the iPhone for no reason.
Edit: also, for your soup comparison, remember there are 3 million iPhone 4 users as of a couple weeks ago, so to everyone experiencing the issue, it's their first time and when they post it, to them it's just one. While sometimes it does get kinda monotonous seeing the same complaint over and over again, it's not like it's the same person posting over and over again, and to me it's unfair when people get on them as though it was them posting it everytime. So to make you analogy more accurate, it would be like if you were at a table of like $20 people and one by one they got their soup and complained about it being cold then you snapping at number 10 because he also said his was cold and then saying the you don't believe person 10-20 even got the soup and just complaining for sake of it.
Since there is frustration on both sides - the discussions seem to quickly digress into insults and name calling. I think some of the frustration on the "just shut up" side of things is more from hearing from the SAME people about the same problem over and over and over and with people that are just anti-apple dont have or want an iPhone and clearly came to cause trouble. Unfortunately - the forums are full of them. You see the same people in thread after thread. ( You clearly don't seem to fall into that camp.) And they seem far more interested in picking a fight than actually resolving the isssue.
There are also people that seem to think that because they aren't having a problem that the problem doesn't exist at all for anywhere. Also annoying. I am not one of those.
In regards to your case issue - finding the right one - I feel your pain. I started with a Belkin Clear View (ok, but limited protection for drops and overpriced). They I ordered a bunch of different cases & bumpers from eBay - all around 1$ each. Some were crap but most were of decent quality - at least as good as he Belkin. Right now, I am using the Boxwave case that they sent out free a couple weeks back! It's not the prettiest thing but it looks OK and offers more protection than the others (thicker silicon - particularly on the corners). I also have a carbon fiber sticker on the back, and screen protector on the front so I take off the Boxwave case when I am around the house (carpet is softer than concrete). And of course my free case from Apple is eventually coming....
BTW, I didn't say EVERYONE that was complaining didn't even have an iPhone - just said that it seemed to me that a large percentage didn't.....and I followed that up with "I could be wrong, it's just my perception".
Far better to be profitable with issues and ineptness, than the converse. I've seen too many companies trying to prefect some product go bankrupt instead. If that's your business plan, be my guest. I won't be investing in you.