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PR Experts Suggest iPhone 4 Recall 'Inevitable' as Antenna Issue Snowballs

I love how people on here say "All cellphones do it"...obviously they do but the problem is significantly worse on the iPhone.

You really think Consumer Reports and other agencies don't take other phones in account when they say the iPhone's reception design is flawed?
 
DylanLikesPorn said:
Prediction: No recall
Reason: All antennas attenuate when held.
Click to expand...


Probably why all other phones aren't wrapped in such magical antennas. Rather they are internal or stubs on top or back.
In some of the marketing material the iPhone is held in a way that is touching the problem spot. Which is hard o avoid with their amazing new design.

I was waiting to get one, but my view of it has been hurt enough to avoid it until i see a solution.
 
didn't need Consumer Reports

to verify what I knew in my hand. I knew that spot is bad. It killed calls every time touched.

Solved with a simple case and even found out the Best Skins Ever works.

So no I don't see a recall. I see Apple alleviating the problem somewhat with a software change. But it won't eliminate the problem. It can't.

Apple has dug in on this and not sure what happens but don't think it means recall. But it is interesting how the information is being circulated on this.

Free bumpers? Yeah, that I can see. But I'm no fan of the bumpers. No protection to the face at all on drops.
 
msduncan said:
Cue the usual crowd in this forum that will tell us there is 100% NOTHING WRONG with the phone.....

3.....2.....1........
Click to expand...

Hold it with the other hand.
Left hands are useless anyway... learn to do stuff with it for a change.
 
Apple Needs to Recall Response

The iPhone may well need to be fixed and maybe only by a recall - a bumper is not a fix - just more elegant duct tape. It may make the problem go away - but the unit still remains defective - you should not be required to use a bumper or case (even if it is a good idea for other reasons). But what really needs to be "recalled" is the way Apple responds to this and other problems - a simple declarative "we have heard of concerns and are investigating" would probably assuage most consumers - then after any problem is identified and an appropriate fix (or recall if necessary) offered up, the Apple faithful and other buyers of Apple's products can rest assured that not only does Apple make the best tech products but also has the best of intentions to get things right. This would go along way to keeping Apple in the number one spot. Most don't expect perfection every time in every product - but near perfection in response to consumers concerns is necessary or trust is lost (along with business).
 
Really?

Crisis communication experts contacted by CultofMac.com, including Chris Lehane, former Clinton White House "Master of Disaster," agree: the iPhone 4 reception issue presents a Toyota-style PR crisis for Apple, and the company must respond with a more meaningful fix than a software patch.
Click to expand...

Because people are dying?
 
Just desserts.

This is what you get when you have an ego-maniac as a CEO...

Nevertheless, they will obviously rebound...
 
I just don't see it possible for Apple to recall that many iPhones. They would have to start production ALL OVER AGAIN.

Think about the length it would take a redesign the phone and start production on 4 million phones. People would be waiting until December to get a replacement, not to mention people who have not bought one yet.

I just don't see it as a option for Apple. Maybe a $700 iTunes Credit. :rolleyes:
 
I still think a recall is unlikely. It's getting more apparent that Apple will either have to give away free bumpers, or some type of credit towards a case.

It takes months to design a new iPhone, if there was a recall what would they replace it with?

Perhaps Apple will forced to finance a free upgrade to an iPhone 5 next year for all iPhone 4 owners.
 
swarmster said:
Why does Apple's statement keep getting misconstrued like this?
Click to expand...

Because someone at Apple is trying to portray the problem as software-fixable, if not in direct print then by inference.

It's not and that self-serving release about the bars had backfired.

My prediction....free bumpers for all, and a coated antenna ASAP.
 
Can't get bars to drop

Just wondering if people overseas are seeing this issue - all the noise is about AT&T and in the US - but I haven't been able to find an iphone 4 in the UK that can show the problem -
Is it somehow an AT&T thing? am I useless at holding the phone? Does it only affect some phones?

Just curious as to how far this spreads outside the US as I haven't seen/heard much noise about it over here in the UK. I would think it should affect all phones on all networks - anyone have any data??
 
As someone who has an iPhone 4, and holds it left-handed with no case, this is still a non-issue to me. It gets better reception than my 3GS ever did and in places my 3GS never did.

I know half a dozen people with iPhone 4s and none of them care about it, either. This is a PR disaster, certainly, but an engineering disaster? Not so much.

Though I wouldn't mind the dip in Apple's stock price caused by a recall. I'd like to buy some shares.
 
NinjaHERO said:
Wow. But I guess this phone really is a full redesign. Which means it's kinda like a first gen model. And we all know apple takes a generation or two to work out the kinks. The January model should be fine. :D
Click to expand...


Uhhh first gen iPhone was revolutionary ... It worked as a phone not iPod touch when held!
 
return it!

Everyone complains about the problems of the iPhone while they sit on theirs hoping a magical fix appears. Return the thing! What better way to make apple do something? return it!

I returned mine; I was having terrible proximity sensor issues. Sure I could HOPE apple fixes everything with software patches, but I wasn't doing anyone a favor by keeping it. My old phone was more convenient because I could rely on it, and I'm happy to be able to make calls now without my face putting the call on hold unexpetedly.

You need to return it by the pre-order date, btw, not the date you received it. So bring it back NOW!
 
msduncan said:
Cue the usual crowd in this forum that will tell us there is 100% NOTHING WRONG with the phone.....

3.....2.....1........
Click to expand...


Do you have a phone? I do. And there isn't anything wrong, and I can't replicate the "dropped bars" issue when holding the device in the lower left corner. It's a great device and does what I need it to do. But guess what. AT&T's network sucks donkey nuggets. That's the issue, and it always will be. A recall is ridiculous.
 
People need to calm the f down

This kind of hyperbole is just amazing:

Crisis communication experts contacted by CultofMac.com, including Chris Lehane, former Clinton White House "Master of Disaster," agree: the iPhone 4 reception issue presents a Toyota-style PR crisis for Apple, and the company must respond with a more meaningful fix than a software patch.

Let's see, in one case we have a gas pedal sticking and potentially killing people. In the second case we have minor reception issues under certain circumstances that can readily be dealt with using a case or a small piece of tape.

I don't know if any of these PR wonks noticed, but Apple's selling a crap load of these phones in spite of the issue. An issue that was largely known within the first days of the phone getting out to the public. Apple only really needs to worry about a PR backlash if it begins jeopardizing their sales. So far that doesn't seem to be the case.
 
If this problem continues will a software fix suffice? Or, is it the structural design of the product placing the antenna as the outside casing for the product?
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 1.6; en-gb; Dell Streak Build/Donut) AppleWebKit/528.5+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.2 Mobile Safari/525.20.1)

Despite all the crap being slung at apple about this, I bet there are plenty of people happy with the iP4.

For those that are unhappy I hope they get what they want to fix things. I can imagine it would be a hard handset to give up!
 
Mike Nassour said:
OK, let's get something straight....

This has absolutely nothing to do with frickin' software.

Any first-year electrical engineering student can tell you that if a person grasps an electrically-charged antenna capacitance will result. Translated to English...if you grab an antenna, the signal drops.

Period. No question. It's simple.

$1,000,000 bet says that somewhere in the design process, there was a cover for that "cool" antenna that Jobs opined about during the intro, but it was cut for cost reasons. That cover could have been a simple coating (as we saw for years on the metal antennas of CDMA phones) or something as elaborate as a bumper.

This bloody phone is defective in design. Apple, for once you demand for coolness and low cost of production have jumped up and bitten you.

Recall it. Now.
Click to expand...

And yet, what you describe is not the problem that needs to be addressed. :rolleyes:

The problem that would be addressed by a potential recall would be the drop from connecting the two antennas in the bottom left corner. Not the normal attenuation from simply holding the phone or touching the antenna.
 
Terry W said:
AT&T's network sucks donkey nuggets. That's the issue, and it always will be. A recall is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

As Consumer Reports said, it's a combination of antenna attenuation and being in a weak signal area. That's what, about 95% of AT&T's "coverage"?:rolleyes:
 
My Mother Taught Me Not To Lie

If it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it probably is a duck. This whole Don't hold it that way, It's just a software issue is not going over well. It's time to stop quacking and start acting on this matter. Don't believe me. Ask BP what happens if you try and fake it. I have been with Apple since the very first Classic computer. I am not about to jump ship. But I would like the captain to at least tell us the real deal. Or at least sound a little more passionate. can't a software update change the usage of each antennae? This signal dropping is real and my iPhone4 has it.
 
Much ado about nada

This tempest in a teapot has gotten blown completely out of control. It's getting more press than a BP oil spill FOR A PHONE???

I got my new iPhone 4 yesterday. Put it in my case. Began making calls. Never saw a problem. Afterall, it's glass, will break if I drop it, scratch if I scratch it, and oh yeah, complete a circuit if I grip it like a barbell.

Doh, I guess I'm not that stupid. Did everybody miss that Consumer Reports, while faulting the antenna issue, called the iPhone 4 THE BEST ON THE MARKET?

http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/...-4-is-also-the-best-smartphone-on-the-market/
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
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