Although the article is not terribly objective, they make some good points about public perceptions. All of my non-techie friends have asked me about signal drop issues instead of the phones features. My boss was considering the iPhone for his wife and now will not. She's getting a droid. It goes on and on. Unless you follow the tech press you won't know about the press conference. And then there are those dorks that won't buy anything with a thumbs up from consumer reports.
I love my iPhone despite the antennagate issue, but fact is the world is turning against it and that's a real black eye for Apple.