Steve Jobs Again Speaks Out on iPhone 4 Antenna Issue via Email

[BobVB]

If it is faulty there will be no restocking fee, perfectly simple.

Apple admits to no fault, AT&T will follow Apple's lead most likely. Again, best to wait to see if Apple does admit fault, right?

You are as simple as you pretend I'm sure. Go whine about legitimate complaints elsewhere please.

 

[macintoshi]

maybe

It looks like the problem bridging the two antennas on number 1 is cause of number 2. Cause it looks tome that number 2 its connected eachother, but it shouldn't. If it were not, then bridging the antennas on number 1 wouldn't make any effect...but maybe am wrong...

 

[firewood]

restocking fee rules?

If it is faulty there will be no restocking fee, perfectly simple.

If you buy any other cell phone (Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, whatever), take it home, and find your cellular coverage is too poor in your area for the phone to make calls, will AT&T charge you a restocking fee?

 

[pdjudd]

You sure?

Is it impossible that Apple has temp. stopped future shipments?

It’s not impossible, but it’s rather unlikely. They announced delays of the White iPhone before it was released. If they were delaying all iPhone shipments, we would have known about it by now. Stuff like that affects the stock price of a company

If they did halt any shipments, a lowly store employee wouldn’t be told of the issue. If there was a recall Apple would pretty much have to disclose it since it would affect their stock prices. They are a publicly traded company and are bound the SEC and consumer laws. Consumer laws pretty much require disclosure. Believe me, if there was any sort of recall, we would be hearing about it from official channels.

Here is the consumer safety board recall lists for July (yes there are some). Nothing by Apple.

Trust me, if a store employee has been told about a recall, we would have seen documentation by now. You cannot just conduct these things in secret unless you want to get sued by the FTC. This sounds more like somebody has their wired crossed or got some bad info.

 

[BobVB]

People who learned to hold their cell phone like the manuals said they should would not be calling.

I have the iPhone iOS 4 manual pdf and all the package inserts - can you point me to where it says there is a new way to hold them other than the many many example pictures that have been displayed here?

 

[John Dillinger]

I side with jobs only because of how stupid the other guy was to act like that to a professional CEO of a company. He clearly has some clue as to what he is doing if he turns a pathetic company in its dumps to a multi-billion dollar phenomenon.

(Blog: http://allthingstarun.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/steve-is-right-relax-people/)

Sorry but people fully let rip into Steve Ballmer on this, and many other forums... I guess thats cause he's CEO of some crappy company??

Windows is on about a gajillion more computers than mac os.

Yet im sure you would not argue that therefore Windows > Mac OS X.

Nintendo has sold a bucketload of Wiis so I guess that means they have the most technically superior console on the market?

Quantity/Popularity does not equal Quality.

 

[pdjudd]

If you buy any other cell phone (Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, whatever), take it home, and find your cellular coverage is too poor in your area for the phone to make calls, will AT&T charge you a restocking fee?

That would not qualify for a defect. The product has to have a demonstrable defect - not powering on for example. Simply not being in a defined coverage areas doesn’t count.

 

[marksman]

Everyone is experiencing the problem it all depends on location. I have no prolen at one location and then another place its easy to duplicate.

So you are saying that cell reception varies from location to location. Interesting.

But it's not quite that simple.

What about the Mobile Me subscription I just bought?

What about my investment in iApps - including TomTom satnav which is quite expensive?

If I return the phone, these become useless and I am significantly out of pocket.

That's why I want Apple to fix the phone so it works as advertised. If I hold the phone how jobs held it in the keynote, I am lucky if I get 8kbps over 3g.

Why would you buy all that stuff before you knew if the phone worked. Seems like a life lesson learned for you. Nobody, including Apple, forced you to go out and buy those things before you actually determined if you liked the phone or it met your needs. I would chalk this up as being more diligent in the future.

You seriously want to blame Apple for you buying a mobileme subscription and apps before you even decided if the phone worked?

 

[Glumpfner]

Why does Jobs in the first place decides what an issue is and what not? Obviously if customers have problems and are not happy with it, it is an issue!

 

[Glumpfner]

Didn't Jobs make that big speech about he loves getting feedback from users so they can improve their product. They make their product so it fits the customer?

And now? A big problem exists and he just keeps saying "non issue", "don't hold the phone that way"... seriously, I think the power got to him or he is simply to high maintenance to admit that there is a problem.

 

[sslanchi]

So you are saying that cell reception varies from location to location. Interesting.



Why would you buy all that stuff before you knew if the phone worked. Seems like a life lesson learned for you. Nobody, including Apple, forced you to go out and buy those things before you actually determined if you liked the phone or it met your needs. I would chalk this up as being more diligent in the future.

You seriously want to blame Apple for you buying a mobileme subscription and apps before you even decided if the phone worked?

What do you have to gain from defending apple?

Shareholder? Employee? Fanboy?

If your not affected by the problem, why are you on here talking down to people who are? Have you nothing better to do?

 

[mixel]

Ha, I wonder if http://www.smudgeguard.com/ would work to stop the aerials being bridged for some people.

Avoid putting an ugly case on your phone and put one on your hand instead!

 

[Psychj0e]

So you are saying that cell reception varies from location to location. Interesting.



Why would you buy all that stuff before you knew if the phone worked. Seems like a life lesson learned for you. Nobody, including Apple, forced you to go out and buy those things before you actually determined if you liked the phone or it met your needs. I would chalk this up as being more diligent in the future.

You seriously want to blame Apple for you buying a mobileme subscription and apps before you even decided if the phone worked?

That's it Son, keep drinking that Kool Aid.


BTW is it a sign of low intelligence to think that somebody is stupid for assuming their product would work as advertised?

 

[marksman]

It is kind of scary that Apple is randomly contacting YouTube-ers out of the blue and telling to stop posting videos (as the article appears to indicate). No, not kind of scary. Real scary.

Since most of the videos are potentially libelous, they should be happy just an engineer is contacting them.

You can not always return the phone that easily .. at least in Europe you cannot simply walk up to the counter and demand a refund as long as Apple pretends the whole thing is not an issue. You signed a legal contract for probably two years and spend a ton of money.

Not saying the reception thing necessarily is an issue, I have no idea, just saying returning a product here is not as easy as you make it sound.

T.

I always thought Europe was more advanced then the US in these matters, but I guess not.

As we speak I know several friends who are dumping their iphone4's for the Evo, and I can certainly understand why if Apple's attitude about its customers is anything close to what Jobs has been saying.

I always love when people speak for all of their friends like they are in some cult and all they all do the same thing at the same time.

I especially like that you and your cult of friends all are getting EVOs. Good luck with that!

Haha. You do know EVO is only available on Sprint right?

 

[dannys1]

+1
Thank you!
Thats what iv been trying to say!
and i have a iPhone 4, but mine isn't busted

Your iPhone 4 is just as "busted" as anyone else mate - THEY'RE ALL THE SAME for christ sake.

Go and stand in a low signal spot and do the "death grip" and you'll see.

That doesn't change that it doesn't matter and people are whining for the sake of it - 0 dropped calls for far for me and much better quality. I'll continue to use my phone, increase productivity and have it make money for me while everyone else moans about it and takes videos of themselves sapping the signal out of their phones - very productive, what a waste of your life.

 

[Psychj0e]

What do you have to gain from defending apple?

Shareholder? Employee? Fanboy?

If your not affected by the problem, why are you on here talking down to people who are? Have you nothing better to do?

He's a self-appointed member of the Apple Internet Police.

 

[pdjudd]

Why does Jobs in the first place decides what an issue is and what not? Obviously if customers have problems and are not happy with it, it is an issue!

He doesn’t. The only statements that have any meaning are formal announcements made on their website (like in a KB article) or done on the record in a press announcement. At best Steve’s emails represent his personal opinion much of the time. They are certainly not detailed enough to derive much from them that they can be construed as legal statements.

Didn't Jobs make that big speech about he loves getting feedback from users so they can improve their product. They make their product so it fits the customer?

And now? A big problem exists and he just keeps saying "non issue", "don't hold the phone that way"... seriously, I think the power got to him or he is simply to high maintenance to admit that there is a problem.

Liking feedback does not preclude the notion that he has to be nice about it. Or that he cannot give his own feedback. I like feedback too, but that doesn’t mean that I have to just take abuse from people or it doesn’t mean that I can’t disagree with people.

People at times need to realize that Steve Jobs isn’t wearing his Apple hat all the time. Not everything he says represents all of the employees at Apple.

 

[mattkowalski]

You seriously want to blame Apple for you buying a mobileme subscription and apps before you even decided if the phone worked?

I think this is entirely the wrong angle to take when buying something. You shouldn't need to decide that something works after you buy it.

Certainly in the UK, the 'sale of goods' act dictates that a product must be 'fit for purpose' and 'as represented'. Arguably, this isn't the case if holding the iPhone 4 naturally results in a loss of signal.

 

[Psychj0e]

Since most of the videos are potentially libelous, they should be happy just an engineer is contacting them.

That's the most rediculous thing I've ever read on the internet, and that includes YouTube comments.

I always thought Europe was more advanced then the US in these matters, but I guess not.

I imagine you guess alot.


I always love when people speak for all of their friends like they are in some cult and all they all do the same thing at the same time.

I especially like that you and your cult of friends all are getting EVOs. Good luck with that!

Haha. You do know EVO is only available on Sprint right?

Son, I think it's time to hit the Internet Off Switch for a while, and have a walk around outside.

Man, oh man!

 

[marksman]

Are you sure you aren't on Jobs payroll? Cause the phone has a serious problem, and it's definitely location related. I should not have to think about moving my pinky up or down, I should be able to hold the phone wherever I want and still expect it to work. Death grip or not, I drop calls multiple times a day because I am busy doing other stuff while talking on the phone and my finger slips and before you know it I get the three beeps of death.

And those GD bumper cases are hideous, I'm happy you like yours though.

So you are saying depending on where you use an iPhone 4, the signal quality may change?

Interesting.

Of course they should. As millions have chosen to protect their previous iPhones with cases, bumpers and gels, why would this be any different? It's not.

Yeah I don't understand it. From previous experience with all the previous iphones, all anyone every talked about is getting a case for it and what kind of case. 1 in a million would you have someone say, "You think I should go naked with the phone?"

Now with these ignorant videos and this mass hysteria all anyone wants to do is run around with a naked iPhone 4 poking it in the corner.

Err... if you hold it in a relaxed but secure manner your signal should be fine (for any practical purpose). Any sort of 'death grip', on the other hand, smothers the antenna and results in a very apparent drop in signal.

Yeah one of the first things I did when I saw the first stupid video that "demonstrated" this alleged problem, was try something similar with a 3G iphone. With a case on, I can death grip it and get it drop from 5 bars down... this is not some kind of special function of the iPhone 4. This was a 3G with a CASE ON IT. Not to mention I actually tested this without moving the phone, unlike the first video that kicked all this off with a guy laying his phone on the table and then PICKING IT UP.

One again demonstrating this new phenomena to cell phones that apparently cell reception can vary depending on location. Perhaps this was never an issue for any previous cell phones, but the iPhone 4 is apparently the first cell phone to be location sensitive in terms of its reception.

 

[sslanchi]

So you are saying depending on where you use an iPhone 4, the signal quality may change?

Interesting.




Yeah I don't understand it. From previous experience with all the previous iphones, all anyone every talked about is getting a case for it and what kind of case. 1 in a million would you have someone say, "You think I should go naked with the phone?"

Now with these ignorant videos and this mass hysteria all anyone wants to do is run around with a naked iPhone 4 poking it in the corner.



Yeah one of the first things I did when I saw the first stupid video that "demonstrated" this alleged problem, was try something similar with a 3G iphone. With a case on, I can death grip it and get it drop from 5 bars down... this is not some kind of special function of the iPhone 4. This was a 3G with a CASE ON IT. Not to mention I actually tested this without moving the phone, unlike the first video that kicked all this off with a guy laying his phone on the table and then PICKING IT UP.

One again demonstrating this new phenomena to cell phones that apparently cell reception can vary depending on location. Perhaps this was never an issue for any previous cell phones, but the iPhone 4 is apparently the first cell phone to be location sensitive in terms of its reception.

Anyone willing to bet me $10 that Marksman does not have an iPhone 4? c'monn anybody..

 

[Psychj0e]

So you are saying depending on where you use an iPhone 4, the signal quality may change?

Interesting.




Yeah I don't understand it. From previous experience with all the previous iphones, all anyone every talked about is getting a case for it and what kind of case. 1 in a million would you have someone say, "You think I should go naked with the phone?"

Now with these ignorant videos and this mass hysteria all anyone wants to do is run around with a naked iPhone 4 poking it in the corner.



Yeah one of the first things I did when I saw the first stupid video that "demonstrated" this alleged problem, was try something similar with a 3G iphone. With a case on, I can death grip it and get it drop from 5 bars down... this is not some kind of special function of the iPhone 4. This was a 3G with a CASE ON IT. Not to mention I actually tested this without moving the phone, unlike the first video that kicked all this off with a guy laying his phone on the table and then PICKING IT UP.

One again demonstrating this new phenomena to cell phones that apparently cell reception can vary depending on location. Perhaps this was never an issue for any previous cell phones, but the iPhone 4 is apparently the first cell phone to be location sensitive in terms of its reception.

Your forum name suggests your ex-military.

I hope not.

 

[Psychj0e]

Anyone willing to bet me $10 that Marksman does not have an iPhone 4? c'monn anybody..

But he has an iPhone blog

 

[firewood]

That would not qualify for a defect. The product has to have a demonstrable defect - not powering on for example. Simply not being in a defined coverage areas doesn’t count.

So the question might be whether getting a signal less than -88 dBm is considered to be within a defined coverage area, or not.

 

[BobVB]

Perhaps this was never an issue for any previous cell phones, but the iPhone 4 is apparently the first cell phone to be location sensitive in terms of its reception.

Ignoring the red herrings and the carefully crafted straw men you have at least touched on the issue - the iP4 was sold as an upgrade to the previous iPhone models and that means it is quite reasonable to expect the same level of function in its primary purpose as a phone.

 will lose these class action lawsuits because of that, and their window of mitigation is closing, 15 day for their return policy, 30 days from AT&Ts. This might be one situation where the Business 101 homily of 'don't admit error until you can fix it' won't work to their advantage.