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

[Popeye206]

Wondering...

I honestly wonder about the validity of these emails. Yes, Steve is known to be very arrogant with his employees.... but not with customers. Even his official statements in the past about Flash we're well crafted messages and not "It's just a phone" type of responses. I get the feeling there are anti-Apple people out there trying to blast Apple and make them look bad.

Something just does not seem right... it's not consistent with past official statements from Mr. Jobs.

 

[Nocaster]

Ok, Steve Jobs did not just say that the iPhone is "just a phone"

Exactly, from the guy who called the iPad "magical".

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

That, my friends, is NOT how you sell your most popular product. hilarious! this keeps getting more ridiculous every day.

He's right though.

 

[donny77]

Very disappointing summary. I read the actual transcript and no where does Steve say it is not an issue or a big deal. What he said was that the person e-mailing was worked up over rumors. This is correct. Rumors are the antennas "short" and that the phone is usable while being held. Rumors are it is a design flaw and not correctable via software. None of these rumors are necessarily true.

Facts are the antennas are more sensitive than on other phones. They pick up better signal, but they attenuate more. This may or may not be a problem depending on the signal strength after attenuation. There are hundreds of reports of people making calls on an iPhone 4 where they couldn't make calls on their 3G(s) phones, myself included. Can I replicate the death grip? I can. But there was no magic grip to make my 3G make calls where my iPhone 4 can.

Lastly Apple is working on it. It's been 8 days since the first iPhone 4 was in a customer's hand! It's been only 6 days since this was first reported. It takes time to troubleshoot an issue that is location based. There are many issues that could come into play a lot of which could be patched in software.

 

[Shanpdx]

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At this point I agree. I certainly believe some people have the issue that affects them regularly, but at this point they should just return the damn phone and stop getting so worked up about it.

arn

may be that customer already bought into the eco system developed by Apple like many of us, so he cares?

 

[Lesser Evets]

Someone, please, get Jobs a PR filter.
He needs to shut up.
Now.

His mails are just causing bad feelings and displaying a very bad public face.

Steve Jobs is the Man, I've been trying to say this myself!
It's not a design flaw when the majority of phones work perfect, mine has been working perfect!

It IS a design flaw somewhere in the process, but it IS intermittent with some phones doing it and others not.

They should deal with it or communicate that the are looking into it, but it probably isn't so a big deal as people make it. It takes a specific hand stance to cause it... the phone still works--move hand. Or use a case. It doesn't make the phone useless, just unfortunately annoyingly skittish.

People screaming bloody-murder are being creepy. Like grown babies. Probably the same people screeching about scratches on the back.

 

[Kelmon]

You've got to figure that issuing bumpers to anyone who asked for one (provable Death Grip issue or not) would go some way to sorting this problem out until they can address the issue properly in either software/hardware. The negative PR isn't helping matters (I wouldn't buy an iPhone 4 at the moment) and the competition is even using it in their own advertising. Telling the customer that they are effectively wrong isn't helping matters...

What does it take these days to simply say "sorry"?

 

[brentsg]

...and Steve Jobs continues to fiddle while Rome burns.

What would you have him do? He could go into their labs and look over the engineers shoulders. He could keep the engineers tied up on conference calls 24x7 while he tells them they are failing. And I'm not joking about this. It happens very frequently in industry.

It's been noted that Apple is beefing up their engineering staff in this area, but for now you ride the horses you've got.

And I agree with him. It's like any other consumer good. If you don't like it, get rid of it. It's not worth tying yourself up in knots of stress and anger, which seems to be fairly popular right now.

 

[Augure]

I don't believe this is a real exchange. Steve Jobs DOESN'T answer to all the mail he receives, he only answers to a definite groups of people, from blogs, medias, corporations, organizations etc...

It is really unlikely that he would answer to such mails with such answers, don't be naive and take for account every piece of so called conversation with Steve Jobs you see on the internet..

Anyway if it is...then fanboi make me wish I was Steve Jobs. People are so stupid and willing to get their as scr$wed so obviously that I don't even wan't fight Apple anymore, I wan't to join them and f$ck stupid willing fanboi even more

 

[Jimrod]

I hold it in my left hand and I don't have the problem.... That is because I don't hold the phone in a bear hug with my hand. I can recreate the issue, but for me at least I can hold it where it won't affect the reception.

I'm ambidextrous, I get the problem with both hands, it depends on your area and signal type/strength - I've said many times just because YOU don't have a problem it doesn't mean others don't.

(FYI I don't bearhug it either - I've had many problems with people I'm speaking to telling me the call is very poor quality even when I'm holding it by two fingers top and bottom - with 5 bars...)

 

[jll62]

...Unless people are dropping calls like crazy, its a non-issue. I only hear a few cases of dropped calls...

It's not just dropped calls. Please stop saying this. The real problem for me is trying to use data over 3G. I can't do it unless I hold my phone in a way that makes me think I'm going to drop the phone. When I hold the phone exactly like folks do in Apple promotional materials (and like Jobs did in his keynote), i lose connectivity and can't do anything on 3G.

I did the trick of reseating the SIM and that seemed to help for a while, but I can now recreate the problem again.

 

[atomicbatteries]

"retire, relax, enjoy your family. It is just a phone. Not worth it."

Easy for a billionare to say.

A completly differant story for the average consumer who has to pay $300.00 for his defective design for a phone that does not live up to his shuckster slimeball traveling salesmen song and dance, all lies, all deception, all for show.

Then people, his customers, many loyal, many long time supporters have to be subject to the audacity of his emails stating there is no problem, in essence don't pay attention to the person behind the curtain, listen to me I'm Steve Jobs, there is no problem, there only rumors and inuendo, just buy buy buy my iPhone and relax, be happy, retire, put a shrimp on the Barbie!

What an arrogant ass.

 

[Boomchukalaka]

If this antenna problem is affecting so many people, why hasn't there been more reports of long lines @ Apple stores, Best Buy etc with people returning their iPhone 4? You want satisfaction? Return your phone, get your money back, it hasn't been 14 days yet.

 

[quagmire]

The stock just fell 6 dollars since this news broke. I've been waiting to see a $20+ drop over this whole issue.

Volume is pretty high too.

Because the next biggest over reactor is wall street. You first have the fans overreact and then the media picks up on it and overreacts and then Wall Street overreacts.

Jobs may have said it bluntly, but he is right. It is a phone. If you can't deal with the "issue" return the phone before the 30 day window closes. Seriously, it is that freaking easy. Don't have to sue, don't have to send off angry emails in the manner this person did, etc. Just return the damn phone. It isn't worth stressing over.


Then again it may be worth it considering we are a materialistic society today and lost sight of what is truly important.....

 

[Darkroom]

MacRumors, please ban this user. They have shown time and time again that they are not putting in a honest discussion, just trolling and trying to agitate.

retire, relax, enjoy your family. it's just a comment. not worth it.

 

[Jack Lithian]

If he wants me to pay €629/$775 (16GB) for it, it better work like any other phone...

 

[Archipelagos]

EDIT: I can't believe some of you still think this is a software issue. I can stand directly under an ATT tower or beside a Microcell and lightly touch the side of my phone (with a bumper on) and lose 4 bars. Sometimes I can even make it drop calls if it's resting in my palm. This is not software - a hand shorts out the damn antenna and it's time you defenders of Jobs know this.

Please make a Youtube video of you standing under an AT&T tower demonstrating this. I'd love to see people try and defend this when you "lightly touch" the side of your insulated phone and lose four bars. It would get at least a million views. Do it!

 

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

I think I am starting to actually like Steve Jobs more... he doesn't get all politically correct and try to sugar coat this stuff. It's kind of refreshing to actually hear what someone in the public actually thinks.

I may disagree with him about it being a non-issue... but it's still nice of him to be honest about what he thinks. Let's ya know where you really stand.

Me too. It is probably my favorite thing to see on these sites. I just love how Steve Jobs just speaks his mind—and whatever he says tends to be honest and accurate. I'm looking forward to seeing whatever solution comes about to this problem. Also, I agree with him that people need to settle down and enjoy their lives a little more instead of building up all this anger over an issue which is extremely easy to work around. If I really was having that much trouble—I'm not—and had that much trouble controlling my emotions, I would buy the accursed bumper specifically because $29 is a worthwhile price to negate the apparent stress.

Now I have to retire? But, I'm only 24.

Retire.

Ok, you're a fool. Anyone that holds their phone in their left hand will have this problem.

Easy to duplicate, easy to avoid.
And even ignoring it and holding it 'wrong' I can still make my calls.
It is an issue; it is blown way out of proportion.
I'm not surprised, though. People put way too much emotional energy into valuing their phones, apparently.

 

[482123]

If it were "just a phone" I would have been able to make actual phone calls on mine instead of dropping 50% of my calls. I'm glad I returned mine. **** Apple.

 

[fps]

I'd love to know of all the people who complain and bitch endlessly about this issue how many of them do in fact have an iPhone 4...

Steve's right - People have lost any sense of reality... It's a phone! If it doesn't work for you then take it back to the shop and ask for a refund and get another freaking phone! Simple. Have a life!

 

[inkgirl69]

I've been on several phone calls since getting the new phone and have not had one issue with reception.

 

[TMay]

I have lost all respect for this man and his company as of today. I love my Macbook, I love my iPad, I've loved many past iPods, and I love my iP4... this is ******** though.

He is not only insulting customers he is taking us all for granted. My iP4 will be returned on the last day of my return window.

Take his email account away!

EDIT: I can't believe some of you still think this is a software issue. I can stand directly under an ATT tower or beside a Microcell and lightly touch the side of my phone (with a bumper on) and lose 4 bars. Sometimes I can even make it drop calls if it's resting in my palm. This is not software - a hand shorts out the damn antenna and it's time you defenders of Jobs know this.

Uhm, under the antenna is possibly the worst signal strength possible. If you think about a cell system, it is a hexagonal pattern of nodes, with the antennas radiating out most of the signal parallel to the ground, not perpendicular. There would almost certainly be a dead zone under the antenna.

This is as well true for the Airport Extreme and any other router. Best performance will be in the same plane as the antenna radiates, which is parallel to the ground.

I am reminded of an anecdote that I was told by one of my engineering professors. It seems that there was an office that was warm to the boss and cold to the secretary. It would have been difficult to modify ducting etc, so the solution was for the engineer to take a cheap thermometer and modify it so that it read 5 degree higher than the actual temperature. This was attached to a wall adjacent to the secretary.

The boss was happy because he was still at the temperature that he liked and the secretary was happy because she thought she was at 73 degree instead of 68.

Unless you are seeing dropped calls, the bars aren't really buying you much. More like an indicator ranking signal with location.

Me, I'm waiting for a cellphone that has bars that go to eleven...

 

[rwilliams]

It's not just a phone. It's my sole means of communication with my clients everyday. Do you think SJ can sympathize that I drop VERY important calls daily here in NY. It is embarrassing as a professional and pathetic that I constantly have to make excuses..."it's the ****ing iPhone...sorry". Really if I wanted just a phone I would buy a POS CrackBerry.

Then why go through the agony of daily dropped calls instead of simply buying a different phone that works? Why must you have an iPhone? You're voluntarily putting yourself through hell and risking losing business just to have an iPhone. It makes no sense.

 

[kresh]

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At this point I agree. I certainly believe some people have the issue that affects them regularly, but at this point they should just return the damn phone and stop getting so worked up about it.

arn

I purchased that damn phone with MY money and returned it because of this issue. I will defecate on it in public for as long as I damn well want to.

 

[baryon]

So, it's not an issue, but they're working on it? Isn't that contradictory? If they're working on solving an issue, than they definitely consider it an issue...

I seriously don't know how bad this reception issue really is but I would like to believe Steve and think that it's not such a big deal and that it's easy to avoid.

It is a bit stupid that an Apple engineer asked the YouTube guy to stop posting such videos. I mean people can post whatever they want, right? The video was probably not edited or something to show a false, non-existing problem, so why can't he just show everyone what kind of problem he has with his phone?