As I predicted, Steve came out on stage and gave a 15 minute introduction to the problem and what Apple have done to investigate.
Steve said that the iPhone 4 is not the only other phone that has the antenna problem. Many others do, and he did actually show the same thing happening on a Blackberry Bold 9700, HTC Droid Eris and Samsung Omnia II. That covers all of their main rival operating systems.
Steve said that Apple isn’t perfect and SmartPhones aren’t perfect either. Apple have been working on this problem since initial reports for the last 22 days. As of today AppleCare say that only 0.55% of 3 million iPhone 4 customers are experiencing a problem. To put that into figures, that’s 16,500 customers that claim to be affected according to Steve Jobs out of a possible 3,000,000 customers.
Steve also went on to add that the return rate comparison in the first month has been 1.7%. Compared to the same period for iPhone 3GS phones at 6%.
How many more calls per 100 calls has the iPhone dropped compared with the iPhone 3GS? <1! So this means there are a minutely small percentage increase on calls dropped, which is a little worrying bearing in mind that the antenna is external and not internal like on the 3GS. Steve also admits this, and says they want to investigate why this is happening.
Steve said that as of yesterday Apple released an iOS 4.0.1 update that corrects the algorithm on the status bars for signal strength and that this has been a problem since the 3G including 3GS and iPhone 4, so that’s now fixed.
For everyone that wants it, they can apply online next week at Apple.com for a FREE CASE. If customers have already purchased an Apple case, then they can apply for a refund on the case. Apple won’t be able to manufacture 3 million cases just like that, and more as weeks and months go on, so they will also source other suppliers cases to provide a range of free cases for the iPhone 4 until September 30th. At which date Apple will review whether to continue giving away free cases. The free case will mask the bridging of the antennas by your hand or fingers and temporarily resolve the problem.
What happens if you still experience a problem or are not satisfied? Simply put, Steve said Apple or the network operator will allow you to return the iPhone 4 for a full refund of your money in 30 days (providing it’s undamaged).
Steve also mentioned that they’re aware of a problem with the new proximity sensor and that Apple are working on it.
The continual message was that Apple loves their users and knows their users love Apple products and they will do everything possible to keep those users happy.
As I previously reported earlier today, I’ve seen the same kind of problems on the iPhone 3GS where the signal strength drops to nothing or drops a few bars depending on how you hold the phone. I’ve also had a lot of problems with friends and colleagues calling my iPhone 3GS on O2 network in the UK and getting voicemail yet the phone is on, it has 4 or 5 bars and I don’t receive the call. 10 mins later I’ll receive their voicemail. If I initiate the call and call them straight back (if they message me another way) then the call works fine. So we know there’s been inherent problems and I truly think this is also the same problem that a lot of Americans report with dropped calls on AT&T in the US. Ultimately I think there’s some kind of algorithm flaw that has the phone go into “block mode” where it’s not accepting inbound calls (or drops calls) like the processor is maxed out or something else has hiccuped momentarily on the phone.
What do you think? Do you have an iPhone 4 and have you seen this problem? Has it put you off from buying the iPhone 4? Have you returned the iPhone 4 yet?
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