Thoughts On Antennagate, And The Press Event

Apparently, there may be an issue with the hardware design of the new iPhone 4 antenna that causes a rapid signal loss when a seam between the two antenna’s that make up the outer casing of the phone is bridged.

I’ve been watching this issue unfold with a good deal of interest, as I was initially planning on upgrading to the iPhone 4 upon its release here in Australia. As it stands, I’m not certain that I will be upgrading to the iPhone 4 based on this.

Given my current stance, it was with great interest that I watched the video of the overnight Apple press event regarding this issue to see if it could, perhaps, change my mind regarding upgrading.

I’m not happy with the current solution to the whole issue. To my way of thinking, providing every iPhone 4 owner with a free bumper case is an admission of a hardware design issue that probably should have been identified, and rectified, without actually making an admission. Based on this, and taking into account the effect this will have on a number of other thoughts, I strongly doubt I will upgrade. So what are those other thoughts?

Aesthetics

I love the look of the new iPhone 4. I love it so much in fact, that to cover it up with a case would, quite simply, not be an option for me. Add into that the fact that I dislike using cases on my phones for a number of reasons including the feel of them in my hand, and I’m reticent to purchase a phone that needs a case to work properly.

Location of “The Spot”

From looking at the images of the phone that I have seen from what seems like every conceivable angle, the spot is in about the worst possible spot for me, and how I hold a phone. I use a weird “claw” type grip on a phone whilst on a call, and I’m almost certain that my ring finger will sit precisely on the seam that separates the two antenna’s, therefore making me highly likely to suffer the issue, if it does in fact exist.

Uncertainty

It’s impossible to say, at this point, just how much of an issue the antenna, and its problems actually are; and its also impossible to know the circumstances under which they are likely to occur, in terms of reception strength. With that in mind, I don’t know whether or not I’m likely to suffer from this issue. At this point, I live in a relatively weak signal area, which seems to be the common link to this, other than actually bridging the antenna’s. Will I still live in a weak signal area if and when I upgrade? I don’t know.

I don’t seem to be affected by the so-called “reality distortion field” that people used to describe the way in which Steve Jobs affects people. As a result of that, a natural tendency to be skeptical about claims made by anybody looking to make a buck, and a preference for data to be qualified, I’m not convinced of some of the data used to make the point that “Antennagate“ is not an issue.

0.55% of Calls

Apple gave us a figure of 0.55% of calls to AppleCare relating to the iPhone 4 antenna. Sounds like a very nice, low number, except for the fact that I didn’t notice any quantification or qualification of that data.

Is that figure the total of all calls to AppleCare relating to the iPhone 4 antenna, which would mean that this figure is calculated from calls including those regarding iMacs, MacBooks, AppleTVs, and other Apple products? Not really representative of the percentage of iPhone 4 users who have called then, is it?

Is it the percentage calculated from the total number of iPhone 4 calls to AppleCare? Then sure, that is obviously an awesome figure. But once again, is it necessarily representative of the actual numbers of people affected by the issue? In short, no.

The issue has a large amount of mindshare in the general public, and when you take into consideration the number of people who think “There’s no need for me to call, Apple have already had a large number of people call about this, so I’ll just wait until they come up with a fix for it,” those numbers won’t necessarily be representative.

Additionally, there will be people who would rather write about their problems on various forums, and blogs on the internet, and wait for a fix to be released by Apple so that they don’t have to waste their time calling Apple about a problem they are confident Apple is well on their way to resolving.

1.7% Early Returns

At first glance, this doesn’t appear to need qualification or quantification. It doesn’t appear to be a figure that is open to manipulation or interpretation, but in reality, that isn’t necessarily the case.

Apple stated a 6% early shipping return rate for the 3GS, and a 1.7% rate for the 4. What they don’t state is the time frame in which the rate was calculated for the 3GS. Given that both Apple, and AT&T have a 30 day return window, this is important. Is it the first 22 days, or the full first 30? That alone decreased my trust in the figure, but I had other problems with it too.

Apple has previously stated, through emails from Steve Jobs personal email account, that they were “working on it.” “It” being a fix for this problem. If people are aware that you are working on a fix for a problem, and believe the fix will resolve it, they are, in my opinion, incredibly unlikely to return the phone based on this the problem. This is especially true when you consider the fact that customers still have another 8 days to return the phone.

I will conceded that, given the fact that the 3GS had none of the problems (either real or perceived) of the iPhone 4, this figure is fantastic for Apple, I just don’t necessarily agree that it is indicative of the size and scope of the issue.

In the end, unfortunately, Apple has created, for me at least, more questions than they answered. In fact, the only question they answered was whether or not this issue exists. To me, they have admitted, without explicitly doing so, that the problem is most definitely real. The questions they have created are unfortunately, more wide ranging, and relate to honesty, integrity, and transparency.

Edit: Title updated. Fucking widows.