[Yoshi 1080]

Well, but it is true that most smart phones have the same problem. The external antenna of the iPhone 4 amplifies the problem obviously, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a common problem. I think this strategy was ingenious: they totally ignored that the iPhone 4 is more sensitive to this signal attenuation and instead said, look, it sucks, but our competitors have the same problem, so we gotta live with it, right? I mean they even showed examples of competing phones losing signal strength! Many competitors have protested, saying their phones wouldn't have this problem. But now you can find videos of the death grip on almost any phone on YouTube, so the public opinion on this problem seems to have changed already.

Just as smart were the return numbers: .55% complain to Apple Care, 1.7% return their phone. That is evidence enough that the problem was clearly overblown in the media.

Maybe it would have been a good idea to pronounce that the external antenna was a trade-off to gain better reception overall, but otherwise I think the press conference was very clever. The “we love you guys” sentiment was a bit to much, though.

I think it was the right move not to apologize but to put the situtation into perspective. And grabbing the competition into the same boat was simply a brilliant idea!