Leaked Docs Show Apple Knows About iPhone 4’s Flaws [REPORT]

Mashable.com ^ | 29 Jun 2010 | Jolie O'Dell

[for-q-clinton]

According to documents leaked to Boy Genius Report today, AppleCare representatives are being given a strong company line to deliver to unhappy iPhone 4 owners who complain about reception issues.

Employees are told to say that the device’s reception performance “is the best we have ever shipped” and that its critical antenna flaws are “a fact of life in the wireless world.” They are told not to perform service on iPhones with these problems and instead to give customers a PR-driven recitative instead.

In a nutshell, Apple knows the phone has problems but will insist that users are simply “holding it wrong.”

These statements are dead ringers for CEO Steve Jobs’ own assertions that the iPhone 4 antenna and reception issues do not, in fact, exist. “There is no reception issue,” he told one user. But the very fact that this document exists suggests that Apple execs know there is indeed a widespread hardware flaw, even if they’re unwilling to address it publicly at this time.

Outside the reality distortion field, on the other hand, we and many others have been able to duplicate the issue being discussed: When held by its sides, which are composed of a metal antenna band, the phone’s reception quality drops dramatically. iPhone owners in our newsroom have seen reception decrease from five to two bars simply from holding the phone with two points of contact between the owner’s hand and the antenna band.

One law firm is even preparing for a class-action lawsuit against Apple and is soliciting iPhone 4 customers to contact them about reception issues.

Also, while some folks have reported that using a bumper case prevents contact with the antenna band and preserves reception quality, AppleCare reps are being told to not give bumper cases to disgruntled users.

[driftdiver]

Other than my previous response to you please show me one example of me EVERY posting to you. Just one!!!

[PugetSoundSoldier]

It's quite a trick to make 100% profit on anything; that implies that you are selling a product you are getting for free. And paying nothing for plant, equipment, or employee salaries.

Cell phones would be about the only thing I think a manufacturer could actually make a 100% profit, depending upon how much a carrier guarantees in profit on each phone, when sharing revenue for cellular plans.

You have up-front costs, but you can make all those - plus profit - back over the time of the service plan. If Apple makes $7.50 per month on the cell phone service revenue sharing, then their phone's costs are completely covered. They, in essence, made 100% profit compared to other phones which are not exclusive.

[longtermmemmory]

what kind of radiation is apple sending through the hand of users?

[PugetSoundSoldier]

people who use a different tool, and don't care why it works, just that it works. Every time.

Unless, of course, it's an iPhone 4 and you hold it like a normal person...;)

[antiRepublicrat]

You do raise a good question of why macbots must fill their empty lives crashing every windows thread with insults and snide comments.

Let's check the most recent Windows thread, Purported Microsoft Documents Outline Windows 8

First Mac mention is post #2, but not partisan.

Second Mac mention is post #3 by an obvious Windows fan with the feelings of "Apple operating systems suck... Their O/Ss are designed for idiots or liberals "

So tell me, why must Winbots fill their empty lives crashing even windows threads with insults and snide comments about Macs?

However, another PC thread did have a Dell bashing from a Mac perspective in post #4. But it was well deserved, a jab right back at the CEO of Dell for something he said about Apple some years back.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

Yesterday Rush said the elimination of the external antennas, which lead to the design we are talking about, is an FCC regulation and all phones must do the same, design wise. True?

False. Rush may know politics, but his knowledge of technology is, shall we say, quite a bit less...

There is NO FCC regulation requiring removal of external antennas; in fact, the iPhone 4 HAS external antennas, and that's the problem. You can touch them, and that messes up the reception of the antenna (changes the tuning of the antenna which affects its resonant frequency and gain - the Q goes all to crap).

Witness all the HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola phones - none have external antennas. They are internal. Not because of an FCC regulation but because consumers like phones without protruding antennas, and it's been known for 100 years that touching an antenna degrades it's performance. So all manufacturers put them inside and cover them with the plastic housing.

Except, of course, for Apple. Here's a Danish professor, an expert in cell phone antenna design, predicting the problem 2 weeks before the release of the iPhone, from simply looking at the pictures and reading the description of how the phone works. Not even handling one. From just a theoretical standpoint the antennas-exposed-on-the-edge will create serious issues.

Rush is usually right; in this case, he's flat-out wrong.

[r9etb]

If we pay for our Apple items, use them, and enjoy them, What the hell is it to you. GO AWAY!

Couldn't resist....

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“Just got it... nothing wrong with it...
you’d have to pry My Precious from my cold dead fingers.”

a pit bull could do that Chet... :-)

[aMorePerfectUnion]

absolootezer0,

did you buy the case directly from the Otter website?

best,
ampu

[Swordmaker]

Thats not true, even Jobs has admitted to the issue. Of course he blames the users for holding it wrong.

Jobs stated he made an ill advised joke... Along the lines of "Doc! It hurts when I do this."

Doc: "Then stop doing that!"

The whole point of this article is that Apple is not conceding the issue! Apple has actual instrument level proof of signal strength, not anecdotal opinion.

And my point is that my experience, and many other iPhone 4 owner's, is contrary to the claims of a small number. Most of us iPhone 4 owners who have posted are NOT observing this issue and cannot duplicate it even with efforts to do so. Believe me, I've tried. Read through the comments.

[Swordmaker]

Well if you pay cheap chinese engineers to do testing, near slave labor to manufacture, cheap parts you can keep the costs down. So if you pay $50 to have it made and sell it for $700 you do make a nice profit.

PROOF? You do love to make things up, don't you.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Thanks for the correction.

[absolootezer0]

nope. picked it up at the local at&t store.

[WVKayaker]

It's not about experience, nor truth. It is all about making a Bunch of demonstrably false allegations and half-truths. It appears to most of the Mac users that those present interjecting themselves into the discussion have a clear intent to disrupt not discuss. This anti-Mac quartet enjoy being a thorn, and never add anything to the conversation but crap, crap, and more crap.

Sword maker, I am among the many Mac users that appreciate your efforts. The fact that you have real world experience, not just as a user, but in applying your talents to helping others progress their lives through the use of computers. Also, another fact that you do not limit yourself to working with Macintosh only, but have been deeply involved in the Windows community, and derive a portion of your livelihood from the application of your knowledge and experience.

We all share life experiences that have intertwined and intersected on this website. To spend so much time belittling people because of their use of a computer is childish at best, and boorish at worst. We should all just get along. We have a country at risk, and a heritage to preserve.

I love Burger King, drive a Ford, and use a Macintosh computer. big deal. So, for what it's worth, you Disruptive children enjoy the day, and don't forget to wipe your snotty little noses... And I'll go back to making money On my Macintosh!

[for-q-clinton]

However, another PC thread did have a Dell bashing from a Mac perspective in post #4. But it was well deserved, a jab right back at the CEO of Dell for something he said about Apple some years back.

Well deserved is only a matter of perspective. So now that you agree we can trash each other platforms if it's deserved we are back to where we started. Apple screwed up with iPhone4.

[Swordmaker]

You do raise a good question of why macbots must fill their empty lives crashing every windows thread with insults and snide comments.

Show us the same level of snarky insults, ad hominem, and outright nastiness in Windows threads from Mac users towards Windows users on FR as you see from Windows users toward Apple users in Apple threads or any where near the sheer quantity. I guarantee you can't.

Any unbiased observer would easily see the overwhelming difference in tone between the two types of threads. You are anything but unbiased.

[Swordmaker]

Yesterday Rush said the elimination of the external antennas, which lead to the design we are talking about, is an FCC regulation and all phones must do the same, design wise. True?

I heard part of what Rush said about the FCC being partly responsible for the issue, but it wasn't because they required the antennas to be outside the case. Rush was saying a new reg requires cell phone antennas must be placed as far from the user's brain as possible, which is why many phone makers are now placing their transmitting antennas at the base, down where the thickest part of the palm is located when you hold it normally. The antenna can still be inside.

That agrees with what I've heard elsewhere as well.

[antiRepublicrat]

Well deserved is only a matter of perspective. So now that you agree we can trash each other platforms if it's deserved

The bash wasn't about platform or any specific technologies. It was about business model and success of the company. Back when Apple was on hard times and Dell was on top, Michael Dell said the best thing they could do is dissolve the company and distribute the proceeds to the shareholders. Now that Dell is on hard times and Apple is on top, turnaround is fair play.

The next actual mention of Mac in that thread was someone anticipating "should have bought a Mac" posts, which never came.

[Swordmaker]

The first iPhone was introduced in Jan 2007. AT&Ts stock was at $31.82 in Jan. AT&T’s stock price was $33.71 in July 2007. Now they are $24.46.

I see, the ups and downs of AT&T's stock prices are solely determined by the presence of the iPhone in their line up of phone offerings? Are you sure nothing else happened to the stock market between the iPhone's release in late June of 2007 and today? Say like Obama??? Maybe a crash of the overall value of the stock market by 40%???

Is there anything else you'd like to blame on Apple? Maybe the Haitian Earthquake? How about the Gulf oil spill? I'm sure you'll find a connection.