Posted on 07/14/2010 12:49:24 PM PDT by for-q-clinton
I guess no more than you have. Everyone I know has a case on it, from the hard core Otterbox cases to some cheap rubber cases. It might have taken them breaking one, but they have a case now.
I wonder what a recall would entail. I think clear nail polish does the job. Think they would just hire out some manicurists to sit in the back and cover an inch on the side of the phone?
LOL! I know a few thousand nail artists here in Shanghai that can do it cheap!
As far as a recall goes, if it were me doing it, I'd bring them back and wrap the edges of the phone with a low-temp (80 deg C) thermoset heat shrinkable plastic, so it can heat-form to the edges and create something durable and lasting.
The big damage to Apple will be, however, not the costs of the actual recall but the now non-invincible nature of their products. In the general consumer's mind (you'll never convince the Macolytes) Apple is "just like everyone else". Witness the fall of Toyota in consumer confidence of quality, and many others in the past...
They'll lose $40-$50 per phone for a recall (it's not cheap to do the shipping and processing that this would entail), but the loss of image will be immense.
I'm sure that's why the first few weeks saw Apple denying any issue (you're holding it wrong), and then an attempt to smooth it over with "we calculated the antenna strength bars wrong". I still haven't seen anything from Apple admitting there is an actual problem with the antenna design, even though it's been proven.
They've lost credibility as a consumer-centric company, and every day this continues they lose more and more.
A recall is one of many areas where the widespread retail network is handy. Get the owners to do a lot of the legwork as long as you can offer them a quick turnaround.
It is true that Apple hasn’t had a mistake that is this big yet. However, the memory of the average consumer is short, especially for something that probably doesn’t really affect every consumer and unlike Toyota doesn’t kill people. And at the least, some of it is probably passed off on AT&T.
Yeah, why worry about dropping a very pricey device...
Cases protect them so you're not looking at a $600 paperweight after it hits the floor. They usually do sooner or later. The form fitting neoprene type cases add very little to the bulk and do nothing to affect the "look" - other than preventing scratches and dings.
Regardless, I expect you're quite in the minority on this.
“WOW. They’ve sold what - 2 million of these phones so far? And they’ve lost $10 billion in value? That’s $5,000 per phone. They could sell 20 million phones and never make this loss back.”
You have a complete lack of understanding of market cap versus profit. If you think Apple stock will never hit a new high from here on out, I strongly encourage you to short it.
Good luck.
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