They built it so the bar display would fib to their customers—and it’s backfired on them.
...or they are now just going to mask the real antenna problem by changing the way the bars are displayed.
You're right. Did you catch this line in the Press Release:
"Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G."
Well, if the software error has been present since the original iPhone, then why hasn't the "you're holding it wrong" problem also been there since the beginning?