Apple to hold iPhone 4 news conference on Friday

 

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Posted on 15 Jul 2010 at 12:40

Apple has called a surprise news conference on Friday at 6pm UK time to talk about the iPhone 4 amid a growing storm over the handset’s antenna issues.

The company has refused to say what it will talk about at the event – aside from it being about the iPhone 4 – but to us it’s quite clear that this is an attempt to pour cold water over the firestorm.

Just hours after the iPhone 4 became available, many users reported that they were losing reception and sometimes dropping calls while holding the handset in their left hand. Apple later acknowledged the problem, but blamed it on a software fault, saying that all iPhones had incorrectly reported signal – it said that a new version of its iOS operating system that corrects the issue would be made available for download within a few weeks.

Though the storm has continued to rumble since the initial handsets were picked up by early adopters in late June, the storm was upgraded to a hurricane when respected watchdog Consumer Reports made a U-turn on its stance on Apple’s latest handset.

The watchdog said that it could not recommend the device because of the antenna issues, despite being the highest-rated phone in its lab test report. Popular TV shows, including Top Gear and David Letterman’s Late Show, also chose to poke fun at the device.

While introducing The Stig on Sunday’s show, Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson said “some say that if you hold him in the wrong way he doesn’t work properly.” David Letterman, on the other hand, devoted an entire Top 10 list on how to tell if you’ve purchased a bad iPhone.

Even Apple’s competitors have poked fun at the handset with Microsoft, who can’t speak of much success in the mobile phone market, describing it as Apple’s Windows Vista.

Speculation of what Apple will say during its news conference is rife, but there are really only three options for the company. It can either keep denying the issue exists, give away free bumper cases (normally costing £25 in the UK) to shield the antenna band or issue a product recall. Which of these options Apple decides to take remains to be seen, but the last will obviously be the most expensive.

Expense shouldn’t come into it at this point though because it’s the company’s reputation on the line. If it loses its reputation for making incredibly stylish, simple to use and flawless (albeit with some functionality offered by competitors removed), it would end up costing the company much more.

Author: Tim Smalley