Or, will we all have to bring our phones into Apple to have a bumper put on? That certainly would be cheaper. But that's just a bandaid, it doesn't fix the problem.
Or, will Apple confirm the defect and apologize and say they are busy at work on the iPhone 5 which won't have the problem, and everyone with an iPhone 4 will get a free iPhone 5 as soon as they're ready? Expensive, yes, but that would be a decent solution. Except, it will probably be sometime in 2011 before Apple can get the fix completed and order and receive the hardware parts and get everything manufactured. Which means bumper pads in the meantime.
Apple's in a pickle on this one. I mentioned yesterday my iPhone 4 dropped two calls yesterday. My iPhone 3G never dropped one in more than 2 years. As they were business calls, it was very annoying. I also couldn't send a text in the elevator, something my 3G did without problem. But it's gorgeous, the video is phenomenal, the sound clarity on calls is great, and I'm getting too old to learn new operating systems for phones. The prospect of learning how to use a Droid after 2 years on an iPhone is not something I look forward to.
I'm the typical loyal customer who tries to understand things can go wrong. If it's just my phone or car, I insist on a replacement. When it's happening to 1.7 million people, we just have to wait to see what they are going to offer to do. I'm very pro-Apple.
I cold come up with a list of 25 reasons to keep your defective iPhone with its antenna problem, even if it means months before a fix is in. I'd do it cheap too, like if Apple would just buy me new 15" Macbook Pro. If you know anyone at Apple who might be interested in taking a meeting about my pitch to see if they want to turn it into a national ad to run all over the country, feel free to send them this post.
I'm still on the 30 day return policy, so depending on what they say Friday, I may just return it and bite the bullet, head over to Verizon and buy the new Droid. It's really a shame, because but for the antenna issue, the i-phone 4 a great phone,a great toy and it loads internet sites faster than you'd believe possible. In trying to find something positive about this, all I can say is at least it's not affecting my iPad, which I bring everywhere these days. I even make new friends with the strangest people. Like the U.S. Marshal who goes through my bags at the courthouse metal detector. We both extolled it's great attributes, told each other how we use it, and he touted me to a great case that Best Buy has for it.
So, bottom line:1.7 million iphone 4 users will not be happy with a recall unless we have something just as cool to use while it's being repaired. A quick fix, like a bumper guard, until the iPhone 5 comes out would do the trick, but only if the iPhone 5 is offered free.
And what will this do to AT&T? Even though the problem is not their fault, and they sell other phones, a huge part of their business is Apple phones. If there's recall, what will they sell? No one will want to buy the 3G with the slow internet and no movie camera.
Apple has two problems: How to fix this without a cost to them of $1 billion, and second, they need to engage iPhone 4 customers in the deliberative process to make sure it's going to be acceptable to us consumers.
What would your advice to Apple be?