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Apple Offers Free Bumpers or Full Refund for iPhone 4

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 01:56:07 PM EST
Tags: iPhone 4 (all tags)
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Apple made its big announcement today. It's offering a free case or a full refund to purchasers of the iPhone 4.

An application form will go live on Apple's website next week, where iPhone 4 owners will be able to choose a free bumper case from a variety of vendors.

Here's a live blog of the conference and q and a. It says yesterday Apple updated iOS4 to 4.0.1, which addressed some of the problems with the antenna algorithm. And that Steve Jobs says the iPhone 4 does drop more calls than the 3GS but it's only one more call per hundred.

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    Apple Offers Free Bumpers or Full Refund for iPhone 4 | 13 comments (13 topical)

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    You can watch the presser (none / 0) (#1)
    by andgarden on Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 02:19:43 PM EST
    here.

    I'm looking forward to a free case, but I haven't noticed a problem.

    Pretty much what i expected yesterday (none / 0) (#2)
    by Farmboy on Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 02:26:47 PM EST
    Jobs refuted innuendo and smears with facts, then backed it up with free stuff - and a reminder that anyone can get a full refund.

    And the commenters on the tech-gossip blogs like Gizmodo are responding with calm, rational discussions - ah, heck, who am I kidding? It's a froth of death threats against Jobs and shouted obscenities over there.

    Consumer Reports (5.00 / 0) (#3)
    by TeresaInSnow2 on Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 03:10:39 PM EST
    verified the problems.  Jobs was clearly...uh...embellishing.

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    YeaH (none / 0) (#5)
    by squeaky on Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 03:17:54 PM EST
    And consumer reports verified what Jobs has done to correct the problem:

    Apple's Bumper case alleviates the iPhone 4 signal-loss problem

    Oh, and back to the original consumer reports iPhone evaluation:

    The signal problem is the reason that we did not cite the iPhone 4 as a "recommended" model, even though its score in our other tests placed it atop the latest Ratings of smart phones that were released today.

    The iPhone scored high, in part because it sports the sharpest display and best video camera we've seen on any phone, and even outshines its high-scoring predecessors with improved battery life and such new features as a front-facing camera for video chats and a built-in gyroscope that turns the phone into a super-responsive game controller.



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    If they had (none / 0) (#4)
    by Zorba on Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 03:17:28 PM EST
    heeded their engineer and antenna expert last year, when he warned of a possible dropped-call problem, and had fixed it then, they wouldn't be calling press conferences and offering refunds/free cases today.  Why have engineers if you're not going to listen to them?
    Link

    Jobs denied the story (none / 0) (#6)
    by andgarden on Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 03:22:22 PM EST


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    Apple is not allowing (none / 0) (#7)
    by Zorba on Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 03:30:21 PM EST
    Caballero to be interviewed, and he declined to speak to the press. (Yes, an employer can do that, on pain of you losing your job if you speak to the press.  At my husband's job, he's not allowed to speak to reporters unless he clears it first at work.)  So we don't know what the true story is, do we?  It's also possible that Caballero did, in fact, warn somebody in management, who blew it off and didn't tell Jobs.
    Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Apple, declined to comment and said he wouldn't make Caballero available for an interview. Caballero didn't respond to a call and an e-mail seeking comment.



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    PS (none / 0) (#8)
    by Zorba on Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 04:01:46 PM EST
    And in any case, Jobs is doing the right thing.  Free bumper case for anyone who wants it (and a refund for those who already bought one), and a full refund for the phone, if people want to return it.  Many people love their iPhone4's, and I suspect will take the case, rather than return the phone.  This helps mitigate the bad publicity Apple has been getting lately, and forestalls any class action suit on the part of disgruntled users.  (Of course, there can always be a class action suit, anyway, but I would not think it would get very far, given that Apple has taken these steps, and can also no doubt prove that many smart phone do drop calls.  Heck, my "dumb" phone sometimes drops calls.)

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    interesting (none / 0) (#9)
    by NYShooter on Mon Jul 19, 2010 at 07:15:39 PM EST
    take....link

    Like Steve is (none / 0) (#10)
    by Zorba on Mon Jul 19, 2010 at 07:31:08 PM EST
    going to retire any time soon (unless he wants to, or his cancer comes back).  LOL!  Thanks for the link, Shooter.

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    thanks (none / 0) (#13)
    by NYShooter on Mon Jul 19, 2010 at 10:44:31 PM EST
    not to be judgemental, just food for thought.

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    APPL didn't simply make a random (none / 0) (#11)
    by Untold Story on Mon Jul 19, 2010 at 09:11:14 PM EST
    decision in the placement of the sensitive antenna on its phone.  Putting it in the lower left hand corner puts it in an area where it would aim directly away from your head.

    Many cell phone users and regulators are concerned about the amount of radio frequency energy that is being aimed at our brains by using cell phones and some say it causes brain cancer.

    With any radio frequency performance is it impossible to plan for every possible variance.

    Jobs referred to Research in Motion and Motorola as having similar problems and subject to the same issues.

    So, prediction is that Apple's stock has a fabulous third quarter (June) up $3.50 - $3.75 as opposed to the consenus of $3.10 -- and that 2011 should see Apple in the $300+ range.

    Forgot to add - (none / 0) (#12)
    by Untold Story on Mon Jul 19, 2010 at 09:16:22 PM EST
    the user has to become acquainted with not placing his or her hand in the area of the antenna.

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    Apple Offers Free Bumpers or Full Refund for iPhone 4 | 13 comments (13 topical)

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