Apple CEO Steve Jobs addressed the media about iPhone 4-related reception problems, saying, "This has been blown so out of proportion that it is incredible." Naturally, he made the problems relate to entire smartphone industry, saying that all "smartphones have weaknesses, and AppleCare data shows only 0.55% have called in about reception issues." Still, Apple will allow iPhone customers to return the phone for a full refund within 30 days or offer a free bumper or case to consumers to keep them until September 30 (those who purchased them will get a refund).
Jobs showed video of how other smartphones also lose their signals when gripped a certain away—"The BlackBerry Bold 9700... let's see what happens when you hold it in a normal way... 5 bars... and now on holding the left side. The bars go down" (Endgadget wrote that it "Definitely looks like the same behavior" in the video of the Droid Eris). Jobs, who also said that Apple happened to draw attention to the problem because of the "gap," said, "The data supports the fact that the iPhone 4 is the best smartphone in the world. And there is no ‘Antennagate.’ There is a challenge to the entire industry to improve antenna performance so that there are no weak spots."
Jobs also touted how iPhone 4 returns rates have only been 1.7%, compared to a return rate of 6% for iPhone 3GS (Apple lovers and Apple haters are having fun debating them in these comments). Bragging about Apple's testing facilities was also part of the presentation: "You have to build these rooms or you don't get accurate results. This is a state of the art facility. We've invested over $100 million on this. We have 17 anechoic chambers."
Of the Bloomberg News article claiming Jobs knew of the problem since early on the design process, he said it was "total crock"." Jobs says the Apple team is "working our butts off" to find a fix. Until then, the case will have to do.
