Jobs: 'We're not perfect'
Source: Agencies |
July 18, 2010, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Apple is to give free protective cases to buyers of its latest iPhone to prevent reception problems that occur when people cover a certain spot on the phone with their hand.
CEO Steve Jobs has apologized to people less than satisfied with the iPhone 4, even as he denied it had an antenna problem that needs fixing.
"We're not perfect," Jobs said at a news conference on Friday. "Phones aren't perfect."
The more than 3 million people who have already bought an iPhone 4 can go to Apple's website from late next week and sign up for a free case, he said.
Apple can't make enough of its US$29 "Bumper" cases for everyone, so the company will let people chose from several case styles.
New buyers through September 30 will also be eligible. Apple will send refunds to people who already bought a Bumper.
Jobs, expressing irritation with the critical coverage of the phone's reception problems, echoed an earlier statement from Apple that no cell phone gets perfect reception.
He played a video showing competing phones, including a BlackBerry from Research in Motion Ltd, losing signal strength when held in certain ways. He talked for 45 minutes and took 45 minutes of questions with Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, and Bob Mansfield, a senior Apple executive in charge of hardware engineering.
Phones usually have an antenna inside the body.
In designing the iPhone 4, Apple took a gamble on a new design, using parts of the phone's outer casing as the antenna. That saved space inside the tightly packed body of the phone, but meant that covering a spot on the lower left edge blocked the wireless signal.
Consumer Reports magazine said covering the spot with a case or even a piece of duct tape alleviated the problem. It refused to give the iPhone 4 its "recommended" stamp of approval for that reason, and last week it urged Apple to compensate buyers and fix the problem. The company had been critical about "spotty" iPhone service on AT&T Inc's network even before the newest model came out.
On Friday, in the company's first remarks following the magazine's report, Jobs said Apple was "stunned and upset and embarrassed."
Jobs said the iPhone 4's antenna issue wasn't widespread, with just over five out of every 1,000 complaining to Apple's warranty service and less than 2 percent returning the device. Jobs also said that while the iPhone 4 was dropping calls slightly more frequently than its predecessor, the iPhone 3GS, it was "less than one additional dropped call per 100."
"We're not feeling right now that we have a giant problem we need to fix," Jobs said. "This has been blown so out of proportion that it's incredible."
CEO Steve Jobs has apologized to people less than satisfied with the iPhone 4, even as he denied it had an antenna problem that needs fixing.
"We're not perfect," Jobs said at a news conference on Friday. "Phones aren't perfect."
The more than 3 million people who have already bought an iPhone 4 can go to Apple's website from late next week and sign up for a free case, he said.
Apple can't make enough of its US$29 "Bumper" cases for everyone, so the company will let people chose from several case styles.
New buyers through September 30 will also be eligible. Apple will send refunds to people who already bought a Bumper.
Jobs, expressing irritation with the critical coverage of the phone's reception problems, echoed an earlier statement from Apple that no cell phone gets perfect reception.
He played a video showing competing phones, including a BlackBerry from Research in Motion Ltd, losing signal strength when held in certain ways. He talked for 45 minutes and took 45 minutes of questions with Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, and Bob Mansfield, a senior Apple executive in charge of hardware engineering.
Phones usually have an antenna inside the body.
In designing the iPhone 4, Apple took a gamble on a new design, using parts of the phone's outer casing as the antenna. That saved space inside the tightly packed body of the phone, but meant that covering a spot on the lower left edge blocked the wireless signal.
Consumer Reports magazine said covering the spot with a case or even a piece of duct tape alleviated the problem. It refused to give the iPhone 4 its "recommended" stamp of approval for that reason, and last week it urged Apple to compensate buyers and fix the problem. The company had been critical about "spotty" iPhone service on AT&T Inc's network even before the newest model came out.
On Friday, in the company's first remarks following the magazine's report, Jobs said Apple was "stunned and upset and embarrassed."
Jobs said the iPhone 4's antenna issue wasn't widespread, with just over five out of every 1,000 complaining to Apple's warranty service and less than 2 percent returning the device. Jobs also said that while the iPhone 4 was dropping calls slightly more frequently than its predecessor, the iPhone 3GS, it was "less than one additional dropped call per 100."
"We're not feeling right now that we have a giant problem we need to fix," Jobs said. "This has been blown so out of proportion that it's incredible."
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