Apple apologizes for iPhone glitch
Source: Agencies |
July 4, 2010, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
APPLE has come clean about an embarrassing software glitch that overstates network signal strength in its hot-selling iPhone, as complaints mounted about the phone's wraparound antenna.
Apple Inc admitted its signal strength miscalculation dates back to its original 2007 iPhone. It promised to fix the glitch in a few weeks, but did not directly address concerns that its antenna design causes reception problems for iPhone 4, its newest phone.
Apple's apology - a relative rarity from the company known for its marketing savvy - marked the third time in less than three weeks it had to apologize to customers of iPhone 4.
"Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong," Apple said in an open letter to customers published on Friday.
Since the iPhone 4 hit stores on June 24, consumers have complained about reception problems when they hold the phone in a certain way. Even while just standing in one place, a rapid decline in the number of signal bars can be observed depending on how the phone is gripped.
Apple has already been sued by iPhone customers in at least three complaints related to antenna problems on the iPhone 4.
Rival Motorola Inc has made a thinly veiled dig at the iPhone's problems. In ads for its Droid X phone, Motorola promised users can "hold the phone any way they like."
Apple said that "gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by one or more bars." It said the problem was not limited to iPhones, but also plagues phones from Nokia and Research In Motion Ltd, as well as phones with Google Inc Android software.
But Apple conceded iPhone 4 consumers complained of a far bigger than normal drop in signal bars.
The iPhone 4's antenna is an unusual design in which it circles the entire perimeter of the device. Phone makers typically try to place the antenna where the user is less likely to touch it.
But with iPhone 4, unless you put an insulating cover around the antenna, the design seems to make it difficult to avoid touching it and unwittingly degrading reception by absorbing electromagnetic waves that carry phone calls, analysts say.
Apple said it will update its software in coming weeks. This should give users a more accurate display of signal strength at any given time, the company said.
Apple has already apologized for website delays when it started online iPhone 4 pre-orders June 15.
It then apologized for store shortages after the device hit the shelves.
Apple Inc admitted its signal strength miscalculation dates back to its original 2007 iPhone. It promised to fix the glitch in a few weeks, but did not directly address concerns that its antenna design causes reception problems for iPhone 4, its newest phone.
Apple's apology - a relative rarity from the company known for its marketing savvy - marked the third time in less than three weeks it had to apologize to customers of iPhone 4.
"Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong," Apple said in an open letter to customers published on Friday.
Since the iPhone 4 hit stores on June 24, consumers have complained about reception problems when they hold the phone in a certain way. Even while just standing in one place, a rapid decline in the number of signal bars can be observed depending on how the phone is gripped.
Apple has already been sued by iPhone customers in at least three complaints related to antenna problems on the iPhone 4.
Rival Motorola Inc has made a thinly veiled dig at the iPhone's problems. In ads for its Droid X phone, Motorola promised users can "hold the phone any way they like."
Apple said that "gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by one or more bars." It said the problem was not limited to iPhones, but also plagues phones from Nokia and Research In Motion Ltd, as well as phones with Google Inc Android software.
But Apple conceded iPhone 4 consumers complained of a far bigger than normal drop in signal bars.
The iPhone 4's antenna is an unusual design in which it circles the entire perimeter of the device. Phone makers typically try to place the antenna where the user is less likely to touch it.
But with iPhone 4, unless you put an insulating cover around the antenna, the design seems to make it difficult to avoid touching it and unwittingly degrading reception by absorbing electromagnetic waves that carry phone calls, analysts say.
Apple said it will update its software in coming weeks. This should give users a more accurate display of signal strength at any given time, the company said.
Apple has already apologized for website delays when it started online iPhone 4 pre-orders June 15.
It then apologized for store shortages after the device hit the shelves.
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