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iPhone 4 Reception Recall Ruckus Roundup

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the good-luck-with-that dept.

Readers today have been sending tons of stories about the iPhone 4, so here are a few of the highlights: Following the Consumers Reports announcement that the iPhone has antenna problems, Andy Patrizio asks if Apple can withstand the pressure to recall, while CNet estimates that a recall would cost them $1.5B. But that's just the latest on the iPhone 4 — the long running carrier exclusivity lawsuit rumors have been upgraded to Class Action status.

10 of 479 comments (clear)

  1. Stock price is falling too by SquarePixel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    CNet estimates that a A recall would cost them $1.5B

    It's not only that cost. In 3 days Apple's stock has gone down a huge 5%, costing Apple and their shareholders millions of dollars and creating huge image problems.

    It also look like Apple's PR team completely messed up, from the "learn a new way to hold a phone" to removing of any critical comments from their support forums. Considering PR and marketing is one of Apple's strongest areas and which pushes everything they do forward, they did some incredibly stupid decisions.

    Now that they are basically ignoring the problem, any more time they take doing nothing will cost them even more.

    1. Re:Stock price is falling too by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not only that cost. In 3 days Apple's stock has gone down a huge 5% ...

      We must have a different definition of huge when applying that adjective to percentages. Let's see it's 10:15 EST on Wednesday morning. Stock is currently at 252.11. Three stock market days ago would have been Friday morning at 10:15 EST and the price was 257.04. Okay so that comes out to be 4.93/257.04 = 1.9%. If you meant to say it's down a "huge five dollars" then maybe. Yes, they opened and plummeted down to $247 on Tuesday so if you compare that to their seven day high of $261 you get five percent. I don't think that's anything to be concerned over. A five percent fluctuation really isn't that big of a deal. If you look at Microsoft from Friday morning at 10 AM to now they've jumped five percent ... it's just the stock market game. I can find arbitrary percentage numbers bigger than this in many technology stocks all day long.

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    2. Re:Stock price is falling too by nedlohs · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How does the share price going down cost Apple anything?

      Sure it costs the shareholders something, but why Apple itself?

      Are they borrowing so much money that a 5% drop in their share price has upped the interest rate they pay? Are they doing a share issue to generate cash?

      Wouldn't it reduce the cost of any stock/stock option components of remuneration packages, and hence save Apple money?

  2. Re:Recall? No way! by butterflysrage · · Score: 4, Insightful

    By the time they class action is done, all the customer is likely to see will be a $50 credit on their next iPhone.

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  3. ZOMG a "huge" -5%?! by seanadams.com · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That puts the share price at a mere 177% of its value 1 year ago. Their investors must be pissed!

    1. Re:ZOMG a "huge" -5%?! by CompMD · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They haven't had *one* unreliable product, Apple has had plenty. Look at the last decade of laptops they've made, they have been plagued with problems. The most notable is the dual USB iBook video chip flaw. This was a design and engineering flaw that Apple at least dealt with (by extending warranties and replacing logic boards) but they NEVER did ANYTHING to actually FIX the problem. There was no recall. They replaced defective boards with new defective boards that had yet to demonstrate the defect, fully knowing that it was only a matter of time before that board also failed, conveniently after the extended warranty period ended. How they got away with a stunt like that is beyond comprehension.

      On the record, I own one of the afflicted laptops, and fixing the problem correctly is a non trivial task, since not many people have access to or knowledge of how to use SMT rework equipment.

  4. Apple: Send a free case, it will cost you less by StuartHankins · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Look, I love Apple products. I own / have owned a MacBook Pro, 2 iMacs, an iPod 2G, an iPhone 3GS, an iPad, an Airport Express, and an iPod shuffle. I get it.

    But, seriously Apple, you did a recall with the MacBook battery issue. You replaced batteries and even though it cost you some money your karma was helped by it. Do the same with the iPhone 4... offer owners a case which you test to make sure fixes the problem. It will probably cost you $20 per for these including shipping and processing assuming you can get the cases for $4 or so. But you will instantly shut up the majority of people who are complaining VERY loudly about the problem AND you will have "done the right thing".

    NO company is capable of 100% preventing mistakes, but it's how you act as a company that determines how you're perceived. You can be cool and hip all you want but if customers are afraid to purchase your products because you've stuck to your guns and forced lawsuits to happen you lose in the long run.

    1. Re:Apple: Send a free case, it will cost you less by pauljlucas · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But, seriously Apple, you did a recall with the MacBook battery issue. You replaced batteries and even though it cost you some money your karma was helped by it.

      Bad batteries are completely different from bad cellphone reception. The former can cause a fire, damage to the laptop, damage to the home if the fire spreads, and possibly death. Not doing a recall on batteries would probably land them in serious trouble with the government, especially if there were fatalities. The same can't be said for mere bad cellphone reception.

      Additionally, at the time the MacBook batteries were recalled, there were plenty of other batteries from other vendors having problems, hence Apple didn't stand out. In contrast, the iPhone 4 problems are obviously Apple's alone.

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  5. Re:$1.5B is a BOGUS number... by ftobin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Having a bumper would be a wart. Apple clearly has style in the forefront of their minds when they design a mobile device; it is part of their brand image. Anything interrupting the sleekness of the product would tarnish perception of the company. It would be a constant physical reminder of a flaw.

    I think it is most likely in Apple's best interest to get new phones out to people with a redesigned antenna solution.

  6. Re:It does "simply work" by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I was about to wonder about your problems till I saw that last part...you're running iTunes on Windows?

    I've run all of this on a mac (older one granted, a G5 Tower I got cheap)...and no problems at all. I'd dare say if you run Apple stuff on Apple products...9 times out of 10, it does just work. Mixing MS windows in the equation is likely asking for trouble.

    Oh, so it only crashes, erases songs, etc for 90% of their customers. THAT'S PRETTY GOOD!!! [/sarcasm, if you couldn't tell]

    The shitty quality of iTunes and Quicktime on Windows is simply inexcusable. *Especially* since they have other applications, like Safari, that run quite well on Windows. Hell, even is Windows was the one with the 5% marketshare, it would *still* be inexcusable.

    iTunes, by virtue of its scummy buggy-ass drivers and services, is the *only* application I've seen on Windows 7 that can still lock-up completely unrelated applications. (In my case, World of Warcraft locked-up for a solid 4 minutes while iTunes was updating my phone's firmware. Figure THAT one out!)

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