Posts Tagged: iphone antenna

apple news / strategy — 8 Comments
19
Jul 10

Antennagate: the finale?

I wouldn’t exactly put Apple’s Friday press conference on par with cold fusion, but it was something I never really thought I’d see in my lifetime. Who would have imagined Apple could ever get itself into the position where it had to call a press conference on two days’ notice?

So now we’ve had some time to absorb the event. Here are some Monday-morning reactions — hopefully not duplicating what’s been said already:

The feisty factor. At the time, I was a bit surprised at Steve’s demeanor. But I liked it. I’m sure many Apple detractors wished to see Apple’s tail between its legs, and that didn’t happen. Apple’s goal was to explain the situation, not apologize for it, and then set things right. Though Apple was by definition on the defensive, Steve was just being honest that this thing has been “blown out of proportion.” I have to agree — though it’s not like Apple is without blame.

The quick fix. Bumpers make everything okay. Kinda. As stated before, I’ve never had a problem without the bumper, and neither have the vast majority. But the bumper does solve the issue for those who have an issue. The only downside is the perception that it’s necessary for normal functionality. This is what’s out there in the world, and that’s a problem.

The permanent fix. I was surprised that there was none. As the press conference played out, I thought it was all going logically: first the background, then the temporary fix, then the permanent fix. That final step never came. This guarantees that the issue is not fully defused. But wait…

A new theory. There are only two possible reasons why Apple didn’t announce a permanent fix. One is that a fix is not feasible, given the current iPhone 4 design. The other is that Apple simply hasn’t had the time to engineer and test the best possible solution. I buy the latter. This could well be why free bumpers will only be given out until September 30th. By that time, the new iPhones may be modified with something as simple as an antenna coating. If it goes that way, the fix can be announced as an improvement along the way, rather than an emergency response to a crisis situation.

Feel the love. Steve’s badly-kept secret to effective communications is his ability to stick to a theme. He gets the theme out early and repeats it often. The theme for this event was “we love our customers.” By my count, he used the L-word 12 times. It might have seemed too sugary to some, but love being such an emotional word, it allowed Apple to put hard facts in a softer framework.

The new web page. Apple’s new Antenna page is an interesting development too. Gives everyone a chance to see that Apple’s competitors face the same issue. In this case, Apple seems to be of the belief that the best offense is a good defense. Maybe so.

The competitors. Marketing can be a chess game. Steve’s made his move, now his competitors get to make theirs. “Them’s fighting words” for these guys, and they’ve already had some nasty things to say about Apple drawing them into its “self-made debacle.” Careful with this one, boys. You may protesteth too much. More and more stories are beginning to appear confirming that this really is an industry-wide problem, and other phones do suffer from a similar death grip.

The missing fix. Steve pretty much deflected any mention of the iPhone proximity sensor problem (causing some calls to be ended when cheek touches screen) with a quick “we’re working on it.” Honestly, this seems like a more serious problem in everyday use than the antenna. I’m surprised more critics haven’t jumped on this one, and that Apple hasn’t fixed it more quickly.

Idiot alert. Every so often, someone says something so colossally stupid, it merits a mention here. Jeff Bertolucci of PC World wins the honor for his post-press conference article. In a nutshell, he says iPhone 4 is so tainted now, Apple must kill it immediately and remove every trace of it from their stores. I won’t dignify stupidity with a link (seek it out if you must), but it’s scary that articles like this exist. If natural selection hasn’t filtered out people like this by now, I fear we’re all doomed.

apple news / strategy — 10 Comments
6
Jul 10

An open letter back to Apple

Dear Apple,

Thanks for the open letter last week about the iPhone 4 antenna issue. You know I’m a lifelong supporter, and I wish nothing but the best for you. So please take this in the helpful spirit in which it is intended:

That letter was pretty dreadful.

I’m not talking so much about the content. It’s more the way you presented it — which I found very out of character for a company normally so adept at PR. Your choice of words affected how your fans and detractors think of you. And with both groups, you raised far more eyebrows than you needed to.

First, I was surprised that Steve didn’t write this letter personally, since it’s hard to imagine a topic more worthy of his attention. And then the way you tell the story just feels kind of amateurish.

Apple's own words lead directly to stories like the NY Post's

We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising. 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.

It’s a bit disconcerting to hear that you’re surprised and shocked. You get major points for honesty — but demerits for unnecessarily shaking our confidence. Surely you could have laid out the same facts in a far more positive way, without being shocked at your own misunderstanding.

This mistake has been present since the original iPhone…

Now you call it a “mistake,” and get into how iPhones have been falsely displaying bars since the beginning of time. You make yourself sound bumbling, which I know you are not. Unfortunately, putting it this way leads directly to headlines like the one pictured in this post.

We’re also making bars 1,2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.

When I first read this line (not on your site), I was convinced your letter was a hoax. It actually made me laugh. This is purely cosmetic, and has nothing to do with the problem. Better to have just built this into the software fix and let it be received as a nice touch later.

It’s not like you haven’t been here before. You’ve always gone out of your way — sometimes at great expense — to turn negatives into positives. Remember when you faced a customer revolt over the $599 pricing on the original iPhone? Steve wrote an open letter, lowered the price to $399, gave out $100 Apple Store certificates to early buyers — and you ended up enhancing your image as a result.

Sometimes history is a very good thing to repeat. In this case, a letter from Steve could have cured all. He could have told us how iPhone 4 has broken all sales records, and the vast majority of owners are in love with it. He could have explained how the antenna design actually improves reception for most, and enabled you to make the phone 24% thinner. He then could have told us how a very small percentage of people are experiencing issues — but any percentage is unacceptable to Apple. To address the mistaken perception, Apple is now adopting AT&T’s newest standards for displaying bars in the software. And since the problem disappears entirely with a Bumper or any case, Apple will be giving Bumpers to any customer who requests one. It would be a hell of a lot cheaper than giving out $100 Apple Store certificates.

Done this way, CNN wouldn’t be reporting that Apple has “raised more questions than they answered.” The NY Post wouldn’t be talking about Apple admitting it had been “misleading customers” since 2007. A hundred bloggers wouldn’t be turning Apple’s own words against them. The episode would be behind us, and Apple would once again be praised for “doing the right thing.”

If only.

Oh, and by the way, no need to send me a Bumper. My iPhone 4 is doing just fine, thanks.