back to article Pressure mounts on Apple to recall iPhone 4

Apple is facing increased pressure to say there's more to the iPhone 4's antenna woes than iffy signal strength readout code and to recall all the handsets it has sold so far. Suggestions from some quarters that it may yet be forced to do so sent the company's share price down by more than ten dollars from $257.33 to $246.89, …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.

Page:

  1. Sebastian Brosig
    Pint

    cheaper than recall

    is a free roll of duct tape for every customer!

    1. Dazed and Confused
      Grenade

      But where are they putting the duct tape?

      I thought they'd adopted a policy of silencing all criticism. Perhaps that is what the duct tape is for?

  2. DEAD4EVER
    FAIL

    iphone recall

    good recall the damn thing maybe apple should of fixed this problem in the first place instead of given everyone a blank making out its the signal bars to blame. cant no company get things right haha i dont care anyway about apple and there fanboys motorola hit back at apple with there droid x saying you can hold it anyway without loosing signal haha that will teach you apple

  3. Giles Jones Gold badge

    Not bothered

    Mine's on its way and I can't wait. A friend of mine has one already and if there was any problem with it he would have asked me for help by now.

    People get paranoid about things when they're new, they see a mark and think it's a scratch or a dot and think it's a chip. After a few months they calm down.

    Whenever people upgrade software they sometimes test each feature and make sure it works. They often find something that has never worked and then blame the upgrade. Any upgrade or new device gets scrutiny. The iPhone 3G's reception was complained about by lots of people but it never got recalled. Much of the problems were in the US, in the UK the reception was poor because the O2 coverage is poor.

    Have people not got anything better to do than keep picking up their phone and prodding the antenna or squeezing the phone?

    1. James Hughes 1

      Huh?

      You need to pick up the phone to make a call surely. Just holding it in the normal way you might hold a mobile phone *can* cause the reception problems being discussed. You don't need to 'prod' or 'squeeze' to get the problem, just use it like, well, a phone. Which is what it is (I think the name is a bit of a giveaway)

  4. Juan Inamillion
    WTF?

    Experts say sky will fall in

    Really El Reg, links to other dodgy stories with even dodgier links...

    Professor Matthew Seeger - acknowledged 'expert'?. Has his name been associated with mobile phones before in this context? "Will be forced..". Really? By whom? Not promoting his own agenda by any chance is he?

    Chris Lehane - Who he? Not seeking to advance his political career is he? Well known in computing circles?

    'Consumer Reports' - I don't know this organisation but digging deeper it appears they have little experience in mobile phone market, more associated with domestic goods. Plenty of evidence that they're not terribly well respected either. And they changed their opinion - clearly indicating they did a crap job of testing to start with.

    Seems a matter of desperation by some by seeking out these non-people who appear to have very little relevance in the IT world.

    Sure there appears to be a problem with the iPhone and Apple haven't handled (?) it well. But it's not like exploding batteries, failing brakes and accelerator pedals, all of which have potential to do damage to life and limb. This is a problem which at worst can be fixed by a piece of sticky-back plastic.

    For fucks sake, get a grip... oh wait...

  5. DT
    Paris Hilton

    @AC

    It's clear from the outset that you're looking to be offended.

    Seeing as you like original sources and dispose idle speculation, may I press you for the exact line which implies the 'phone may cause death? Does it also imply that an iPhone is handy for travelling to the shops in?

    The analogy with Toyota is pretty much spot on; they also told many customers that it was a non issue; that the problem was subjective, only occurred through misuse or existed in people's heads; and that damaged their reputation immensely.

    Paris; because she's never been told that she's holding it wrongly.

  6. uhuznaa

    This is crazy

    A recall of millions of phones for some problem that does not endanger anyone (which is quite different from braking problems with a car) with no easy way to deliver a similar product that doesn't have the problem would be insane. Especially since they still can't get the phones out fast enough to satisfy demand.

    Yes, this issue surely is a small PR disaster but adding a not so small economic disaster to it won't help anyone.

    This Gizmodo article sounds more than iffy. Coating the antenna won't change anything when even putting thin tape onto the antenna doesn't help. It's a capacitive problem and with these you need just a few millimeters between your hand and the antenna. You'd need a rather thick coating for that.

    In their place I would just sit that out, try to come up with some hardware or software workaround, introduce it silently in production, exchange phones as needed during the warranty and let those who don't notice the problem just keep their phones. Everything else wouldn't help and would make no PR or economic sense.

    Apple is in a position right now where everything short of 110% perfect will draw flaming hate and ridicule anyway. They get lots of press coverage for what they do right and they get lots of press coverage for what they do wrong. If you look at other smartphones you'll find they all have their bugs and shortcomings. Some HTC models are really bad at switching from WiFi to 3G without a reboot, the Samsung Galaxy mounts via USB mass storage only randomly on Macs and sometimes needs half a minute to launch its phone app if you haven't rebooted it for a few days... and nobody cares (well, apart from the users being hit by this). Business as usual.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      @uhuznaa

      Another cogent response, but I see the first of the Fandroid sheep have downvoted it because you dared, I say *dared*, not to join their attack-everything-Apple rampage. They need to stop being so fucking offensive, or their parents need to take their computers away for misbehaving. One or the other.

  7. vividearh
    Flame

    liar liar

    We can all see the smoke - come on Steve admit it. Your pants are clearly on fire!

  8. Mark Jan
    WTF?

    And Regardless of the Faults, People Aren't Not Bothered!

    Title more or less sums it up! Unbelievable mentality.

    Questions such as: "have people not got anything better to do than keep picking up their phone and prodding the antenna or squeezing the phone?" sums up the mentality.

    Don't pick up the phone just worship from afar! How much more of a fanbois can one become?!

    New from Apple, the i(don't)Phone.

  9. Pavlovs well trained dog

    for once I'm glad..

    that I live in the Netherlands and we get our shiny new Apple kit in the nth tranche of late adopters.

    actually, that's not true - I'm always glad I live here and not in Police/Nanny state(s)..

    but that's another debate for another day

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Being 'well trained'

      I trust we won't be stepping in your particular shit in the streets of Amsterdam?

      You really would think there'd be a cup of coffee icon, wouldn't you!

  10. Dazed and Confused

    In denial

    It's not just Apple customers that will go into denial about a defect. I had a N95_8GB, every now and then it wouldn't work in handset mode, only on loudspeaker or headset. Drove me up the wall. I mate also had one, so I asked whether his did it, "No, never a problem" but watching him use it, every now and then he'd answer calls, clearly be having problems and then he'd hit the loudspeaker button and handle the rest of the call that. way. Didn't admit to the problem though.

  11. Richard Scratcher
    Happy

    Don't buy an iPhone 4...

    ....until I get mine!

    I hope articles like this put people off buying an iPhone 4. I've been trying to get one from o2 for weeks now and there's just no stock. At the time of typing, there are just 4 shops with the 16GB model and only 1 of those has the 32GB version. That's in the whole of the Untied Klingdom. Two of the shops are are in Northern Ireland (so they are), one is in Scotchland and one in Welsh Wales. England has no stock at all.

    1. Baskitcaise
      Happy

      Don't buy an iPhone 4...

      "England has no stock at all."

      The have all been sent back on recall.

      Enjoy.

  12. Anonymous Hero
    FAIL

    In Search of Stupidity

    I wonder if they'll get a chapter all to themselves in the next edition?

    http://www.insearchofstupidity.com/

    Well worth a read; how the mighty have fallen over the years.

  13. Julian 3
    FAIL

    Mediocrity

    Mediocrity takes a lot less time and most people won't notice the difference until it's too late.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      @Julian 3

      We're not discussing Microsoft here. Get a clue!

  14. TkH11

    The latest and best

    wth would anyone spend £400 on a phone I have no idea. Well, actually, I do know, it's mostly about keeping up with the Jones and trying to show off.

    I have a friend that boasted to me the other day about how they'd just bought an Ipad and the most important piece of information? They imported it from the USA before it was on sale in the UK ! Who cares?

    Such immature obsession with trying to get the latest gadget first, - and pay through the nose for it.

    If you want to get sucked into the merry go around of upgrading your gadgets year after year, then that's your choice you muppet..but buying electronic gadgets and computers is NOT an investment. It's money down the drain.

    I used to renew my computer evey year, evey couple of years, but it's a complete waste of money, the resale value is always a fraction of what you originally paid.

    Same goes with graphics cards, sure you wanna spend £300 on the latest graphics card only for it to drop massively in price 6/12 months later. I still play those state of the art computer games, yeah, perhaps a bit later than most, but I still get equal the amount of pleasure out of it, but I do it with the best price/performance cards and not pay the premium for the very top notch cards.

    Time people wised up, grew up I think.

  15. TkH11

    Recall

    For Apple to recall very phone and mod the phone to fix the issue is going to be hugely expensive. Why would they do that? It's definitely not a safety issue.

    The only benefit to Apple in expending the huge sum of money would be to protect their reputation. But then the act of issuing a recall notice would immediately damage their reputation because it's an admission there's a problem.

    The number of people actually affected is small. Sure the problem is a design flaw with every single phone, but the actual number of people affected is very small.

    I really don't think Apple are going to issue a recall notice for every Iphone 4 out there just to prevent a little bit of damage to their reputation. There is a major financial cost.

    The fact is, it's still a great phone and the brand loyalty with Apple is very strong amongst its consumer base.

    I might predict that Apple would make a design change to the product to fix the issue, but then that would be an admission there is an issue, which so far they've put down to a software bug, (which we all know it isn't), and they might then issue the newly designed phone free of charge to those people that are experiencing a problem with the Iphone 4 first release variant.

    That would be a much cheaper resolution than recalling and re-issuing all the Iphone 4's currently sold. However, what's to stop many people from using that as an opportunity to obtain the new model when they don't actually have a problem with the first release model?

    It's going to be interesting to see how this pans out, whether Apple will make a public admission it's far more than a software bug, whether they are pressured into doing it.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    When two tribes go to war...

    I drive an ancient Nokia 6230i and I firmly believe that ALL smartphone users are pretentious wankers (at least until I get one myself).

    Anyway, I'd just like to say this is the most entertaining fanboi tribal hate-fest I've witnessed in yonks. Keep banging the Apples and the Androids together guys!

  17. Paul RND*1000
    WTF?

    Toyota != Apple

    Look, someone at Cupertino clearly cocked up. This happens to Apple occasionally, when their designers get just a little too clever for their own good and turn out incredibly stylish computer cases which crack, or screens which scratch if the wind blows hard enough past them, or whatever. They're undeniably good at what they do, but they do NOT walk on water despite what some fans might care to believe. This is a design flaw, and you can be sure it'll be fixed in the next iteration of iPhone regardless of what they do with the existing 4G.

    But comparing this with the Toyota recalls? Seriously? Dropping a call will aggravate you, but it's something you expect from a mobile phone, now and then. That's just the nature of mobile telephony.

    Whereas your car accelerating out of control will do a whole lot more than momentarily inconvenience you and is not something you expect to have happen once in a while under normal conditions.

  18. Ted
    Boffin

    There won't be a recall...

    Nobody in the electronics field is suggesting a recall, but what will probably happen is Apple will release a software fix, then issue all iPhone 4 owners a $50 Store Coupon for a case or anything else. That would solve the problem and make everyone happy. The media (and perpetually disgruntled android users) love to over exaggerate, but the problem isn't that serious and only effects people who don't have cases.

    The iPhone 3G had far more serious issues 2 years ago, but nobody remembers it now, this will follow the same path.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Basically

    the bottom line of most of the Apple apologists here appears to equate to defence of ripping off whoever you can get away with ripping off. Is 'fanboi' the modern term for what used to be known as a yuppy?

  20. BeersYourFriend
    Alert

    Yeah! I think we all would like a New Improved iPhone 4... READ!

    This is actually a dumb question to ask, if we would want the updated version... Of course all of use would want an updated iPhone, with parts that work, and will not result in device failure overtime. It's almost like we all got an iPhone 4, just to test how the people respond to the phone, and the Next iPhone 4 should be iOS4.2.......

    This does not look good, for Apple!

    WOW, a complete recall of thousands of iPhone 4s! Apple just took an accidental punch to the Groan! Ouch! Yes, many I would of course want a replacement iPhone 4, if they do decided to recall all units! Why would anyone say they are happy with it, when Apple is fixing an issue, that your phone still has, unless you trade for the iPhone 4.2, LOL!

    This must be the Biggest Cellular Problem in History! All iPhone 4s? Are you kidding me? I almost can't believe it! Like I'm in a Dream, LOL! Again, All iPhone 4's?

    If I was Steve Jobs, I'd be throwing up for the next few months, to correct issues by sending units back to china, for a a makeover! And, plus they just lost So Much in Profits, and People are Pissed at At&t too! So, I wonder if we will finally see the iPhone on all network a, or just a few of the biggest. Like, version, or t-mobile...

    Unreal!

    You know, it seems like a lot of people don't trust apple, saying, "I'm going to wait till next year, so they can fix the bugs", and IT IS SO TRUE! Most Apple fans just automatically know, Apple stays true to their products, and Again, and Again, we see Bugs!

    *Think about this, Could China's iPhone Factory, possibly purposely cause this issue? I may be crazy, but you never know... If China did this on purpose, then this could be the biggest attack to Apple, and their reputation! Also, hurting apple in Wallstreet, thus hurting us economically as well!

    I would like to know what your thoughts are, about this issue!

    Take Care!

    -Matt

  21. TkH11

    The postings. READ THIS

    I am quite frankly amazed at the amount of crap being posted by so many people in this forum.

    Given so many of us are IT professionals, educated to a high level, supposed to be professionals, able to think logically, to solve complex problems; yet, look at the completely way out postings, comparions being made, total lack of rational thought processes and to cap it, the sheer rudeness, which is clearly intentional being displayed by so many people.

    At times, it's descended into the gutter, unnecessarily so, with people slagging others off.

    It's time many of you grew up and stopped acting like children. Stop acting like teenage kids playing the game "My k**b is bigger than yours". So you get a kick out of calling people names? Go do it somewhere else.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      RE: The postings. READ THIS...Hypocrite

      Oh the hypocrisy.

      You posted this only yesterday:

      "F**k me, so they're going to spend £40 million quid on a computer and they don't know what they're going to use it for?

      So it's about training people? F**k off, stick to your sheep. How many people are actually going to get hands on with the super computer? Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands?

      Less than a hundred I'd say. When was the last time you had hands on with a super computer?

      If you want to train people in HPCs then spend the £40 on putting in place training courses and provide remote access to an HPC in another part of the country: it will be just as effective and far better value for money, think about how many students you could teach, and you could do it for free too!

      £40 million for a training aid.

      You can't take the Welsh seriously can you?"

      .

      I especially like the professionalism you show with these two comments:

      "F**k off, stick to your sheep" & "You can't take the Welsh seriously can you?"

  22. TkH11

    updated iphone

    Updated IPhone 4.

    You may want an updated IPhone 4, but are you going to get one? Is Apple going to give you one?

    Apple have made the Iphone 4 in order to make money, to make a profit. Why would they recall all Iphone 4s and issue a replacement free of charge?

    Apple will try to solve this in the way that is cheapest for them. That's standard good business practise. If that means giving out a free cover which costs pennies instead of replacing the entire phone which is considerably more expensive, then that is probably what they will do.

    But recall and mod tens of thousands of phones when 99% of users aren't even affected? Is that good business?

Page:

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like