Seems you ca n’t set foot on the Internet this workweek without hearing something about the infamous iPhone 4 reception problem . But why spread yourself thin by seek to keep up to date with all the he saids and she saids when you may grab a saturated acid right here ?
Consumer Reports finds itself in the crosshairs
By the remnant of this whole ordeal , there ’s going to be plenty of ruefulness to go around , and Consumer Reports may very well be helping itself to a heaping slice . After the publication said it would not advocate the iPhone 4 because of the reception trouble — despite giving the machine its top rating — the company find itself under fervency from critics of its examination operation .
Bob Egan , Global Head of Research and Chief Analyst at The Tower Group , penned a firearm on his personal blogdescribing what he escort as failings in the publication ’s testing process , saying “ From what I can see in the reports , Consumer Reports replicated the same uncontrolled , unscientific experimentation that many of the blogging sites have done . ”
TechCrunch ’s Michael Arrington followed up bycriticizing Consumer Reports ’s waffling stanceon whether or not the transmitting aerial job was a real issue .
Of of course , Consumer Reports could speak much of this literary criticism simply by providing the elaborated methodology for the test it ’s performed . Thus far , however , the publication has remained silent , other than saying thatApple ’s bumper does evidently fix the issue , as many Internet exploiter have reported .
Enter the U.S. government
On Wednesday , I half - jokingly predicted that a congressional investigation into the iPhone would be launch before the month is out . While Congress has not officially get involve , AppleInsider describe that Senator Charles Schumer ( D - NY)has written an candid alphabetic character to Apple CEO Steve Jobs , root on him to address the issue . The senator cite both Consumer Reports ’s examination and Apple’sstatement that the problem was related to the display of cell telephone set sign persuasiveness .
Writes Schumer :
chip in the discrepancy between Consumer Reports ’ explanation of the reception problem and the account provide by Apple in its July 2 missive to customers , I am concerned that the nearly two million purchasers of the iPhone 4 may not have complete information about the lineament of the merchandise they have purchased .
The senator goes on to ask Apple to commit an explanation to newspaper and anticipate to cater a devoid fix to affected consumers as well . Apple , for its part , has scheduled a press conference for this Fridaythat it says is about the iPhone 4 , though the party gave no further inside information .
Depending on what Apple says on Friday , the potential for an investigating may still be on the mesa . Should Apple say that the telephone set ’s computer hardware is indeed blemished , there could potentially be a doubtfulness of who have sex what and when they knew it . speak of which …
Apple engineer knew of potential problems?
Though you in all likelihood have n’t listen his name before , Ruben Caballero is a elderly engineer and antenna expert at Apple . According to a paper by Bloombergthat cites an unidentified source , Caballero told Apple executive last class that the iPhone 4 ’s design could cause response problems . The composition also says that a carrier partner also voice its worries on the matter . Somehow , though , none of that information made it to the public before now .
If rightful , Apple ’s management could find itself in a glutinous position . While there may or may not have been legal misconduct , there ’s still a good probability that the company ’s reputation could take a setback from the revealing that it wittingly put the iPhone on cut-rate sale despite its flaws .
Update : Thursday afternoon , Apple told theWall Street Journalthat it had no cognition of any antenna problems with the iPhone 4 prior to the equipment ’s launch . “ We gainsay Bloomberg BusinessWeek to produce anything beyond hearsay to back this up , ” the company differentiate theJournal . “ It ’s merely not genuine . ”
Apple’s full court press
And so the ball is once again in Apple ’s court . There ’s been a variety of speculation as to what the company will say to the press on Friday , with theories ranging from amea culpaand free bumpers for everyone , to a product reminiscence , to nothing more than a reaffirmation of the party ’s current post that this is all just a termination of buggy software .
Of naturally , much will also depend on Apple ’s still upcoming software update and whether or not it really desexualize the problem . Either means , one matter ’s for certain : for many of us , this whole commotion ca n’t be over soon enough .
Updated at 3:05 p.m. PT to note Apple ’s denial of the Bloomberg BusinessWeek report .
