What can I say.

The company says you can have your money back if that is what you want.

If not, it will give you a bumper free. Now granted, while only around 20% bought the bumper with the phone, I can personally attest that was attributed to lack of supply. They ran out of them and folks were asking for it but not available. Had they been available, I assure you the number would have been significant that bought it. If you use a case like me, no issues.

Over 1.5 million units and to date, 15,000 complaints.

1,500,000 minus 15,000 means there are 1,485,000 non complainers, which translates to less than 1% of all users.

Does it suck? Perhaps for some. If it does, take it back, get your money and wait for the updated version. In the meantime, have a cigar while I continue to enjoy mine.
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Well stated! :-)
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Yep.

I don't see iphone 4 changing my opinion of Apple products at all.
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Tony or Carlos: DO any of your ATT stores have this phone in stock? None in Miami do and I am without a phone. Sold my iphone this afternoon!
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not any in my area. :-)
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Not around here Erick.
Online Apple Store shows shipping in 3 weeks.
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Damn I'm good...
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I'd dispute that, you can't equate the number of cases sold at the time of the phone purchase to anything other than the number of case sold at the time of the phone purchase. That's especially true with a new device that is only just now starting to get very limited support from 3rd party case makers. My own anecdotal evidence (ie. what I see every day with my own 2 eyes) tells me that at least 70 - 80% of the previous gen iPhone's end up wearing cases of some kind. I see absolutely no reason why that would be any different for the iPhone4 given that it's got twice the breakable glass surface of the previous models.

Completely agree and Apple should be taking steps to address the real issue instead of offering a band-aid. That said, given that most people do end up putting cases on their phones does it really matter? Beyond the moral/ethical aspect, not really.
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Seriously.
No offense intended.
What the heck do you mean?

They recognize the issue.
They are offering refunds if you are not pleased with the solution at this time.
They will offer you a refund if you bought a bumper.
They will offer you a free bumper if you want one.

Does anyone seriously believe they will not fix this problem eventually and are not already addressing it on new devices to be made?

In the interim, it is what it is. There is a flaw for some users. Not a flaw at all for many others, such as me.

I personally feel what Apple did today is responsible for a corporation to do when something has gone wrong. They stepped up to the plate. I don't know what more, short of a BJ, we can ask for at this point, and frankly, Steve Jobs wouldn't be the person I would want doing that.
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What do I mean? It's pretty simple, they've produced and sold a product that has an inherent hardware defect that significantly impairs the one of the primarily functions of the device (ie. Cellular voice and data transmission). While offering a bumper is great, it's just a bandaid solution that doesn't actually resolve the problem because it doesn't solve the hardware flaw in the millions of iPhone4's that have already left the factory.

Quite frankly they should have offered to replace the defective phones as upgraded hardware spec become available and offered the free bumpers as a interim stop gap to allow the affected customers to continue using the defective phones until the replacements are available. Afterall, it's not like this is a minor defect that only affects a non-essential function of the device. The ability to send and receive data is rather core to the purpose of this device.
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wow, and a pony? :-)
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Nope, just a unit that works as advertised and promoted. Just look at it this way, if Dell/HP/Acer/etc sold a laptop model that had a defective wireless nic that lost signal when you touched the laptop case.... would you be happy with a cover that prevented you from touching the case or would you expect the laptop to be replaced with updated hardware that wasn't defective? The iPhone4 and Apple are no different and don't get different rules just because it's an iPhone made by Apple.
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I just think there is a big difference between what you call a 'defect' and what is truly a 'design' that you don't agree with. The fact that you can return it for a full refund is enough, such that you can go get one that has a design that you prefer.

If a small percentage (<1%) of people experienced the laptop issue you describe, and millions more did not experience it, would you demand that Dell/HP/Acer design a new one that met your expectations? What if you demanded a new design, and Apple simply designed a new piece of hardware that has a 'bumper' built in (similar to ALL other smart phones on the market), would that be deferent enough than putting a bumper on it yourself?

I understand that if you bought something that ends up being different than you expected, based on their advertising, then you should be able to return it. You can do that.
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Bringing the topic closer to what this forum is about, if you get a cigar that is plugged, do you expect the manufacturer to recall all of their cigars, and hire different rollers? Or 'redesign' their cigars? I think that you might just smoke other cigars in the future, and that's not a bad option :-)
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Nice Comparison, Ken!:-)
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:-):-):-)
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No, but we all know that the responsible B&M's who earn and deserve our business will replace that plugged cigar free of charge with another that is (hopefully) not plugged. So would most factories if you happen to live close enough to be buying directly from them. :-)

There is a big difference between producing a design which some people don't like, and personally I quite like the design of the new iPhone, and a design which has a serious and intrinsic flaw at the hardware level. The new iPhone is the latter.
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I know 6 friends who personally own an iPhone 4 (including my wife), probably 2 dozen friends online (from iphone apps, games, etc), 3-4 customers at work, and the 3 employees working at Best Buy Mobile yesterday when I went to purchase the wife's iPhone 4.

I've asked every single one of these people since the release of the iPhone 4 if they have had any problems making phone calls or notice bad signal strength when on the phone. Know how many people said yes? ZERO

And do you know why? Because all of the people running around complaining about how bad the phone is online and in real life, DON'T OWN THE iPHONE 4!!! Seriously! Listen to someone rant about this antenna problem with the phone, and then ask if they personally own one and if they are speaking from first-hand experience. I'd bet ya a fiver that 9/10 would say no.

If this was a huge problem across the board I think we would all be pretty pissed off that we spent $200-$700 on a phone that can't make calls! I am perfectly happy with Apple's decision today, my wife will get a free phone cover and her phone will CONTINUE to work just fine, like it did today and the day before.
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Yup, sort of like a ....



... wait for it ....



"full refund"!!

But would they also give you a pony? :-)
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Care to explain exactly how expecting Apple to replace defective units with upgraded hardware as it becomes available instead taking the attitude of "either accept this band-aid for our defective hardware or return it and bugger off" is like wanting a refund and a pony too? I hate to break it to you but that's effectively what Steve Jobs announced today and it was a very arrogant attitude to take towards his customers. Apple dropped the ball on this device, period. While it's great that they're taking some measures to offer a solution to those customers who are affected by it, the real solution is to offer to replace the defective hardware.

That's what any reputable company that cares about keeping it's customers does. Offering a full refund instead of charging a restocking fee just let's people return your product. The people that take advantage of that offer are lost customers.... because they are highly unlikely to re-buy another iPhone on Jobs' announcement that the hardware problem has been "fixed". Seriously, I enjoy my iPhone 3Gs and think it's a great device and all but the whole "Apple mentality" of blindly accepting whatever His Jobs-ness throws out there just confounds me.
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