Apple’s much speculated upon press conference regarding iPhone 4’s many signal issues is currently underway .
Gizmodo and the WSJ are liveblogging the talk, and it appears Apple started off very “defensively,” with videos of analogous smartphones with the same issue. Jobs says that less than .5% of users have called Applecare to report the issue, and seems to indicate Apple knew about the problem but didn’t believe it would be so widespread.
Also pegged as a dropped call culprit is AT&T, says Gizmodo :
Jobs says AT&T logs dropped calls, and although they can’t release the absolute number because it’s “confidential and proprietary”, they can talk about the difference between iPhone 4 and 3GS.
It looks like free cases will be the biggest news out of the iPhone 4 apology event, and we’ll update with details when they become clear.
Update, WSJ :
“If you are still not happy, before or after you get a free case, you can bring your iPhone 4 back within 30 days,” says Jobs. Re-stocking fee waived. “We are going to take care of everyone,” says Jobs.
Update:
AT&T contracts could be refunded, although it isn’t clear under what terms or to what degree.
Jobs calls the Bloomberg report that the antenna issue was readily apparent before launch “bullshit” and “a total crock.”
Update:
There will be no refunds on third party cases purchased by iPhone 4 customers, and it is unclear if there are enough cases distributed by Apple to cover the antenna problem in the short-term.
Update , Jobs responds to a question about what Apple “learned” from the debacle:
There are some things we know that we did learn here. One thing is how much we love our customers and how we are going to take care of them. We were stunned and upset and embarrassed by the Consumer Reports stuff, and the reason we didn’t say more is because we didn’t know enough. If we’d have done this event a week and a half ago, we wouldn’t have had half the data we have today.
TL;DR summary:
iPhone 4 users have until September 30th to get a free case or bumper to address the issue. There will possibly be an option to get out of AT&T contracts, although the terms are not currently clear. Jobs said he needs “space” after dealing with what is certainly not “antennagate.” He would also like you to stop posting his email replies on the internet, because he finds that rude.
