My Thoughts on Apple's Mea Culpa

So, Apple had an intimate press conference to address the antenna issue with the new iPhone 4. I didn't get to watch the conference, but I did read up on various web sites while they were live blogging/chatting about what Steve Jobs had to say.

In a nutshell, Apple admitted that the iPhone 4 glitch, but so do all smartphones. They threw out numbers to try and convince people that this issue is not a big deal, and to make customers happy they will be giving out free Bumpers/cases or refunds for those who already bought a Bumper.

As a potential buyer, this press conference didn't convince me to take the risk on the iPhone 4 just yet. I wanted to hear what Apple is planning on doing to fix the hardware problem, but the only solution I read was, "here's a free rubber band for your phone". That doesn't make me want an iPhone 4 any more than I did yesterday, and if anything I'm less likely to purchase one today.

The Bumper offer seems like a temporary fix rather than a real solution. If Jobs had said our new batch of iPhone 4's will have a new antenna design, then I'd be willing to be patient, but I didn't read anything coming close to that. Apple may have glossed over the idea by saying it will continue to think of fixes and yadda yadda yadda, but since they've known about this problem for a while now it shouldn't take that long to come up with a real solution. Heck, they should have been expecting this and been prepared, but apparently they didn't think it was going to be a big deal.

Also, the attitude of "every smartphone has issues" and "we painted a bulls-eye on ours" was kind of a cop-out, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I know you have to have an ego to lead such a large corporation, but using the excuse that this happens and it's just not us (I'll even show you how our competitors have the same problems) seems kind of cowardly. Jobs should have taken the hit, without pointing fingers at others, manned up and outlined a real solution rather than giving away a $30 rubber band-aid.

Did today's presser move me closer to Android? Not really. I still have a "devil you know" mentality, and so far I haven't read anything that has sold me on getting an Android phone (the HTC Aria in particular). It's not like I need a new phone now (although my 1st Gen iPhone did start acting funny when the new version came out), and I can wait a few more months to see if Apple starts acting right. The thing is, we shouldn't have to wait for a fix...