Apple? It just works? Not anymore!
The desirability of the iPhone has been negatively affected by various issues since iPhone 4
was launched in 2010. It is safe to say that the iPhone 4 is, perhaps, the worst version of the iPhone!
From the first day's Antennaegate to the new year's Alarm-ageddon, Apple needs to smooth things out quickly lest they be beaten by the growing competition.
2010 is generally not a good year for the iPhone. And so far, 2011 is NOT enjoying a good start as well.
Antennaegate
On the first day of iPhone 4's release in July 2010, there was the "antennaegate". As immediately noticed by customers, iPhone 4 seemed to consistently lose signal reception when held in a certain way.
Apple originally reacted by teaching people how to properly hold their iPhone 4s.
Unacceptable.
Steve Jobs then exercised his class of crab mentality when he tried to drag other manufacturers down claiming that they have the same reception problem when you hold their devices in a certain way. Of course, the claims were strongly rebutted by the other manufacturers who wasted no time to correctly point out that Steve Jobs is NOT their official spokesperson.
Apple claimed manufacturing problems with the white iPhone 4. Whatever the reason was, what the people heard was that they could not deliver. Period. No explanation would sweeten up this one.
Glass = Cracks and Breaks
Then there were reports that the iPhone 4 is actually more prone to cracking and breaking. Although Apple claimed that they are using a specially re-enforced glass material, based on studies, the aluminosilicate glass could be just as breakable as the glass used in the previous versions of the iPhone.
iPhone 4 uses aluminosilicate glass to cover the front and the back of the device. That makes the iPhone 4 twice as crackable and breakable. Anywhere that crack or break appears, it's still a crack and a break that no users would ever, ever want.
Apple's fix was delayed so Americans were not spared from the bug when USA switched from DST back to standard time last November 7, 2010.
Alarm-ageddon (part 2)
2011 started with yet another iPhone 4 alarm issue. For some reason, the alarm feature does not work anymore. The (repeat) issue plagued iPhone 4s around the world! What Apple claimed to be a problem only on the first two days of 2011 did not hold true as more and more news about the issue persisted come Monday, January 3, 2011.
Dissatisfaction guaranteed, Apple was bombarded with complaints from all over. Oh, what a way to start the new year!!!
Apple needs to clean up its act... quick! Apple products have long been regarded for beautiful innovative designs in addition to having dependable and reliable features.
The success of Apple is being pulled down by the seemingly increasing degradation of the quality of their products and services. This is not good news. After all, Apple still has to prove itself now that the competition is growing vs. RIM's Blackberry, Google's Android, Windows Phone and even against Nokia (despite their confusing OS plans... which is another story).
Apple gained points during the 2010 holiday season. With a bad publicity stunt to jumpstart 2011, I wonder if they can keep that growth for the rest of the year...
Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Mobile OS Market Share
Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Mobile OS Market Share
was launched in 2010. It is safe to say that the iPhone 4 is, perhaps, the worst version of the iPhone!From the first day's Antennaegate to the new year's Alarm-ageddon, Apple needs to smooth things out quickly lest they be beaten by the growing competition.
2010 is generally not a good year for the iPhone. And so far, 2011 is NOT enjoying a good start as well.
Antennaegate
On the first day of iPhone 4's release in July 2010, there was the "antennaegate". As immediately noticed by customers, iPhone 4 seemed to consistently lose signal reception when held in a certain way.
Apple originally reacted by teaching people how to properly hold their iPhone 4s.
Unacceptable.
Steve Jobs then exercised his class of crab mentality when he tried to drag other manufacturers down claiming that they have the same reception problem when you hold their devices in a certain way. Of course, the claims were strongly rebutted by the other manufacturers who wasted no time to correctly point out that Steve Jobs is NOT their official spokesperson.
Bad move.
So, Apple tried to sweeten up to buyers by offering free cases, which sort of fixed the problem somehow. They also released a software fix to make sure that the iPhone 4 could report the signal reception correctly.
Put plainly, Apple's solutions sucked! Truth be told, iPhone 4's design was flawed... and Apple had no way to fix it.
Meanwhile, someone from Apple lost his job... perhaps more...
White Out
Next was the delay of the white iPhone 4... perhaps a cancellation altogether. Although Apple confirmed a spring 2011 release, it may actually overlap with the next iPhone version instead.So, Apple tried to sweeten up to buyers by offering free cases, which sort of fixed the problem somehow. They also released a software fix to make sure that the iPhone 4 could report the signal reception correctly.
Put plainly, Apple's solutions sucked! Truth be told, iPhone 4's design was flawed... and Apple had no way to fix it.
Meanwhile, someone from Apple lost his job... perhaps more...
White Out
Apple claimed manufacturing problems with the white iPhone 4. Whatever the reason was, what the people heard was that they could not deliver. Period. No explanation would sweeten up this one.
Glass = Cracks and Breaks
Then there were reports that the iPhone 4 is actually more prone to cracking and breaking. Although Apple claimed that they are using a specially re-enforced glass material, based on studies, the aluminosilicate glass could be just as breakable as the glass used in the previous versions of the iPhone.
iPhone 4 uses aluminosilicate glass to cover the front and the back of the device. That makes the iPhone 4 twice as crackable and breakable. Anywhere that crack or break appears, it's still a crack and a break that no users would ever, ever want.
Alarm-ageddon (part 1)
Last October 30, 2010, an iPhone 4 glitch proved to be troublesome when it failed to recognize London's scheduled switch from DST back to standard time. Alarms failed to work as expected and it caused quite a stir from British users, even causing most of them to report late for work.Apple's fix was delayed so Americans were not spared from the bug when USA switched from DST back to standard time last November 7, 2010.
Alarm-ageddon (part 2)
2011 started with yet another iPhone 4 alarm issue. For some reason, the alarm feature does not work anymore. The (repeat) issue plagued iPhone 4s around the world! What Apple claimed to be a problem only on the first two days of 2011 did not hold true as more and more news about the issue persisted come Monday, January 3, 2011.
Dissatisfaction guaranteed, Apple was bombarded with complaints from all over. Oh, what a way to start the new year!!!
Apple needs to clean up its act... quick! Apple products have long been regarded for beautiful innovative designs in addition to having dependable and reliable features.
The success of Apple is being pulled down by the seemingly increasing degradation of the quality of their products and services. This is not good news. After all, Apple still has to prove itself now that the competition is growing vs. RIM's Blackberry, Google's Android, Windows Phone and even against Nokia (despite their confusing OS plans... which is another story).
Apple gained points during the 2010 holiday season. With a bad publicity stunt to jumpstart 2011, I wonder if they can keep that growth for the rest of the year...
Comments
Don't worry your little Apple-hating head about it. Apple will continue to grow for the foreseeable future at the incredible rate it has shown for the past ten years.
You actually spent time writing this column. Whiner.
FYI folks: Antennagate=FUD. The iPhone 4 has significantly better reception than the 3GS. Just ask anyone who actually owns one.
No white iPhone? Greek tragedy! Burn Steve at the stake!
Alarmaggedon? Please. This is a minor bug with a posted workaround (just set alarms to recurring mode until mid-week). Why not talk about how Hotmail misplaced millions of e-mails this past week.
Next time, try writing about something with which you have first hand knowledge.
You mean the iPhone 4 always came in black. There have been previous models of iPhones sold in white before.
Apple makes 12 other types of devices in multiple configurations, not including monitors and accessories, and you're complain is about 3 issues? One was FUD, second is about how the device is handled (and dropped) and the third had a workaround. I'm not even considering the white iPhone an issue.
You are truly clueless.
The way Apple responds to these issues shows how seriously they treat them and how much they believe it affects them as a company.
The issues encountered by Apple's iPhone 4 were sensational because they were not the kind of problems expected from a not so average product. In fact, they are not the kind of problems anyone expects to come from Apple. I say this with a lot of respect for Apple who've been making many successful innovations in the past consecutive number of years.
The iPhone has always been a great super smartphone and this site acknowledges that, from the very beginning, it changed the mobile industry in many levels.
However, Apple needs to review their processes and solve the problem why there's a degradation of quality in their iPhone line. The mistakes with iPhone 4 should never happen again in any future versions of the iPhone.
I've made minor corrections to the article... Thanks!
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