Buying iPhones

At the press conference on July 16th. Apple highlighted the importance of having a case to get the highest performance of your iPhone 4 in low signal strength cell zones.

Apple plans to give iPhone 4 owners a free case until September 30th in order to address any concerns their customers might have over what some consider to be a design flaw for its overplayed antenna and signal problems.

CEO Steve Jobs, Apple Inc. made the announcement during a press conference at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., Friday morning in response to a Public Relations maelstrom reported with the iPhone 4, which was unveiled in June.

iPhone 4 owners can apply for the free bumper (a case that protects just the outer rim of the phone) online at Apple’s Web site, and owners who already purchased a bumper or other style of iPhone 4 case will get a full refund, Jobs said.

Steve Jobs said, “We’re not perfect, phones aren’t perfect. But we want to make all our users happy.”

Jobs said Apple can’t make enough bumpers for of all 3 million iPhone 4 customers, so it’s negotiated with third-party manufacturers and will offer customers a choice of cases.
Apple plans to continue offering these free cases until September 30.

Jobs admitted that Apple and SmartPhones are not perfect. In a clever turn of play Steve Job’s shone the light on competitor smartphone manufacturers and had video demonstration of how products such as the BlackBerry and the Droid display similar drops in cell phone signal strength when held in a certain way. In fact ,the instructions and owners manuals of these phones also admit that signal drops can occur if the phones are held a certain way. Signal impedance and attenuation are just facts of life for microwaves and us carbon based lifeforms.

Communicator Signal Problems, will we still have them in the future?

After the press conference ended, Apple posted photos, videos, and details about its $100,000,000.00 testing facility that were shown during the event. The signal issue occurs when iPhone 4 users touch the seam on the lower-left side of the iPhone 4 where there is a gap in the iPhone 4’s external casing which doubles as an antenna.
Jobs said just 0.55 percent of iPhone 4 owners called Apple to voice conerns about the signal problems and return rates are lower than they were for the iPhone 3GS.

In areas with good cellular signal strength, the clarity and quality of the iPhone 4s voice call quality is praiseworthy. Experts have weighed in and said that the external antennae doubling as a primary structure for a phone will be copied by competitor phone makers in the future.

What do you think?

So you wanted to get an iPhone 4 on July 30th but you knew you did not want to stand in line all night and all day to get it.  You’re a regular consumer and not some kind of Apple Fanatic after all.

So you took the day off work for the big occasion.  Somehow you convinced your boss you were sick or took a vacation day or whatever. You gotta do what you gotta do.

You guessed right and thought there are going to be major line ups at the Major Retail Outlets like FutureShop, BestBuy and especially at the Apple Stores; just like the launch of the iPhone 4 in the States.

So your plan was to out smart the crowds and go find an out of the way Rogers or Bell or other Wireless store in a smaller town like Georgetown or Milton or Burlington.  You get there at 9:00 AM only to realize a lot of other smart people thought of the same plan.  And lo and behold some of the Apple Fanatics beat you to it and they were there at 6:00 AM with coffee and donuts and lawn chairs and everything. 

So you guessed it, the Rogers store line is not moving because of a Rogers Customer Registration System crash. And then to top it off, the Rogers staff member sticks their head out of the door to tell the line that is 16 people deep that they only have 10 phones left and none are 32GBs.  And yeah, there are no White iPhone 4s in the whole country.  So, no phone for you.

Here are the Five things you needed to know and still need to know if you are going to get a phone in the next week.

1. Apple Stores get the most inventory and are being replenished from the Apple Mothership in the States daily. Somehow.
2. Rogers will have system failures and extensive delays when more than 3 people try to activate an iPhone 4 at the same time.  1 Rogers upgrade customer at the front of the line will hold everyone else up in line for hours.
3. The fastest way in and out of the Apple Store is to not line up with the iPhone buyers but with the second line for all other Apple Products.  Go inquire about some software or the Magic Trackpad and you’ll be in faster than that line of 50 people waiting over there. Then once you’re in you ask about your other product but then ask the Apple Genius for a iPhone 4 Carrier Unlocked 32 GB model.  He’ll get it for you and you can avoid the delays caused by Point 2.
4. Those people in that 50 deep line are buying more than one phone once they get through that Apple Store Door.  I watched with alarm when I saw a customer talk to an Apple Genius and he comes back with 4 phones in his arms.  All for just 1 of those 50 guys.  And more people were showing up all day. Around 4 PM they ran out of 32 GB models.
5. Get to an Apple Store as early in the morning as you can. And unless you are buying the Carrier Unlocked model be prepared to spend a couple of hours in the store. See Point 2 again.

Or you could just wait for another 2 or 3 weeks.