Death Grip
AT&T still smarting from antennagate
February 9, 2011: 10:39 AM ETMaking sure reporters know about every flaw in the Verizon iPhone
Verizon iPhone death grip. Source: iLounge
You can almost hear the pent-up frustration in the e-mail one of my colleagues at CNN Money received Tuesday from AT&T (T) public relations:
Hi:
I urge you to view the video you can find when you click on the link.
Verizon said the launch of the iPhone would be "flawless." Their word, not mine.
All I ask is that you ask Verizon about this as vigorously as you questioned us about similar issues last year.
The link, of course, is to the now famous 7-minute video of iLounge's Charles Starrett demonstrating how to reduce four bars on a Verizon (VZ) iPhone to one bar by wrapping your hand around the phone's external antenna in a "death grip." Starrett was also able to attenuate the phone's Wi-Fi's signal by holding it horizontally in what he called a "death hug."
Steve Jobs will tell you that all cell phones lose signal strength if gripped too firmly. The problem with Apple's (AAPL) original iPhone 4, however, was that you could interfere with reception with just one finger.
The iLounge video, posted below the fold, has already come under some good-natured ribbing. "Covering the iPhone in four feet of concrete will also likely affect signal strength," wrote TechCrunch's MG Siegler. "We're still waiting on the video proof of this, but consider yourselves warned."
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Apple closes the Antennagate
The company will end its free iPhone 4 case program on Sept. 30
After more than three months of complaints, lawsuits and a global media frenzy that culminated in an extraordinary Steve Jobs' mea culpa, Apple (AAPL) quietly closed the book Friday on the story that even Jobs came to call Antennagate. As of Sept. 30, the company will no longer automatically provide free cases for iPhone 4s or offer a MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Sep 10, 2010 3:28 PM ET -
iPhone 4 survey: 17% fewer dropped calls than iPhone 3GS
ChangeWave poll finds 93% satisfied with their new iPhone, down from 99% last year.
Given the intense attention paid to the iPhone 4's antenna in the weeks after its release, the issue played a surprising small role in a survey of 213 new owners begun three days after Steve Jobs offered them a free case.
Although one in five said it was "somewhat" or a "very big" problem, 64% of the respondents MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Aug 4, 2010 11:12 AM ET -
How to get a free iPhone 4 case
Apple issues $29 refunds and launches an app that gives customers a choice of 8 free cases
Apple (AAPL) on Friday made good on the promise Steve Jobs made -- with some ill humor -- a week earlier. It issued refunds to customers who had purchased its $29 Bumper and it launched a free app that gives iPhone 4 owners who have a problem with its external antenna a choice eight MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 23, 2010 12:21 PM ET -
The Street awaits Apple's Q3 earnings
Analysts issue a flurry of last-minute adjustments in advance of Tuesday's quarterly report
Apple's (AAPL) one-two punch -- Steve Jobs' "Antennagate" press conference Friday and the company's Q3 earnings report scheduled for Tuesday -- left analysts struggling to stay on top of two competing narratives.
On one hand they had the firestorm of negative press coverage that helped carve nearly $30 billion out of Apple's market cap over the past three weeks MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 19, 2010 1:10 PM ET -
How Steve Jobs turned a finger spot into a death grip
The PR magician has done it again, dumbfounding both the media and rival companies. I'm in awe.
If anyone can somehow remember last week (I think maybe Consumer Reports might be the only one who can), the issue with the iPhone 4 was that when you connected the two antennas with your flesh, the signal dropped. I've posted a few of the hundreds of YouTubes below showing this (watch them quick MORE
Seth Weintraub - Jul 19, 2010 11:39 AM ET -
Apple's elusive press conference video
The company was quick to post the "Antennagate" press conference. It's about that link ...
[UPDATE: The problem I describe below was fixed shortly after this was posted, which may explain why so many readers suggested in their comments that I'd finally lost my marbles.]
I'm as sick of writing about the iPhone 4's antenna as you probably are of reading about it. But since nobody else seems to have taken note MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 18, 2010 9:55 AM ET -
Reactions to Steve Jobs' performance
A sampling of opinions -- the good, the bad and the ugly
Given how much attention Apple (AAPL) was getting before Steve Jobs' "Antennagate" press conference Friday -- CNBC greeted it with a countdown clock and eight simultaneous talking heads -- it's not surprising that his performance got widely reviewed. We counted 131 headlines on Techmeme Saturday morning, not including the 52 links to live blogs of the event.
Reactions were predictably MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 17, 2010 6:52 AM ETPosted in: Apple, Consumer Reports, Death Grip, Gene Munster, iPhone 4, Katy Huberty, Micheal Arrington, Press conference, Steve Jobs -
Did Apple solve its PR problem?
The key takeaways from Steve Jobs' "death grip" press conference
Three weeks and a day after Apple (AAPL) launched the iPhone 4, Steve Jobs took the stage to address the company's biggest public relations crisis since his 2008 medical leave. The full video is available here.
Here, in a nutshell, is what he had to say:
Although Apple sold well over 3 million iPhone 4s in three weeks, it's not perfect.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 16, 2010 2:05 PM ET
No phones are MORE -
Live: Apple iPhone 4 press conference, 10 a.m. PT
I'm here at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, ready to live blog the iPhone 4 press conference when it starts at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET.
It's a critical moment for Apple's (AAPL) most important product: over the past week, the pressure has mounted for the company to address complaints that the phone can drop its reception when users touch part of the antenna, which runs along the outside of the body. MORE
Jon Fortt - Jul 16, 2010 10:27 AM ET
