Death Grip

How iOS 4.0.1 changes iPhone's bars

The verdict: a more accurate signal display, but no change on the underlying antenna issue

The folks at Anandtech who did the original analysis of the iPhone signal attenuation problem have tested the latest iPhone software updates, both iOS 4.1 beta and the official version iOS 4.0.1 that Apple (AAPL) released on Thursday.

Their verdict: Apple, for what it's worth, did what it promised it would do -- it made the bars MORE

iPhone 4: 50% chance of an in-store fix

A new coating on the antenna -- offered free -- is the most likely scenario, says an analyst

In a note to clients issued Thursday, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster gave the odds -- and priced out -- several possible outcomes of the iPhone 4 press conference that Apple (AAPL) has scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. Eastern).

According to Munster -- who says he has no inside knowledge of MORE

What Steve Jobs will say on Friday

Several scenarios have been proposed. This is the one that sounds best to us.

Apple (AAPL) has finally acknowledged that its new iPhone has a serious public relations problem, and the company has responded by scheduling -- with extraordinarily short notice -- a Friday press conference on its campus in Cupertino, Calif.

The plan is to get what it considers the key media outlets and opinion makers in technology in the same MORE

Apple to address iPhone 4 issue Friday

Invites reporters on short notice to Cupertino for an extraordinary press conference

After three weeks of mixed reviews, user complaints, short-tempered e-mails, class-action lawsuits, falling share prices and ribbing from late-night comedians, Apple (AAPL) seems to have woken up to the fact that it has a problem.

On Wednesday afternoon its PR staff began contacting reporters to invite them to a special event Friday at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) in MORE

iPhone 4: Letterman's Top 10

Apple's antenna woes have descended to the level of late night comedy

It's hard to say which is more insulting, a top Microsoft (MSFT) executive comparing the iPhone 4 to Windows Vista or David Letterman using Apple's (AAPL) new phone as the launching pad for one of his Top 10 schticks.

But you can decide for yourself which is funnier.

Here's the Microsoft joke, delivered by COO Kevin Turner in his keynote to MORE

Analysts weigh in on iPhone Death Grip

Not that big a deal, is their consensus. The market, naturally, ignores them.

On Monday, Consumer Reports decided it couldn't recommend the iPhone 4. On Tuesday and Wednesday, analysts who track Apple (AAPL) offered clients their take on what it means for the company.

Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty saw it as a "PR problem that Apple needs to address to preserve the brand and loyal customer base." Kaufman Bros.' Shaw Wu MORE

iPhone 4: The Consumer Reports fiasco

The staff loved the phone. They hated the phone. They gave it their highest rating

It's been a wild ride for Apple (AAPL) and Consumer Reports, and nobody came out of it looking good.

It started Monday morning, when the magazine's staff -- catching up to a two-week old story -- announced on its website that it couldn't recommend the iPhone 4 unless Apple did something about the phone's reception issues.

The report, MORE

iPhone 4: The duct tape solution

Consumer Reports is not the first to offer a workaround to the signal-weakening Death Grip

After minimizing the iPhone 4's antenna issues on its Electronics Blog 10 days ago, Consumers Reports made news Monday by announcing that it could not recommend Apple's (AAPL) newest smartphone phone after all. It had reexamined the signal attenuation problem and determined that it was real.

Then it did something unusual: It offered a funky, "affordable" workaround.

"Cover MORE

Death Grip: Apple blames the bars

The problem with the iPhone 4, the company says, is that its formula was "totally wrong"

After more than a week of official silence, Apple responded Friday to widespread complaints about reception problems on its newest iPhone. Its answer, issued in a "Dear iPhone 4 users" letter, is surprising in several respects.

For one thing, it contains Apple's (AAPL) first official acknowledgment that what Steve Jobs called a "non issue" is in MORE

iPhone 4 ad racks up 1.8 million hits

The spot Advertising Age calls "wordless and classy" is the week's No. 2 viral video

Whatever Apple (AAPL) paid for the iPhone 4 advertisement that's running on prime time TV this week, it was money well spent.

Not only is the piece getting warm reviews, but with 1.8 million hits it was No. 2 on Advertising Age's viral video chart, right behind "How do you like it shaved?," a Gillette (PG) commercial MORE