Did Apple's Response Help or Hurt Apple?

Apple put out a news release as a formal response to the reception problems of the newest generation of its cell phone: the iPhone 4.

The release reads, in part: "...gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones...We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same— the iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped." -Apple

Who is Apple trying to fool? Consumers are smarter than that! I do not see Blackberry users lined up at AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, or Sprint complaining of reception problems. No Droid users are piling up at Verizon saying, "I have got to hang my Droid by a string and put it on speaker to get good reception." The fact is that there was a serious design flaw that Apple's Quality Control failed to address and follow through.

As far as the statement, "the iPhone 4's wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped", it does not hold up. If you watched the iPhone 4 launch, there was no problem with the reception of the iPhone 3GS. It was sitting right next to the iPhone 4.  The iPhone 3GS and all of the phones and gadgets the audience were using didn't seem to have a problem, including many with Sprint's new Evo 4G.

Apple needs to own up to the problem, apologize, and make things right for their loyal customers without excuses or trying to "bring other manufacturers" into a problem that is unique, in its scale, only to the iPhone 4. That is the only solution that, though late, would be acceptable. Whether or not Apple's response helped is up to the jury and ultimate judge: the consumers. We consumers will vote with our cash to decide whether Apple gets a free pass or whether the game changes on Apple. I trust Apple with get its act together, but meanwhile time will tell what the outcome will be for Apple and the iPhone 4. I just hope that the next generation iPad doesn't follow the design of the iPhone 4, as with the current iPad being designed to look like a large iPhone 3GS.