Is iPhone 4 Apple’s Katrina?

Apple has been on the hot seat lately with the iPhone 4 fiasco. I have written about iPhone several times lately and explained how Apple has publicly admitted that their signal bars on all iPhones are fake. They insist that there is no flaw in the design, instead they claim that the problem is with the software because Apple is shocked to find out that their engineers used an inaccurate formula to calculate the signal strength.

“…we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.”

As I mentioned in my blog Apple Publicly Admits that iPhone Signal Bars are Fake, Apple claims that the problem is with the software but then also claims that a hardware can fix the problem. Well, not too many people, including the most ardent Apple supporters, are not buying Apple’s explanations. Of course, Steve Jobs comments (“just avoid holding it that way”) didn’t help much. There are talks about class action lawsuits, and iPhone 4 recalls. Instead of admitting their design flaws, Apple insists that iPhone 4’s “wireless performance is the best we’ve ever shipped”.

Major news publication, including New York Times and San Francisco Chronicles have been very critical of Apple and have expressed their opinion on how Apple can recover from the iPhone disaster.

Consumer Report Gives iPhone 4 a Thumbs-down

With images and videos on the Web of how you can put a tape to workaround iPhone’s reception problem, Apple’s shares are down and just when you thought things were going to calm down, the consumer report comes out saying iPhones are flawed and they can’t recommend iPhone 4.

“It’s official. Consumer Reports’ engineers have just completed testing the iPhone 4, and have confirmed that there is a problem with its reception………….Due to this problem, we can’t recommend the iPhone 4.”

“Our findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that the iPhone 4’s signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software that “mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.”

Apple’s Katrina

If you recall, the hurricane Katrina disaster and the fallout from the way things were handled created such a huge outcry that Katrina has now become a part of American vocabulary. Whenever there is a case of incompetency and cover up, people associate it with Katrina. While some people may call this Apple’s Karina, the fact is that Apple is caught between a rock and a hard place. If it admits that they knew all along that the iPhone design was a flaw then they are admitting to lying and possible lawsuits. If they don’t admit, they are still in trouble with the public because not many people are buying what Apple is saying about the iPhone 4 problems and now the Consumer Report has confirmed in independent testing that Apple was not telling the truth.

I don’t know if the iPhone fiasco will end up being Apple’s Katrina or not but I do know that Apple’s image has been significantly tarnished because of the way they’ve handled the situation. In my opinion, Apple has not handled the iPhone disaster very well but I don’t think I am going to stop using my Mac because of this, or discount all the wonderful products that Apple has produced over the years. Everyone makes mistakes and Apple has made a big one.