So its all over the usual suspect newswires this morning, the blogosphere quoting "people close to the matter," that "Apple's CEO was warned" about a problem with the iPhone 4 antenna.
And the stock gets trashed under its $250 strike in a flash, in the 10-minute dead-zone prior to the market open. Very convenient - nobody to stand in the way.
But lets look at this sensibly. So what if an engineer mentioned there could be a problem with an external antenna - a year ago? If he was the "chief RF engineer" on the project, as the Bloomberg story alludes to, he would have been insane not to mention it "could" be a problem [if it wasn't executed properly].
Mentioning a concern, and "warning the CEO" there was no way of avoiding a problem are two very different things.
Who is to say they company didn't know about the potential for problems and the phone was actually meant to ship with the steel band coated in the first place. That would be a QA problem with the component supplier, and Apple dropping the ball for sure, but not a design defect. More of a component defect which went undetected for a batch.
And the stock gets trashed under its $250 strike in a flash, in the 10-minute dead-zone prior to the market open. Very convenient - nobody to stand in the way.
But lets look at this sensibly. So what if an engineer mentioned there could be a problem with an external antenna - a year ago? If he was the "chief RF engineer" on the project, as the Bloomberg story alludes to, he would have been insane not to mention it "could" be a problem [if it wasn't executed properly].
Mentioning a concern, and "warning the CEO" there was no way of avoiding a problem are two very different things.
Who is to say they company didn't know about the potential for problems and the phone was actually meant to ship with the steel band coated in the first place. That would be a QA problem with the component supplier, and Apple dropping the ball for sure, but not a design defect. More of a component defect which went undetected for a batch.
In addition, what on earth would be the big deal with a recall anyway? That antenna has to be one of the easiest components to replace, given its exterior fitting. So they do a recall, replace the antenna strip for the cost of peanuts, and re-issue the phones as replacement units for faulty phones handed in.
Cost to Apple? a few bucks per phone in materials, shipping, and work. Shipping would be minor as they'd send them to a maintenance shop in bulk. The parts probably costs about 50c. Labour? Peanuts. $1.5B as quoted by that AAPL bear in bull's clothing, Toni Sacconaghi? Don't make me laugh.
A recall would have virtually no impact on Apple's numbers because the phones would only need the antenna either replaced or possibly even just a coating applied, before being used as replacement phones, so the total cost would amount to just a few million, not a few billion, as some would have you believe. This could even be handled in-house at Apple Stores if the fix is easy enough.
This is such a big hoo-hah over nothing. Remember the "a tissue scratched my iPod nano in my pocket" scandal? Yeah, that really happened.. google it if you don't believe me.
Tomorrow Apple is holding a conference to explain itself, and it has to fess up, that's for sure. It has to treat its audience, and its customers, as adults, and not fob them off with off-hand explanations and badly written press releases or open letters. Contrary to some of the commentary on briefing.com which said its a no-win situation for Apple, all the company needs to do is admit there was a manufacturing problem it didn't know the size of, and was working on both quantifying and fixing. In the midst of this, the situation - and the company's ability to respond - was totally overwhelmed by the hysterical reaction in the media. They can explain there was meant to be a coating on the strip, and are putting one on now, and the problem is now fixed. In the meantime they can - as they always have - continue to offer anyone affected a replacement phone or a refund. On top of that, as a goodwill gesture, they should offer all purchasers to-date a free bumper or a $30 voucher as a goodwill gesture.
The story would be over, and all well with the world again, just as with the 2007 $100 rebate "scandal" when the original iPhone was launched, which turned into a massive goodwill generator for the company.
To those wondering whether Apple's reputation would take a hit over this, I say what's wrong with admitting a problem and offering a fix? Apple won't lose any credibility over that. The damage has already been done, thanks to a malicious media, a bunch of hedge funds and shill reporters, and a hysterical blogosphere led by Gizmodo - a tech blog site who bought stolen goods for commercial gain and are throwing their toys out of the pram in iPhone bashing articles day after day because they got caught red handed with the stolen phone.
Apple have always, unfailingly, offered a fair and equitable fix in the end for any faults in their products. Anyone who buys Apple product will know they often put out products which turn out to have defects. This is true for any manufacturer. However, it is a matter of absolute fact that the return rate for Apple products is way way below the industry average, particularly in the mobile handset space, where it is in the order of 4-5% versus some well-known competitors who routinely see up to a 25% return rate.
Apple always looks after its customers, in the end. Winston Churchill once said "You can always trust the Americans. In the end they will do the right thing, ... after they have eliminated all the other possibilities"
He'd say the same about Apple if he was alive today.
Apple have always, unfailingly, offered a fair and equitable fix in the end for any faults in their products. Anyone who buys Apple product will know they often put out products which turn out to have defects. This is true for any manufacturer. However, it is a matter of absolute fact that the return rate for Apple products is way way below the industry average, particularly in the mobile handset space, where it is in the order of 4-5% versus some well-known competitors who routinely see up to a 25% return rate.
Apple always looks after its customers, in the end. Winston Churchill once said "You can always trust the Americans. In the end they will do the right thing, ... after they have eliminated all the other possibilities"
He'd say the same about Apple if he was alive today.