Steve Jobs put the record straight at the Apple press conference, and there will be no iPhone recall. Image from Wikimedia Commons

In the wake of turmoil over a possibly faulty antenna on the iPhone 4.0, an Apple Press Conference was scheduled for today. A potential iPhone recall was on a lot of minds, but there will be no iPhone recall. Instead, iPhone 4.0 owners can sign up to get a free case for their iPhones to fix the antenna problem. Apple CEO Steve Jobs addressed the antenna as well as some other issues at the Apple press conference.

Hardware issues dubbed ‘Antennagate’

A partial transcript is available on the Wall Street Journal website. Steve Jobs began the Apple press conference by referring to the issue as “Antennagate”  and saying the issue is common to all smartphones, not just the iPhone 4.0. He pointed out that other smartphones, like the Blackberry, have the same problem.  Jobs did confess that the iPhone 4.0 dropped more calls than the iPhone 3GS, but the rate at which the new iPhone dropped calls was less than one more per 100 calls than the iPhone 3GS.

What will Apple do about it?

There are bumpers for the phone, but there aren’t enough to go around. Instead, Apple is offering a free case to everyone that owns an iPhone 4.0. The offer will be good until Sept. 30, and anyone who bought bumpers can get a refund for the bumpers and a free case. However, those who bought a case from a third party for iPhone 4.0 won’t get refunds. For the next 30 days, people who still aren’t happy with the iPhone 4.0 with or without the free case from Apple can return the phone for a full refund.

What ‘Antennagate’ was all about

What happened in “Antennagate” was that first, a design flaw common to all smartphones was discovered in the iPhone 4.0.  It drops an almost negligent amount of calls more than the iPhone 3GS. Essentially, what happened was that a small amount of people (just more than 0.5 percent actually complained to Apple about the phone) noticed this flaw. It was then exploited by the media.

Apple is working on fixing it and spent $100 million designing the antenna to begin with. AT&T reported to Apple that less than 2 percent of iPhone 4.0 buyers have returned their phones, compared with 6 percent of iPhone 3GS buyers.

Sources

Wall Street Journal live coverage

Image from Flikr.

After AT&T delayed the launch of the iPhone multimedia messaging service (iPhone MMS) multiple times, the new, free feature will finally be available on iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. If you have an iPhone 2G or iPhone 1G, the wait is not over for you. There’s no word on when iPhone MMS will be available for those models. It might take as long as reaching tax resolution or longer.

PC World reports that AT&T, the exclusive iPhone carrier, would not allow iPhone MMS to launch until the network was ready to handle the additional traffic. PC World also thinks that this was an unnecessary precaution because “the service in question has been out for years on other handsets and hasn’t exactly taken the mobile world by storm.”

What is iPhone MMS?

The new iPhone MMS feature allows users to send photos, audio recordings, video clips or contact information and has a short messaging service. AT&T expects iPhone MMS to create record traffic volumes. In June, when Apple announce the iPhone MMS was ready, AT&T was concerned that it would crash the network.

While the same service on other phones has not generated groundbreaking levels of traffic, in my experience iPhone users have a tendency to take advantage of every feature they can, whether they need to or not.

Analyzing iPhone owners

Why do I think that iPhone users will take advantage of iPhone MMS more often than others have used multimedia messaging services? Well, let’s start with the fact that I at any given moment, in any place, I can tell you which of the people who I know in the room have an iPhone.

I do not know what type of phone anyone else has. I’m not even sure what type of phone my boyfriend has. But I know who has an iPhone. That is because iPhone users are constantly pulling out their phones to play games, look at pictures and most often to show people something after saying “Hey, check out how cool this is.” So my guess is that AT&T traffic will indeed spike because iPhone users will want to use iPhone MMS just because they can.

The whole truth

Is it fair for me to stereotype iPhone users? Maybe not. But any iPhone users reading this already know the truth: I taunt because I am jealous. I can’t tell you how many times I have been sitting on a bus or in a waiting room or some other situation where I really wished I could listen to music or play a game or surf the Internet on my phone.

If I had an iPhone, I would probably use iPhone MMS. As it is, I often send my friends songs through instant messaging services online. I am not much of a picture-taker, but I think if I had a device that could both take photos and send them to people that would probably change. I would probably use it on a daily basis, just to send my friends photos with messages attached that said things like “Look at this cute puppy!” or “Get a load of this guy’s hat.”

I am aware of the fact that this is what I would use my iPhone for, which is why I haven’t sprang for one yet. Someday, though, I’m sure I’ll realize I cannot live without being connected to the internet at all time. I’m already pretty close.