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Comment by angstrom | Hacker News Reader

They should just offer a generic case/bumper or $10 rebate towards the sale of a range of cases with proof of purchase. Brand image restored, the world continues spinning.

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Releasing a beautiful product that needs a plastic cover to function properly (without this being made known at launch) is no way to restore brand image. That's actually a great way to become a laughing stock and make the early adopters feel like chumps. I think that woud actually be worse than doing nothing--it admits fault.

Apple has never hosted a press conference like this, I doubt it will be for something as simple as a free bumper.

Critics have always and easily posited that Apple makes shiny devices that are easily scratched up in your pocket or through day to day use. Critics have always pointed out the need for a case to "properly use" an Apple product...going as far back as the original 5GB Firewire only, Mac only iPod.

I disagree. I've had my iPhone 3G for 2 years and always carried it in my pocket. I keep keys and coins (and anything else scratchy) in a different pocket. The phone is completely unscratched (apart from tiny and unimportant scratches on the plastic back from being placed on hard surfaces).

Every iPhone case I've seen has looked ugly and clumsy to me. The 'bumpers' are better than most, but there's no way I'd be prepared to use one, even if it were free.

Totally disagree with you here. As of (at least) the 3G (and 3GS), Apple has delivered very scratch resistant products. I totally abuse my iPhones, carry them in the same pocket as my keys and coins, and I've yet to put a visible scratch on them. I've got a tiny little chip on the side of my 3GS, but that was from dropping it onto a concrete sidewalk from a height of about three feet.

If I had an iPhone4, I'd get something like this: http://www.zagg.com/invisibleshield/apple-iphone-4-cases-scr...

I don't know if it'd help the antenna issue, but they work great for protecting your devices from scratching without covering up their good looks. I've got a similar skin for my Nexus One and have been very pleased so far.

Nah, doing nothing is the ultimate slap in the face. It's like buying a watch only to find out it stops when it contacts your wrist. The guy that sells it says "It's just a watch and look it still shows correct time twice a day. Just wear it differently." Recall is most likely, but I can see the option of a recall or a case being a smart business decision. Many people would take the free case option reducing the actual cost of the recall.

It's very similar to Nintendo's position with the Wii a year or two ago. When people started throwing their Wii remotes through their TVs, Nintendo promptly apologized and started shelling out for rubberized grips, and made it very well known that there was a flaw and the grips will mitigate it. That said, I know many people never used the grips. They are big and ugly and do subtract from the sleek design of the controllers, but at least they knew Nintendo tried to do something about it. That's important.

The difference being very few (if any) people bought the Wii for the remote looks. Changing its appearance was immaterial to the product. The iPhone is a stylish luxury good very much marketed based on its high-end industrial design and you can't get away with changing its looks after the fact and saving face.

You have a point, but what really matters to iPhone and Wii users is how they look/how they'll feel when using said product. If the Wii was essentially a $150 xbox I don't think it would have appealed to its intended audience nearly as well. I agree that aesthetics aren't as important to the Wii as the iPhone, but the solution to the iPhone issue (at least, the case; not the duct tape) is less ugly/cumbersome.

Absolutely agree. Admitting that the iPhone 4 requires a bumper would be disastrous.

I expect them to offer a thirty day money back guarantee. That admits nothing but instills lots of confidence.

I'm not sure exactly what you meant, but a 30 day return window is already the refund policy for the iPhone:

http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/salespolicies.html#...

Additionally, in California, there's a legal requirement of a 30-day return window. (http://www.consumercal.org/article.php?id=224)

That the minimum they should do, and if that's all they do people will be like "Meh. That's an alright deal, I suppose..."

They need to go above and beyond to create confidence going forward - something that'll actually make people happy with the resolution. Throw $50+ of store credit in to apologise for the concern/confusion they've caused, or similar.

Everyone makes mistakes. It's how you respond to it that makes the difference.

Apple wants people to walk away from this thinking "They messed up, but they really went out of their way to make things right. I'll trust them with my future purchases."

Everyone makes mistakes. It's how you respond to it that makes the difference.

Exactly. I think Steve Jobs responding to a customer's email with "Don't hold it that way" was one of the worst responses ever to a growing PR problem.

I agree, but it's also in line with how he responds to other problems -- largely, Apple's approach has been vehement denial combined with heavy spin doctoring.

It's also how Apple responded to the performance comparisons -- like commissioning a benchmarketing firm to run a mangled suite of SPEC tests that showed that even though Apple's G5 was FAR below expectation, Intel's horse was slower if you put heavy enough balls on its feet!

I doubt they'll want to admit that the phone requires an accessory for proper operation.

I'm thinking they'll announce some sort of swap program for a new phone with a non-conductive coating on it or somesuch.

That way they can continue to sell their $29 bumpers for a ridiculous profit (which will make up for the cost of refurbing the old models).

Whatever they should do, they will announce tomorrow what they are going to do. Meanwhile, it's just a phone.

A luxury phone people payed good money for. It's like if BMW was selling a car which could only make right turns (ok, not a perfect example, I be more pissed about the car, but bear with me). Obviously this car is defective, but BMW responds by saying, "It's ok, you can still make left turns, because three right turns is the same as a left turn. It's only a car."

I think people might be a tad bit outraged, less so about the problem, more so about the response. "it's just a car? You've been telling me in all your advertisements that it is the pinnacle of german engineering. If I wanted to deal with problems in the design and live with them, I would have gone with your much cheaper competitors."

However, we shall see what they say tomorrow.

Or like BMW selling a car with an extra hand operated lever and an extra foot pedal. And if you don't operate them correctly the car will barely move and maybe even stall...

Apple could have handled this much better saying it is a high-performance, tuned antenna. If you choose to operate it correctly you get superior performance; or you can ignore it and get the same performance as any other hidden antenna.

Honesty and openness is sometimes very nice not just as an ideal, but because it gives you the chance to be the first to shape perspectives like that. And that, asmithmd1, is some very nice spinning of the issue you did there.

Outright denial of something which is shown in several seemingly honest online videos was a bad move all around. It was socially equivalent to publicly calling some of their early adopting customers liars. Of course the public reacted badly to it and didn't let the matter drop.

Honestly, I don't think it would kill them to include a basic rubber case in the color of their choosing (probably black). It's not like Nintendo Wiis were less popular because they had to put that big rubber cushion on the hand controller. After people were breaking TVs and getting concussions.

If anything it made the controller more attractive since adults could finally hold it.

This situation is definitely most analogous to what happened with the Nintendo Wii Remotes going through TV screens (as opposed to Toyota's acceleration issue).

- Both happened when products were used without cases or safety straps

- Both are hard for experienced users to reproduce (well, it's easy to toss a Wii Remote, but I doubt any hardcore players lost a TV to it)

- Both rely on anecdotal evidence (I own a Wii, as do my friends, and nobody has sent a Wii Remote sailing through anything)

- Both are annoying but not a deal-breaker in the use of the product

- Both can be alleviated by holding the product a different way

- Both have hilarious class action lawsuits against the parent company

- Most importantly, both were discovered shortly after the launch of a highly desirable product and nobody returned theirs because of this issue

The last point is what annoys me the most. It's not reasonable to say "if this antenna is such a big deal, why isn't everyone returning their iPhone 4?" A problem doesn't have to be some titanic issue to need to be addressed. Nintendo did the right thing and packaged the Wii Remote with $0.50 of plastic, even without anyone beating down Gamestop's return desk. We shouldn't accept anything less from Apple.

A free bumper is my least preferred resolution. It essentially says you can't have the phone you thought you were buying. Instead, you have to choose: faulty or ugly.

I agree, even though I think the bumpers are kind of stylish.

But Apple's between a rock and a hard place. Either they lose millions now proving free bumpers/gift certificates to customers, or they lose millions later by ignoring the issue and suffering a huge hit to their reputation.

Or worse, they attack Consumer Reports. I would love to see that fight. A for-profit company that lots of people love but not necessarily trust, versus a non-profit that lots of people trust but not necessarily love.

I'm not sure that would help. I think that would be sufficient if this were a BlackBerry or something where people expect it to look utilitarian. But one of the major features of the new iPhone was it's stunning looks. To then be told you have to put a big rubber bumper on it would be pretty disappointing.

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