Posterbot

Posterbot

Marc Cannava  //  A technologist living in the chilly Northeast.

Jul 14 / 9:03pm

What will Apple say at the iPhone 4 Antenna Event on Friday?

As recently announced by Engadget, Apple is holding a press conference this Friday, presumably to deal head-on with the iPhone 4 antenna issues that refuse to die.

(For the record, I have an iPhone 4 and yes, I can easily reproduce the "death grip" on mine, and I bought my $30 bumper to mitigate the issue).

So without further delay, here are my predictions for what I think will happen, in order of probability:

100%:

  • Apple is sorry people "feel inconvenienced".
  • Apple denies there is, in fact, a problem with the antenna design.
  • Apple bans all "Consumer Reports" testers from Apple stores.


95%:

  • Free bumpers for everyone. Refunds to suckers customers who bought one already.
  • Apple is "taking it seriously".
  • Apple takes credit for the newly-seeded iOS 4.1 update "fixing" the signal issue.


50%:

  • Apple acknowledges the positioning of the antenna is "unfortunate" but does not reduce the "revolutionary" design
  • Apple restates that people need to hold the phone in a way that does not block the antenna.
  • Apple announces a new iPhone accessory called the "iTenna", which looks suspiciously like a roll of duct tape. (Thanks, @cpeers!)


25%:

  • Apple issues a recall; redesigns phone with pre-installed covering over antenna array.


5%:

  • Apple issues a recall; completely redesigns the antenna array to avoid a single area of interference.
  • Apple announces the new iPhone 4S. "This one is truly revolutionary.."


1%:

  • Apple hires a frakking RF/antenna engineer who could have told them that putting an antenna on the outside of the phone was a boneheaded move in the first place.