Why Apple has a split personality when it comes to keeping iPhone owners happy

I strongly doubt it cost Apple $60million to appease the original iPhone adopters, $100 cash would have, but a gift card to buy marked up products,, would only cost them their cost price and bearing in mind Apple's markup, this would be at worst $30million and probably more like $10-$15mil, and that's if you don't take into account the card being an incentive to buy something more expensive.

Now bearing in mind a rubber bumper realistically costs $1 to produce at the very, very most, they could quite easily supply one to everyone and still come in under $15mil, and if they started shipping it with the phone as per Nintendo, it would cost them pennies at most.

And the iPhone 5 is only 9/10 months away from being announced.

$60 mill???? I know a few buyers who used the 100.00 credit and got a 1299.00 MacBook. Take the extra 500.00 apple made from those sales and the total cost was under 30 mill tops.

I am an Apple fan and they've never let me down until now. I bought iTouch, iPhone3G, iPhone3GS, iPad 643G, and now iPhone4. I have MAJOR problems with the iPhone4, FAR worse than anything I experiences with my 3GS model.

I don't really like the look and feel that much but I can live with it. It is my primary phone and I depend upon it. It drops calls, shows No Service of No Bars in areas where my 3GS operated efficiently. I don't hold it with a Death Grip and I have a Bumper from day one.

It has been a major disappointment to me. I've gone back to my upgraded 3GS and basically had no problem. The 4.0 software is awesome and everything works flawlessly on my 3GS. The iphone4 with the same software is very frustrating and a huge disappointment.

I went to Apple Store and they swapped it out. It seems to be better but I'm still very disappointed and hope the issue is fixed sooner rather than later.

At least Apple TRIES to get it right, and they usually do eventually.

You ever deal with Chrysler on a lease return ("you owe us $400 for early termination? Well you owe me $212 for unused purchased miles, so send me a bill for the difference. Can't do that, you pay the $400 and then we'll send a check for the balance. I'm not going to do that. Sir, that can affect your credit rating. M'am, I refinanced my house and bought a car, so I give a rat's ass about my credit rating for the next 5 years")

or HP for chrissakes? I mean THEIR OS updated hosed a unit, and they accept no responsibility
http://opusmark.blogspot.com/2008/02/why-hp-sucks-ass-pg-t.html

Or when my dogfood almost killed my dog, just try and submit a vet bill
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/petfoodrecall/

I bought an Iphone4 a week after release and sitting at my desk it would go to "searching"
and have no "bars" where my Iphone3GS would have 5 bars of signal. My co-worker 10 feet away stayed at 5 bars when the new Iphone4 would switch to the edge network or not be able to even open a web page or make a call. This all while I am not even hoding the phone in my hand. as far as I am concerned this was no phantom issue. I promptly returned the phone for a full refund (AT&T has yet to reset my contract date back to original) and I have happily gone back to my trusty 3GS that preforms great. If everyone that had problems with the phone would return it for a refund, Apple would have a better idea about the magnitude of the problem and it might push their buttons enough to get a fix in the works. I realize that everyone can't probably do this as some people traded there phones in. Why you would do that when they bring so much on Ebay is a mystery to me though. Turn them in for a refund while you can and wait for a confirmed fix to show up!

The Apple fanboys are too much, such a small issue?! 80% of the people I know have signal issues over thier last iPhone and 100% of them have the proximity sensor issue. I guess convienantly we all happen to be in the small minority.

It's a toss-up between Apple a) thinking they can still control the message and trying to spin their way out of this, or b) doing the right thing and fessing up to whole mess and doing their best to fix it for customers.

The truth would not have been so bad if they hadn't waited so long, but it will be VERY bad if it doesn't appear tomorrow.

They knew how the antenna worked from the beginning. They are simply not that dumb. I would not call it a defect, but rather an ill advised tradeoff. They got good things from the trade (better than 3GS reception when held "right") and some bad (worse reception when held "wrong"). The reaction to this was far worse than they figured. The number of people who have a real problem may be small, but by believing too in much in their own magic, they completely lost control of the message, and that control is like life blood at Apple. It will interesting to see how they attempt to get that back. At this point anything less than honesty won't work.

I do have the antenna problem, and I feel like it is more widespread than apple thinks it is, because a lot of people probably dont speak up. To me, its NOT a HUGE issue, but when you pay top dollar for something like a cellphone, you should be able to hold it anyway you like. I realize also that every phone will have some attenuation when you hold it, but not so much that it drops calls. Free bumpers, or even discounted bumpers would be a big plus...apple needs to do something to save their reputation.

Yawn.

Just another long drawn out drone to nowhere. Stick to news, guys. Op ed isn't your forte and it's not why people come here.

It's pretty much just the lefties who are screwed.