In my opinion, they dodged the issue.  Did I expect them to handle the issue differently, though?  No.  Apple fans can only hope that it doesn’t come back to bite them at some point.  Time will surely tell.

Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Here we are at the end of another week at JAMM. Below you find the highlights from the past 7 days in case you missed them.

Opinions

• Random Thoughts: Lifting the Veil
• Device Reviews and the Honeymoon Period – Why Sliced Bread is Always Better
• Where Are We Headed – Part 2
• Mom Always Liked You Best

Reviews

• Quick Look: Touch ReTouch
• Narrative Magazine App for iPad, iPhone, and Touch
• Review: Bell Motorola Dext
• Review: Sprint EVO 4G

News

• Mr. Jobs Speaks
• KINOMA Plays Taps for Palm OS – RIP…
• Police Range for Windows Mobile Released by Astraware
• SPB Updates Mobile Shell for Symbian
• Astraware Releases OddBlob for Windows Mobile
• Mobile TV on Your Windows Mobile and iPhone Now Free
• Android Tablets/eReaders Arriving Soon
• SplashData Continues Its iPad Dominance With Two New Apps
• PhatWare Announces PhatNotes 2.0 for iPhone
• New Evernote – New Functionality
• DXG Announces All New Underwater Camera
• J’tote – A Woman’s Laptop Bag Revolution

Free for all

• Top 100 Free Apps for Smartphones 2010

Who cares if its not unique to iPhone 4? Its still a huge design flaw…

Awesome.

To me, this whole issue seems to get worse and [pitifully more] worse all the time. I just saw an interesting article on MSNBC detailing the results of the Apple Press Event today. So, here’s the recap.

• Apple’s not perfect.
• Steve didn’t  say, “I’m sorry” until promted while answering a question.
• This is a combination hardware/software problem. An official iPhone firmware update was released yesterday.
• At the root of everything, this is a CORE design problem.
• The issue was brought to Steve’s attention a year ago and despite the engineering recommendation, he went forward anyway.
• A cheap, $30US bumper “case” is going to be given to all iPhone 4 owners. If you already own the case, you’re going to get a refund on the cost of the case (costing Apple an estimated $90 – $100M USD)
• According to AT&T, this design flaw only results in a 1% additional increase in dropped calls for iPhone 4 owners
• Apple has publically addressed this antenna issue 3 times now
• You’re [still] holding it wrong

Really.  Really? 

Hey… just between you and me – ANY additional increase of dropped calls by this design flaw, on a phone locked to a carrier ALREADY under serious fire for a network that has been COMPLETELY overwhelmed by Apple’s Smartphone (and has had THAT problem as thoroughly well documented) SHOULD have spurred the words, “I’m sorry” from Steve Jobs’ lips.  I think his customers are owed and apology; and you know what..?

Sincere apologies are free.

…and good will goes a long way on Wall Street (and with a frustrated, loyal user-base, and an economically strapped consumer audience).  Apple’s stock was down .05 percent when I started this article.  After sites like PC Word and C|Net get a hold of this information, I’d really like to see the results (though honestly, .05% really only translates to about 12 cents a share).

I’m really disappointed.  I love Apple products. I really do. I have a 13″ Aluminum Unibody MacBook and a Mac Mini at the house. I have an 5G iPod and a 2G iPod Touch. Both my wife and daughter have an iPod Nano. While a device recall would have been costly, I’ve seen estimates at about $1.0B USD, with a $23.0B market cap, they could have afforded the hit.  The money would likely have been made up on additional sales based on the good-will that action would have represented alone; and wouldn’t a redesigned phone been all that much better and a more attractive purchase?

Wow!  Rubber [Baby] iPhone Bumpers.  I keep on hearing the “rubber, baby, buggy bumpers” thingy from my childhood running through my head; and honestly, if that catches on, AND someone else does the simple Google search I did on the phrase AND reads the Urban Dictionary definition of the term like I did, I think Steve’s gonna have a bigger problem on his hands than he bargained for; and I’d call Steve a rubber baby buggy bumper for this move, too…

I’m just sayin’…

Mr. Apple himself came down from the mountain today and stepped out on the porch of Cupertino and told everyone to calm down some more. He showed how every phone-maker has to deal with the laws of physics, but explained that Apple deals with those laws better than others do, and that the iPhone4 deals with them even better than the iPhone3 did. He thinks if you had bought a case for your iPhone4, like you did for your iPhone3, some of this reception problem would take care of itself. So, every iPhone4 user will get a free case; if you already bought one, you’ll get a refund. There has been an update to the OS; you should do the update. If you are still unhappy, you can bring the undamaged phone back for a refund.

Mr. Jobs says Apple loves its users and wants them to be happy. He says Apple tries hard to please its users and when there is a problem, they try their best to solve the problem as fast as possible, which is what they are doing.

His summary: “We think we’ve gotten to the heart of the problem, and the heart is that smartphones have weak spots. And so for those small number of customers that are having problems, we’re going to give them cases, and for those that are still unhappy we’re going to give them a full refund.”

When asked about the future models: “We’re still working on this — we’re happy with the design. … we’re getting a lot of reports from customers that it’s way better than the 3GS. I don’t know what our next antenna design will be — maybe our wizards in the antenna lab will come up with something better. But looking at the data, we don’t think we have a problem.”

When asked if he feels it necessary to make any apologies: “To our customers who are affected by the issue, we are deeply sorry, and we are going to give you a free case or a full refund. We want investors who invest in Apple for the long haul, because they believe in us. To those investors who bought the stock and are down by $5, I have no apology. If we hit a bump in the road, it’s like having kids.”

News at Eleven, as promised.

Kinoma Play, the spectacular must-have media app for any Smartphone, evidently sees the writing on the wall (along with many of us) and announced today they are no longer going to develop for or support the Palm OS. Here is the explanation in their own words:

“Since the launch of the original Kinoma Player in 2002, Kinoma has led the way in mobile media technology. The platform first established in Kinoma Player lives on not only in Kinoma’s flagship product — Kinoma Play — but also in products from companies including Sony and Sling Media.

As Palm OS fades into the sunset, we’ve had a lot of folks ask what our plans are. Today we’re announcing that we’ll be ending sales and support for Palm OS products in order to focus completely on current phone OSs.

If you’re a Palm OS user, here’s what you need to know: Kinoma will be ending sales of Kinoma Player 4 EX on 8/1/2010. We’ll continue to offer support, including any necessary security and critical fixes, until 10/1/2010. Effective 10/1/2010, Kinoma will offer only community-based support Kinoma Player 4 EX via our forum at forum.kinoma.com.

We’re also ending sales and support for Kinoma Producer for Windows and Mac OS on the same schedule.

We’d like to thank everyone who’s supported these products, and helped pioneer the now-common sight of people enjoying music, movies, podcasts and audiobooks on phones. You were ahead of your time, and when you upgrade your phone we hope you’ll choose Kinoma Play.”