New iPhone 4.1 in September?
By now I would expect that most everyone has heard of the antenna issues surrounding the iPhone 4; holding the phone in a normal manner results in your cellular signal going down dramatically. I’m not about to go over all the details again here, as it’s already been covered extensively everywhere else. I will, however, point out an interesting theory my brother-in-law told me.
If you go to Apple’s website that covers the details of getting your free bumper case or refund, you might notice that this special offer has an expiration date.
Now speaking from a business standpoint, the only reason why you’d stop offering the only thing that’s keeping your device working is because your are about to release a device that doesn’t need it anymore. Couple that idea with the knowledge that Apple has been hiring antennae specialists like crazy since “antennae-gate” hit the media and it makes you wonder if Cupertino has been working on getting a new hardware revision out to the masses.
The September 30th date would also coincide nicely with Apple’s September 1st “special event” coming up soon!
I doubt it, admitting defeat is not really the Apple way these days. All of the press conferences and public statements have flown in the face of conventional wisdom with Apple adopting an attitude of being, “above it all”. They know they’ve got a product that has sold like gangbusters and that the “problem” is really a much bigger deal on the internet than it is in real life. I have an iPhone 4 and I love it. Yes it’s dropped a few calls, but so has every phone that I’ve ever had. Despite more than two decades of main stream use the basic technology is still far behind land lines in terms of reliability.
I’ll admit that being somewhat of a misanthrope I don’t use the “phone” feature of my phone that much. I’d bet I average less than one call a day instead using email, SMS, Facebook, and other methods to communicate. However in the times I’ve used it I haven’t had many more troubles than I have with any other phone. Balance that with the fact that it may be the greatest multi-purpose tool since the Swiss Army knife, and I would be willing to bet the number of people choosing to return the phone is roughly the same as the average number of people who return an cell phone during their 30 day window. The likley reason for the promotion to expire is that they know that the American public will be distracted by some other shiny but off fluff pretend controversy that they can pompously attach the word “gate” to cause they think it’s clever. We as a people have the attention span of fruit flies, and who would possible know that better than a company that has made billions selling tiny apps that make Wario Ware look like Final Fantasy.
Whether it’s to mask their antennae folly or not, I think Apple will still release a new product soon. It would be foolish not to. With Microsoft releasing their Phone 7 soon, and Android continuously stepping up the game, Apple would be left in the dust for the holiday season if they did not also have something up their sleeve. If it’s not an improved model of the iPhone 4, I would suggest that it may be another tablet, e.g., an iPad with a front-facing camera. There have been speculations that smaller and/or larger versions of the iPad may also be in the works.
I doubt it’d be any sort of major redesign to an existing product (like an iPad as you suggest). In fact, Apple might not even announce anything at all. There might simply be a slight difference in design to the iPhone 4 that is put in without any major hubub. Right up until someone on the internet has dissected one and posted its guts for the world to see.
I think that they know they’ve already sold millions of the existing model within the first few months. I know you love the Droid but i’d bet if you took every other smart phone on the market combined, with the possible exception of the Blackberry, the iPhone would have more sales.
Update: I just got the free bumper for my iPhone. I then had a 15 minute conversation with my parents where the call didn’t drop. Also Laura has been on the phone with her Mom for the last half hour without a drop. It’s far from the most reliable phone ever, but I’d have to say “Don’t believe the hype”
HAHA! I’m not crazy in my ideas of a new iPhone!
http://gizmodo.com/5626570/rumor-new-iphone-4-antenna-design-coming-late-september