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Apple today announced it will be holding an iPhone 4 press conference this Friday and, as you would expect, the speculation about what the firm has to say is mounting.
Traditionally Apple is a company that likes to arrogantly bury its head in the sand when it comes to any problems with its products, and isn’t shy about trying to bury everyone else’s head in the sand right next to it. And thus far, the firm has done an exemplary job of this head burying when it comes to the iPhone 4 antenna problem.
It comes as a bit of a shock, therefore, to see Apple – the proverbial child with its fingers in its ears singing “la la la I can’t hear you” any time it suffers criticism – pulling its head out of the sand long enough to hold a press conference, purportedly to address the issue.
After the mountains of bad press surrounding the iPhone 4’s flaws -from the yellow screen to the major snafu of not being able to effectively use it as a phone if you hold it “the wrong way”, to how badly the iOS4 update is performing on older iPhones, with whisperings that the botched update is Apple’s way of forcing punters to buy the newer phone – it isn’t really surprising Apple is considering its options.
Maybe the worst blow to shake Apple’s tree is the fact The Consumerist recommended to readers that potential punters skip buying the device, something which may well have helped push Apple’s hand on the issue. That, and the fact the firm’s stock is taking a royal beating on Wall Street.
What will now be interesting to see is whether this upcoming conference is merely Apple attempting to re-educate the masses on how to hold their phones and shift blame elsewhere, or if the company will actually stand up, admit its handling of the issue was flawed, and take the financial hit required to fix the problem and replace all the dodgy devices out there.
Because, with a large portion of the Apple user base openly admitting the firm dropped the ball on this one, Jobs may have a fanboy uprising on his hands…
Viva La Revolución!