[Update] 7/17/2010

Last night, I watched Apple’s press conference.  Since I never actually had a problem with my iPhone 4, I’m very happy with Apple’s response to “antennagate”.  Even if I did have a problem, I would still appreciate their actions.  I’ve been reading several blogs this afternoon, and my point still stands…  It doesn’t matter what Apple does, or says.  People will still complain.  The bloggers who have jumped all over this non-issue should be ashamed of themselves, especially the Apple related blogs.  Apple is bread and butter for a lot of people such as myself, and for a lot of professional bloggers.  I’ve been an Apple customer for over 20 years, and I know of no other tech company who treats its customers better than Apple.  While Apple does make mistakes, and they sometimes take a long time to admit those mistakes, they always make things right.  I think it’s time for these hack bloggers to shut the hell up, and move on!  Get your advertising revenue by attacking a company that deserves it.

I’ve been using my new iPhone 4 for almost two weeks.  For the first week, I used my iPhone without any kind of case.  It wasn’t until this past Thursday morning that I was able to purchase an iPhone Bumper so that I could use my iPhone without the constant fear of it slipping out of my hand.  I have experienced far less dropped calls than with the previous iPhone.  Unfortunately for AT&T customers in Dallas/Fort Worth, there are several areas of poor coverage all over the city.  I have identified at least three specific locations where I have experienced consistent dropped calls almost on a daily basis.  For almost four years, I have called into AT&T to report these locations in the hope that these issues would someday be fixed.  Since upgrading to iPhone 4, my dropped calls in these problem areas have been reduced.  In one of the locations, the dropped calls have stopped altogether.

Although I believe that Apple should have taken more time to respond, they have responded to reports of poor reception by claiming that this is mainly a software issue with the way that the new iPhone displays signal strength.  They have promised a fix that will be issued soon.  Within hours of Apple’s latest statement, the blogosphere was full of more complaints from users who allege that they have experienced a lot of reception issues with the new iPhone.  After reading some of them, I was forced to conclude that it doesn’t matter what Apple says.  People will still find a way to complain.  After working for Apple for over four and a half years, and using Apple products for over twenty years, I have concluded that Apple will never be able to completely satisfy their critics.  If Apple announced today that they would begin to bundle a bumper with each iPhone, there would still be complaints.  Apple could issue store credits to customers who bought the new iPhone, but the complaints would continue.  It’s a no-win situation.

No Apple product that I have ever owned has been 100% perfect.  My last MacBook Pro was plagued with several hardware issues.  Last year, Apple replaced it.  I didn’t have to complain on my blog.  I didn’t post my complaints on any Apple related websites.  I didn’t try to sue Apple.  I simply called AppleCare, and voiced my dissatisfaction with the quality of my laptop.  When I requested a replacement, my complaint was forwarded to Apple’s customer relations department who agreed to replace my computer.  The whole process took about 3 days.  Apple takes care of its customers when they have problems.  Whining and complaining on every website on the Internet only makes the problem worse.  I know eight people (including myself) who have an iPhone 4.  None of us have had significant reception issues with our new iPhones.  In fact, we’ve all had BETTER reception just as Apple promised.

When I got up this morning, I checked my email, and found this message from Apple:

Maybe I’m receiving my iPhone early because Apple wants to try to avoid the activation snarl that will ensue on Thursday?  What ever the reason, getting my iPhone a day early is greatly appreciated.  Last night, I updated my iPhone 3G to iOS 4.  I love the new folder feature, and the unified inbox.  I’m disappointed that I cannot have a customized home screen background.  According to an email sent by Steve Jobs to a Cult Of Mac reader, the customized home screen would cause performance issues.  Hmmmm…  Maybe, but I think I would have preferred having the choice to use that feature or not.  How does Steve explain the fact that jailbroken iPhones, and iPods have had this feature for quite sometime without any performance issues?  In the end, it’s not that important.  I’m just tired of the bland, black screen.

A few years ago, I found The Internet Archive: Wayback Machine, a site that allows you to lookup, and view old versions of your favorite websites.  The screenshot below shows Apple’s website in July, 1997.  This was long before the iPod, and the iPhone existed.  The iMac was probably on the drawing board at the time, and Steve Jobs had just made his return to Apple.

It’s interesting to go back, and remember just how the web looked back in the early days of the Internet.  Try it out for yourself.  Here’s the link:  www.archive.org/web/web.php

I’m wondering why so many people are pouncing on Apple as the villain in this case.  An Apple engineer lost the phone.  It was found by someone who made a half-hearted attempt at finding the owner, and then Gizmodo paid $5000 to obtain it.  Gizmodo proceeded to dissect the phone, and show it off to the millions of people who visit their website.  Apple had a right to demand the return of the iPhone, and they had a right to report this incident to the police.  Jason Chen was well aware that he was in possession of property that did not belong to him.  He deserved what he got.

In case you disagree with me, let’s look at this in a slightly different way…

Let’s say that you developed, and built your own car.  It’s a revolutionary design, and it has numerous improvements over other car designs on the market.  You let your 18 year old son take the car out for a spin.  He ends up leaving it in a mall parking lot where someone finds it, and then sells the car without bothering to make much of an effort to find the owner.  The buyer of the car knows that it’s your car, doesn’t bother to tell you that he has it, and then dismantles the car.  He displays the parts on the internet, and shows off all of your design secrets to your competitors.

Although, it’s stupid to let some kid take a car like this out for a joy ride, it does not in any way mitigate the fact that the person who found the car, and the person who bought it deserve to be punished.  It doesn’t take an Apple fan boy like myself to understand that Apple had a right to get the phone back, and to hold responsible the people who should have done the right thing to start with.

Warrant shows Jobs’ involvement in iPhone prototype case | MacNN.

Recently, I myself received an email response from Steve Jobs.  I was really happy to receive and email from Mr. Jobs, but what I didn’t do was broadcast it all over the internet.  The closest I came to doing that was to simply announce on Twitter that I had asked Steve a question via email, and that he actually responded.  I just think that it’s tacky, and in bad taste to take an email conversation, and post it on the web.  I’m hoping that this won’t lead to Steve simply ignoring emails from now on.

Steve Jobs Offers World ‘Freedom From Porn’ – Apple – Gawker.