Neil HughesAnalyst Shaw Wu with Kaufman Bros. issued a note to investors Friday in which he discounted the antenna concerns as "overdone." Since the iPhone 4 launched, discussion of dropped calls from holding the device in one's left hand has grown, and Apple even publicly commented on the issue.
"We don't think the antenna issue is that big of a deal where it would warrant a product recall," Wu wrote. "The reason is that most users have a case anyway to protect their iPhone and to customize to their personal preferences. In our view, in the worst case, Apple provides a discount on the $29 iPhone 4 bumper case or includes one for free with an iPhone 4 purchase. Either way, we do not think this would have a material impact impact on our forecasts."
Apple, in a statement, said that gripping any mobile phone will affect its antenna performance. The company suggested that users avoid gripping the device in the lower left corner.
But the problem is also alleviated by using a case, which prevents the metal band around the perimeter of the device from making contact with the user's skin. The issue can reportedly be avoided when using the official "bumper" case sold by Apple.
Wu is particularly bullish on Apple's launch of the iPhone 4, predicting that the company sold between 1.5 million and 2 million units. On the high end, that would double the debut of the iPhone 3GS a year ago.
Wu's prediction of 2 million is higher than other analysts who believe Apple will sell closer to 1.5 million of the iPhone 4 at launch. Last week, after the first day of preorders, Apple revealed that more than 600,000 devices had been sold.
AppleInsider Staff
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171 Comments
incredibly optimistic and insanely unlikely that this is "all" they'd be on the hook for.
Personally...
I'd rather they had better designed/engineered the device prior to release, as opposed to this (proposed) half-hearted 'fix'.
That's exactly what I said earlier today. I assume they'll look at the design of the phone to see if they can improve the issue, but for the million plus units that are already manufactured, if a bumper solves the problem (and it sure sounds like it does) then they can give free bumpers to people that complain about the problem.
Again, I think they need to look at changing the design going forward, but assuming that bumpers do solve the problem I don't see why they'd be on the hook for anything beyond that.
Personally...
I'd rather they had better designed/engineered the device before release, as opposed to this (proposed) half-hearted 'fix'.
It is surprising this left the door, I'll admit. However, throwing in a $29 bumper for $5 (which costs them $0.25) is an easy solution to the problem. It is a pretty stupid design flaw (in retrospect) that they should have seen coming and addressed already.
But, it isn't going to impact purchases or profitability.
What happens when you're in a high humidity area? Or go from a cool to warm environment? Or pick up the phone after putting down your cold drink?
The bumper case can't stop condensation.