Apple Eats Humble Pie: 'We're Not Perfect'
Apple Eats Humble Pie: 'We're Not Perfect'
Last Updated 22:41 16/07/2010
Jo Couzens and Pete Norman, Sky News Online
Apple boss Steve Jobs has admitted the company has problems with its iPhone 4 reception and has offered customers a free case to fix the problem.
Speaking at a news conference in the US, Jobs said: "We are not perfect. We know that you know that, and phones are not perfect either.
"But we want to make all of our users happy."
He said Apple will give free protective "bumper" cases to iPhone users, which should sort out the so-called "death grip" problem - a problem in which the user's hand can muffle or block the signal when the phone is held up.
Mr Jobs announced the giveaway at the company's headquarters in California and said those who have already bought the phone and new buyers will all be eligible.
He went on to say that those still unhappy with the service will be eligible for a full refund.
The manufacturer had at first claimed the problem was simply a fault with the signal strength indicator - but in fact the aerial built into the phone's casing has since been blamed.
Fox business correspondent Ashley Webster told Sky News the iPhone 4 problems have been growing for a long time.
"Apple at first rather flippantly responded to complaints and said, 'Hold it a different way.'"
Mr Jobs said the phone was "perhaps the best product we have ever made" and that it has sold three million iPhone 4s in less than a month.
He added that only 0.55% of users had complained about the new phones, and less than 2% had returned their phones.
The Apple boss began his speech at the news conference by saying his company was not the only one with aerial problems on its smartphone.
He went on to show a YouTube parody song about the aerial woes.
The free rubber case remedy is a step the innovative firm is not used to and Apple, long the darling of the tech world, has suffered recently over product glitches.
"This is certain a new chapter in Apple's PR history," Mr Webster said.
Stuff magazine editor Fraser Macdonald told Sky News that Apple will recover its standing in the industry.
"If it solves the problem Apple will be back to five stars," he said.
"A problem for Apple is they open themselves up to scrutiny as soon as they do anything," Mr Macdonald said.
The Apple boss downplayed the severity of the problems facing the firm.
"We're not feeling right now that we have a giant problem we need to fix," Mr Jobs said.
"This has been blown so out of proportion that it's incredible. I know it's fun to have a story, but it's less fun when you're on the other end of it."
Analysts have criticised Apple's first responses to reports of reception problems as dismissive, and cautioned that the company should not come across as arrogant.
But Mr Jobs apologised to buyers who had less than perfect experiences with the new device.
"We're going to do whatever it takes to make them happy and if we can't make them happy we're going to give them a full refund and say we're really sorry we inconvenienced you, and we're going to do better next time," he said.
Apple stock rose more than $2 (£1.30) after the news conference, taking the share price to $254.97 (£166.52) on the Nasdaq exchange.
The furore over the signal-strength flaws of the latest iPhone model has hurt Apple's shares ahead of its quarterly results next week.
Since June 28 - days after the launch, when complaints about faulty reception began surfacing on IT websites - Apple has lost about $16bn (£10.44bn) in market value, with at least some of that related to the iPhone controversy.
- Random tales using BlogPress from my iPhone
Last Updated 22:41 16/07/2010
Jo Couzens and Pete Norman, Sky News Online
Apple boss Steve Jobs has admitted the company has problems with its iPhone 4 reception and has offered customers a free case to fix the problem.
Speaking at a news conference in the US, Jobs said: "We are not perfect. We know that you know that, and phones are not perfect either.
"But we want to make all of our users happy."
He said Apple will give free protective "bumper" cases to iPhone users, which should sort out the so-called "death grip" problem - a problem in which the user's hand can muffle or block the signal when the phone is held up.
Mr Jobs announced the giveaway at the company's headquarters in California and said those who have already bought the phone and new buyers will all be eligible.
He went on to say that those still unhappy with the service will be eligible for a full refund.
The manufacturer had at first claimed the problem was simply a fault with the signal strength indicator - but in fact the aerial built into the phone's casing has since been blamed.
Fox business correspondent Ashley Webster told Sky News the iPhone 4 problems have been growing for a long time.
"Apple at first rather flippantly responded to complaints and said, 'Hold it a different way.'"
Mr Jobs said the phone was "perhaps the best product we have ever made" and that it has sold three million iPhone 4s in less than a month.
He added that only 0.55% of users had complained about the new phones, and less than 2% had returned their phones.
The Apple boss began his speech at the news conference by saying his company was not the only one with aerial problems on its smartphone.
He went on to show a YouTube parody song about the aerial woes.
The free rubber case remedy is a step the innovative firm is not used to and Apple, long the darling of the tech world, has suffered recently over product glitches.
"This is certain a new chapter in Apple's PR history," Mr Webster said.
Stuff magazine editor Fraser Macdonald told Sky News that Apple will recover its standing in the industry.
"If it solves the problem Apple will be back to five stars," he said.
"A problem for Apple is they open themselves up to scrutiny as soon as they do anything," Mr Macdonald said.
The Apple boss downplayed the severity of the problems facing the firm.
"We're not feeling right now that we have a giant problem we need to fix," Mr Jobs said.
"This has been blown so out of proportion that it's incredible. I know it's fun to have a story, but it's less fun when you're on the other end of it."
Analysts have criticised Apple's first responses to reports of reception problems as dismissive, and cautioned that the company should not come across as arrogant.
But Mr Jobs apologised to buyers who had less than perfect experiences with the new device.
"We're going to do whatever it takes to make them happy and if we can't make them happy we're going to give them a full refund and say we're really sorry we inconvenienced you, and we're going to do better next time," he said.
Apple stock rose more than $2 (£1.30) after the news conference, taking the share price to $254.97 (£166.52) on the Nasdaq exchange.
The furore over the signal-strength flaws of the latest iPhone model has hurt Apple's shares ahead of its quarterly results next week.
Since June 28 - days after the launch, when complaints about faulty reception began surfacing on IT websites - Apple has lost about $16bn (£10.44bn) in market value, with at least some of that related to the iPhone controversy.
- Random tales using BlogPress from my iPhone
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