16 July 2010 | Author: J. Morton News Editor

Apple to hold briefing addressing iPhone 4 complaints

Antenna issues and other problems have plagued critical reception of the iPhone 4, with no real response from the company made over the claims

In an abrupt move yesterday, tech giant Apple called for a surprise news conference for 10am Pacific Time (6pm BST) to comment on its latest iPhone model, released last month.

Apple Inc has not revealed the specific intention of the conference, though it is rumoured that it will be addressing issues such as the reported antennae malfunctions with the handset, amongst other criticisms of the hardware and software.

Industry experts have been shocked at the lack of response and leadership from the company, which, in recent months, has enjoyed the largest market cap of Silicon Valley for the first time and has for years been seen as a paragon of cool amongst the tech community.

"It seems there has been a real crisis of leadership here," Patrick Kerley, senior digital strategist for Levick Strategic Communications, told the BBC.

"There are so many conflicting reports about this issue and a lot of confusion in the marketplace. They need a plan of attack," he said. "Today's companies have to react quickly before chatter on Facebook or Twitter turns into news headlines as is the case here."

A major blow against the company was Consumer Reports magazine's refusal to endorse the product - despite having a high user rating on their website - due to the antenna issue.

PC World writer Daniel Ionescu saw the conference heading one of three ways: Denial of the antenna problem, not unlike Jobs saying "just don't hold it that way"; the providing of bumper cases for affected iPhone 4 users; or a total recall, which may be unlikely given it would cost the company around $1.5bn.

Consumer Reports came out, subsequently with an endorsement of the bumper-case solution.

"With the Bumper fitted, we repeated the test procedure, placing a finger on the Bumper at the point at which it covers the gap below," according to the magazine. "The result was a negligible drop in signal strength-so slight that it would not have any effect, in our judgment."

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