Apple to give away free cases to iPhone 4 users
By Paul Miller 
posted July 16th 2010 1:29PM
posted July 16th 2010 1:29PM
This solution comes at the end of 22 days of Apple engineers "working their butts off," according to Steve, with "physics" ultimately being pinned as the main culprit. Apple claims you can replicate the left-handed "death grip" bar-dropping problem on the BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC Droid Eris, and Samsung Omnia II, and that "phones aren't perfect." Steve also claims that only 0.55% of people who bought the iPhone 4 have called into AppleCare to complain about the antenna, and the phone has a 1.7% return rate at AT&T, compared to 6% with the 3GS, though he would cop to a slight increase in dropped calls over the iPhone 3GS. For this Steve has what he confesses to be a pet theory: that 3GS users were using the case they had from the 3G, and therefore weren't met with the horrible reality of a naked, call dropping handset. Hence the free case solution, which will probably satisfy some, infuriate others, and never even blip onto the radar of many of the massive horde of consumers that's devoured this product in unprecedented numbers.
Update: Our own Richard Lai just waltzed down to the Regent Street Apple Store in London with his iPhone Bumper receipt in hand. A few minutes later he left with cold, hard cash, and kept the Bumper to boot. Seems as if the refund effort is a go, at least over in the UK.
Update 2: We've heard from several tipsters saying Apple no longer does Bumper refunds at its stores; customers will now have to make an online claim instead. Looks like we got super lucky.
@AugustNocturne
Yeah I agree. Business is business, that's all that matters.
@AugustNocturne yeah, not everyone's been affected. I also think problems are almost guaranteed when you've sold about 4 million phones (sorry if that's not the exact figure, but you get what I mean) :)
@R94N
You mean after September 30th?
Let's wait and see what'll happen in the next few days.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=13712968&l=c5e1fed9af&id=688135598
Personally I don't know what the big deal is. Yeah it's a hassle. But every ripe banana has at least one brown spot on it. Other than the antenna issue it's an almost perfect phone.
Point being, do third party cases included Zagg's invisible shield?
@cookiemonstor Exactly! nothing is ever perfect when it's first launched. I hope the whole thing blows over soon.
@cookiemonstor
I agree, people are just making much more serious than it should be. Now that they are give free cases but still, they haven't stop complaining about it. But funny enough, almost everyone would buy a case for their iPhone before.
When do we get to order the cases??
they should just recall the phones for a fix
@ftw87 There is no need. It is not a universal problem.
1 idiot talking foolish stuff , blaming others for his own fault , priceless
I'm sorry but let's be honest here how many of you have actually had a dropped call because of the antenna? I'm sure it's a very small percentage of you, considering the vast majority of people are right handed! I'm left handed and hold the iPhone 4 like i would any other phone and have never experienced this problem. The only pain for me is the sensor that knows whether you're hold the phone to your head or not. I forgot the name, my bad. Anyway, stop giving Apple a hard time, they've gave you all free cases worth £20, whats the complaining for?
I'm in the uk. Ordered my free bumper on Friday, and got the despatch email on Saturday. Thanks Apple!
Ya right.... Just order my IPhone 4 a couple of days back, and today news came out that they will not be giving the case to buyers from Puerto Rico. My first Apple product, I think it will be my last. But this is only the comments of a third class US citizen form Puerto Rico......
@Paul Miller... Can you check or joshua topolsky why apple canceled today the free cases to Puerto Rico. Its a big issue down here. I think apple said something about Puerto Rico is not properly a state, but we are not international for them neither. What is happening?
@Paul Miller here's the newspaper article http://www.elnuevodia.com/applecancelaordenesapuertorico-748947.html
I received my free bumper yesterday!
@userids same here! apple is fast to please customers.
Well at least for me the so called "antenna issue", which btw doesn't even seem to exist here in Sweden, won't bother me. I would NEVER EVER have an iPhone without a case, the risks of scratching it would just make me too nervous to even use it in public..
Conclusion: YAY free cases!
@krissemissen
Yes and the bumper will at least obscure the iPhone's effeminate design.
Unfortunately, not even a bumper will save the WHITE one! lol.
Getting worse and worse Apple ... and I am hating them more and more ...
You know what people say, we can't please everyone!
The thing that most irratated me about that announcement was the amount of time he spent talking about how 0.55% of users complained about the reception issue. What they avoided is the fact that the average user wouldn't complain about it, but rather look online and either deal with it until a rumored solution is released, or do what I did and just buy a case, hoping it would fix it. Jobs just tried to downsize the issue.