Shoddy iPhone 4 Design

TECHNOLOGY - The iPhone 4, which sold 1.7 million units worldwide in its first three days, may be getting recalled in the near future because of a shoddy design which causes low reception quality when you hold the bottom left corner in your hand (which is often).

This design flaw is now causing many customers to be returning the devices and demanding their money back. Consumer Reports did their own testing of the devices and confirmed that there is definitely signal loss when the phone is held in such a fashion and are now recommending people not to buy the iPhone 4.

The thing is however... some iPhone users probably won't care. They're so addicted to their gadgets they could be sold manure with the Apple logo on it and they'd happily hand over $29.99 for it.

"Look, I got my own Apple Manure!"

"What does it do?"

"It smells horrible! And its got BlueTooth! Its so kewl!"

Seriously, I can just see the line of events in my mind... the design technicians were showing off their latest designs to one of Apple's executives and the executive asked "Hey, why don't we move this gizmo here so we can save space and have more room for gizmos?" and one of the technicians said "Um, yes, we could, but it would result in a loss of signal when its held a certain way." To which the executive responded "Bah, that doesn't matter. Our customers will buy any piece of crap anyway. Make the changes and lets sell it."

Proof why executives making 'executive decisions' often make the wrong decisions because they ignore technical advice. (I wonder if that had any role to play in the BP Oil Spill?)

My point here is that Apple executives knew the iPhone 4 was a shoddy design, but they decided to sell it anyway because they know their customers are idiots who will buy anything with the Apple logo on it.

Add that to the fact that Apple has been rejecting apps sent to them from Google for approval and it really starts to feel like Apple is shooting themselves in the foot. Google's application design department has been designing a variety of apps for SmartPhones, but they've only been approved for use on BlackBerry phones and phones running Android. Apple keeps rejecting their apps because they see Google as competition. Not all their apps are rejected, but any that are seen as a threat certainly are.

If this lack of comraderie and shoddy designs keep up Apple will soon see more customers ditching them for products that give them the full range of applications and the quality they've come to expect.