Things just keep getting bad for Apple and Steve Jobs and their latest iPhone, which continues be plagued with problems such as the antenna issues. During a press conference last week at their headquarters in Cupertino, California Steve took the stage in his usual fashion. He did acknowledge the problem that customers were having but did try to down play the problems by stating that the iPhone 4 is still selling across the country, quoting sales numbers compared to their previous iPhone 3GS.
As part of Apple’s apology acknowledgement the company is offering customers a “free case.” (I can hear all the ohhs and ahhs right now at this impressive gesture). Steve went on to say the problem his company is having with the iPhone 4 is not unique to Apple and went on to include Blackberry and Samsumg devices as having similar issues.
Yesterday, Research In Motion (RIM)’s Co-Founders Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie shot back issuing a statement on the company’s blog. In their statement the two founders said the following:
Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage.
One thing is for certain, RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry® smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.
Ronn Torossian doesn’t seem to think that Apple current problems will have any significant impact on the company’s brand, but maybe Apple’s brand is to be the evil company and show that they in fact do not care about their customers.
If that wasn’t enough it looks like this whole “Anennetage” has also hurt Apple’s bottom line as their market cap has fallen behind Microsoft’s again, $219.71 billion versus $219.8 billion for Microsoft, according to Google Finance.