iPhone 4 hardware revision coming at the end of September?

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ping182nz

188 posts

Master Geek

#67411 1-Sep-2010 08:49

What do you all think of this...

http://www.neowin.net/news/iphone-4-hardware-revision-coming-at-the-end-of-september

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#375180 1-Sep-2010 09:28

I just can't see it.

The backlash from current owners of iPhone 4's would be so bad, particularly in the US, that Apple probably wouldn't be able to entertain the thought of that many class-action suits.

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JimmyC

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Ultimate Geek

#375184 1-Sep-2010 09:43

Handsomedan: I just can't see it.

The backlash from current owners of iPhone 4's would be so bad, particularly in the US, that Apple probably wouldn't be able to entertain the thought of that many class-action suits.

What he said...

RustyGonad

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#375190 1-Sep-2010 09:51

JimmyC:
Handsomedan: I just can't see it.

The backlash from current owners of iPhone 4's would be so bad, particularly in the US, that Apple probably wouldn't be able to entertain the thought of that many class-action suits.

What he said...

So instead of fixing the issue, they'll just keep building them broken so that the current customers don't get upset... hmmm, that makes alot of sense - not...

Plenty of similar type of scenario's in the last few years (eg Xbox 360 RROD), none of them have ignored a fix just to keep the existing customers happy. You'd be committing commercial suicide doing so...

Handsomedan

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#375194 1-Sep-2010 10:00

But this is Apple...do you really think they care? These things are still selling out all over the world - they are as rare as grammatical excellence from GW Bush!

To be honest, I just don't see anything coming of it. Apple themselves said there's nothing wrong with the device...they stated this very publically.

They are not in the habit of admitting they are wrong...ever. If something fails, it's that the public "don't get it" or that they (Apple) are "ahead of their time".

Nope...don't see a revision coming until the next release of the iPhone...June 2011.

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Teeps

501 posts

Ultimate Geek

#375199 1-Sep-2010 10:08

I think if they make a fix it will be very quiet, they certainly won't make an announcement. They'll also probably still give away the cases for a while longer to hide the changeover. That way you get more and more people saying there isn't a problem anyway and how nice Apple are to give away cases when it wasn't really necessary.

Teeps

501 posts

Ultimate Geek

#375204 1-Sep-2010 10:10

Following up on my own post (I know, bad form, sorry), that will only work of course if this isn't a visible fix

RustyGonad

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#375208 1-Sep-2010 10:16

Look - there's a huge difference between what Apple tell the public, which is nothing, and how the company is run internally. This has nothing to do with whether they care or not.

You completey miss the fact they're offering free bumpers to everyone who buys one.

You certainly wouldn't want this against production costs for the entire life cycle of the product, both from a manufacturing and distribution point of view.

If they can implement a fix that cost say $0.02 per unit, they will do it, expecially vs the costs of giving out free bumpers with every unit, which have a fixed cost to manufacture, package and distribute. Its basic econonics.

Commerical common sense dictates that when you have a manufacturing/design problem you fix it. If its big you also sack the people responsible. They've already done one of these. Production revision of this nature aren't entirely uncommon...

Very little of this detail ever makes it into public press releases - and then again why should it, it doesn't change the specs..

Then you've got the risk of litigation - do you really think Apple would want to live with it across the entire life cycle of the product or limit it to a finite number of units.

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Teeps

501 posts

Ultimate Geek

#375219 1-Sep-2010 10:37

@RustyGonad

I agree with you, it wouldn't make economic sense to give away cases instead of making a fix, but if this can be fixed internally I think Apple will do that (and may have already done that, maybe even by the date they announced the free cases). This way you have stopped the need to recall all the iPhones sold before that date, have better press, and more iPhones get out to customers that have had the fix but also have a free case. This way you get the best publicity as new customers say they don't know what all the fuss was about as even when they use their iPhone without the case they aren't dropping calls or having major problems! I don't have an iPhone 4 yet but have friends back in the UK (I'm from the UK but now live in NZ) who have iPhone 4 and they aren't having these problems.

It's a very difficult thing to speculate on but having purchased Apple products for many years I do know the last thing they'd want is bad publicity and if a way of helping stop that is to spend money and give away free cases they will, it's still cost them less than a full recall and less than even a standard advertising campaign to help the image after the bad press.

JimmyC

726 posts

Ultimate Geek

#375236 1-Sep-2010 11:10

RustyGonad:

So instead of fixing the issue, they'll just keep building them broken so that the current customers don't get upset... hmmm, that makes alot of sense - not...

Plenty of similar type of scenario's in the last few years (eg Xbox 360 RROD), none of them have ignored a fix just to keep the existing customers happy. You'd be committing commercial suicide doing so...

Apple would need to acknowledge there's a problem to fix first of all. 'Building them broken' is pure hyperbole. Second of all, the comparison with Xbox is a long way off base. If my iPhone was turning itself off every 5 minutes, or not starting at all then yes, I'd have a very serious problem. As it stands, I can make my signal bars go up and down at will... whoop. Real world effect = nil.

khull

1245 posts

Uber Geek

#375249 1-Sep-2010 11:46

Shrug - I'll just buy the new one and sell/hand it down to the family. No biggie

Teeps

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Ultimate Geek

#375255 1-Sep-2010 12:07

khull: Shrug - I'll just buy the new one and sell/hand it down to the family. No biggie

Are you having big problems with yours then?

RustyGonad

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#375256 1-Sep-2010 12:11

JimmyC:
RustyGonad:

So instead of fixing the issue, they'll just keep building them broken so that the current customers don't get upset... hmmm, that makes alot of sense - not...

Plenty of similar type of scenario's in the last few years (eg Xbox 360 RROD), none of them have ignored a fix just to keep the existing customers happy. You'd be committing commercial suicide doing so...

Apple would need to acknowledge there's a problem to fix first of all. 'Building them broken' is pure hyperbole. Second of all, the comparison with Xbox is a long way off base. If my iPhone was turning itself off every 5 minutes, or not starting at all then yes, I'd have a very serious problem. As it stands, I can make my signal bars go up and down at will... whoop. Real world effect = nil.

Apple have acknowledged the issue, otherwise they wouldn't be giving away free bumpers.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/case-program/

Your taking what I said way out of context. I was simply saying that Apple are likely to make manufacturing changes to remove the issue if at all possible if it can be done within a reasonable cost per unit.

All Xbox's didn't turn themselves off, similarly not all iPhone 4 users hold their phone at the bottom right. Manufacturing changes were made by Microsoft to prevent ongoing warranty and support issues, and to minimise ongoing legal liability.

I didn't say these issues were identical... This was simply as an example of a manufacturing issue that was corrected.

Anything else you want to take out of context??? Other than that I'm not sure you even had a point...

JimmyC

726 posts

Ultimate Geek

#375262 1-Sep-2010 12:33

RustyGonad:

Anything else you want to take out of context??? Other than that I'm not sure you even had a point...

I just don't see any comparison between a device which wouldn't turn on, or would crash after a couple of minutes, to the iPhone 4 which for all intents and purposes works just fine. My only point fwiw is that in terms of defectiveness your chosen examples are poles apart.

old3eyes

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#375271 1-Sep-2010 12:54

I'm quite sure if the iPhone4 had been a car there would have been a massive recall to fix it. Imagine driving down the freeway and you hold the steering wheel the wrong way and the car slows down or stops altogether..

Regards,

Old3eyes

Teeps

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Ultimate Geek

#375277 1-Sep-2010 13:07

old3eyes: I'm quite sure if the iPhone4 had been a car there would have been a massive recall to fix it. Imagine driving down the freeway and you hold the steering wheel the wrong way and the car slows down or stops altogether..

Of course you're quite right there and I'm sure if the iPhone4 had an equally dangerous trait there would have been a massive recall too, as it should. Losing a little reception isn't dangerous though. Should a car be recalled for the aerial placement and if you're sitting in your car listening to the radio and someone stands next to it and you lose some reception? Lol, let's try and keep it in context

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