How Apple moved the conversation from iPhone 4 death-touch to industry-wide death-grip
One of the greatest tricks Apple pulled off at the iPhone 4 press conference was changing the dialog from death-touch — a single point of antenna trouble on iPhone 4 — to death-grip — a device-wide point of antenna trouble faced by the entire industry.
Apple for their part did cop to making iPhone 4’s point of attenuation very external and incredibly visible. Steve Jobs called it “x-marks the spot”, but then Apple very quickly moved on from this death-touch to a wider death-grip and demonstrated it on handsets from RIM’s BlackBerry to HTC’s Droid to Samsung’s Windows Mobile.
I initially thought this was a mistake on Apple’s part — that they were spending too much time deflecting onto the competition. Turns out I underestimated Apple, but not as badly as the competition. What Apple very neatly managed to do there was conflate their own widely reported iPhone 4 death-touch into the very real but widely under-reported death-grip phenomena that does indeed affect the entire industry.
What’s more, by those very competitors responding that the death-grip either didn’t affect their devices, was minimal at best, or wouldn’t affect future devices, they cinched it for Apple. They became part of the problem. Why?
Because their devices absolutely suffer from the death grip. Instead of pointing out that yes, Apple was correct, the death-grip was an industry-wide problem but the death-touch was thus far unique to Apple, RIM BlackBerry, Samsung, and Nokia denied the death-grip, thus ensuring everyone with the issue — or just an itch for attenuation attention — would fire up YouTube and make a video clearly discrediting their statements.
HTC for their part just said they didn’t have many reports of the problem. However, as David Chartier points out, HTC effectively white-labels their phones to Verizon and they didn’t make it clear whether the number of complaints they reported included Verizon numbers. This is similar to Apple citing AT&T return numbers for iPhone 4, not gross Apple return numbers. It’s what brought about the saying “lies, damn lies, and statistics”.
My original take on Apple’s press conference was that Steve Jobs should have just stressed that making the iPhone 4 antenna the way they did was a trade-off, better battery life and stronger signal in many cases in exchange for that single point of problem — the lower left hand corner death-touch. Andy Ihnatko made the same point, if more eloquently. Arguably a modern smartphone has any number of tradeoffs — AMOLED screens offer better color and blacks that utterly fail in direct sunlight. (Free sun-screens anyone?)
I still think Apple should have been crystal clear about that trade-off, but it’s looking increasingly like they didn’t have to. In their rush to get comments out in front of the media RIM, Samsung, Nokia, et al have let the conversation get changed from death-touch to death-grip, and they’ve let videos on their own handsets propagate across the web. One look at BlackBerry on Boy Genius, Nokia on Electronista, Samsung on InformationWeek, HTC on Engadget, many others via Daring Fireball, and even manufactures’ own warnings against touching their antennas in their own manuals via 1FPS shows how they’ve become part of a story that last week was all about Apple.
Sure a few sites like Ars Technica and When Will Apple? will raise a fuss over it, but it’s done. Competitors dove headlong into it. And since Apple has now effectively priced the death-touch problem as one free case per phone, all that remains to be seen is if competitor’s denials + customers videos = free cases for other phones too.
So I underestimated Apple but they didn’t underestimate their competition.
Note: this editorial is based on a Twitter conversation with Seth Weintraub from 9to5Mac who is absolutely right, one day college courses will be taught on these PR tactics. Check out his article on Fortune.
Update 1: Dilbert’s Scott Adams comes to the same conclusion, which he calls the “high ground maneuver”, and wonders if Jobs has had hypnotist training.
Update 2: I said above that while many smartphones have the death-grip, only the iPhone has the death-touch. Daring Fireball links to a YouTube video showing the Samsung Galaxy S having, if not the death-touch, then at least the death-finger. Again, from now on no smartphone is safe.
| Tweet | Share |
Rene Ritchie, Editor
Chad Garrett, Writer
Jeremy Sikora, Writer
Leanna Lofte, Writer
Georgia, Writer
Allyson Kazmucha, Writer
Dieter Bohn, Editor in Chief, SPE
@Tim:
Really?
Check around the major news outlets. Nobody was fooled.
WAPO: http://tinyurl.com/2b4p8uz
TheRegister: http://tinyurl.com/298o7tj
TG Daily: http://tinyurl.com/33l5w8q
CBSNews: http://tinyurl.com/29oaglg
New York Times: http://tinyurl.com/28qaemg
I could fill pages with this stuff. Nobody is talking about the other phones. They are all talking about what a monumental PR disaster Jobs caused for Apple. A total Backfire.
Can anyone do the “death grip” with the iPhone 3G? I’ve had my 3G for 2 years now, and I cannot get it to drop bars no matter how I hold it. So i don’t get the everybody from RIM to Droid has this problem, when their own previous models didn’t exhibit this issue.
@Icebike: I can’t tell if you’re trolling or just can’t read any more. I said the same thing as dev. I said the same thing as you. It is about the death-touch, not about the death grip. Sadly, other manufacturers answered about the death-grip without pointing out the death-touch.
If I were RIM, my answer would have been: “Yes, all smartphones have the death-grip problem. Unfortunately for Apple, only iPhone 4 has the death-touch problem.”
If I were Apple, I would have gone with: “Yes, all smartphones have the death-grip problem, only the iPhone 4 has the death-touch problem, but that’s a trade-off we made to get better reception in most cases, increase battery life, etc. etc.”.
(And I agree with those like JLG who say Apple should have presented it that way at WWDC.
@Rene Ritchie
This issue is over. The facts are that the iPhone 4 is a tainted product and I’m sure that Apple can’t wait to get the next version of the iPhone out. I’ll bet the next iPhone will NOT look like the iPhone 4…I’ve decided not to upgrade from my 3G and will hang out for the next version unless something better comes along. Apple has left the door open for Microsoft now as Windows Phone 7 looks interesting and is something new not a copy of the iPhone like the Google Android copycat phones!
@Rene:
Except your post was almost congratulatory, praising Apple for the deflection:
When the truth of the matter is this whole thing backfired. As I’ve posted above, no one is buying the deathgrip, except those fervently trying to defend Apple.
The press wasn’t fooled. The Blogosphere is landing on Apple with both feet. Check links in my post this page.
Jobs damaged Apple more than if he just fessed up, offered the bumper, and said “We will do better”.
But that is NOT the tone that comes across reading your posts.
This has been going on since the beginning of time. It’s the old “smoke screen” when you are guilty, and everyone knows it, you put up the smoke screen to throw blame on the rest. I do think AT&T is partly at fault for bad reception areas. I don’t care how good your antenna is. The signal has to be there to receive. This story is getting old. Let’s move on.
@Icebike:
It has infected other phones though. No phone from this point forward is going to avoid a death-grip video.
I’m sort of amused by the mock outrage over the antenna issue displayed by some now. I feel as if the only way some would be satisfied only if Apple sacrificed themselves to appease crititcs. These people are complete morons. Apple made a trade-off, and it was the traditionally Pro-M$ people who have really wanted to see Apple fail. It’s a classic early adopter issue, but for some, I really think they would rather see Apple be conservative than take risks. Those people are idiots too.
The biggest issue I have and what others may have lost sight of is that Apple designed a product which had problems and then HAD to deflect the blame to other manufacturers. I mean, come on! This doesn’t speak well for Apple from an ethical point of view. It reminds me of something a “kid” would do. A child knocks something over and it breaks, then immediately retorts with “he did it!” as to not attract blame. Apple, shame on you! I like Apple and own many products from them, but this may lead me to reconsider my position. As many others have stated, they should have just owned up to the mistake from the start.
I actually have yet to have one dropped call in the last 3 days since getting my iphone 4. On my 3G, I’d constantly have random drops (even with bars) and the actual inability to make an out call in the first place (would constantly fail 10x).
I’ve tried very hard to replicate these issues… maybe the day 1 buyers got a different phone than I did. Who knows, I couldn’t be happier with my phone and its performance all the way around.
Kinda feel bad for some of you… maybe it’s where you live.
@OBoy,
Did you watch the press conference video. How many time did Steve say that “We’re not perfect?” How many times did he say “that smartphones aren’t perfect either?” With the iPhone antenna design, it well accepted that the ip4 maintains and acquires signal where the 3gs struggled (based on many comments from owners). However, while the attenuation situation is present on all phones in different severity, the admission of Steve saying “we’re not perfect” in my mind stays “hey we screwed up and we’re gonna try to make this right by coming with a temp solution to make customers happy.” You can bet your bottom dollar, Apple will learn from this an move on. Apple didn’t get to where it is today by sitting idle and pumping out crap.
@icebike:
Just like the lost iPhone prototype was “a PLANT” mark your words?
How did that work out?
Nothing backfired. Apple will continue selling millions and millions of iPhone 4s, despite the endless hopes of bitter, contemptuous critics who are continually suspicious and troubled by Apple’s success.
But feel free to keep wishing.
Nobody with an IQ over 50 was fooled. The difference between the iPhone 4 and every other smartphone (including the iPhone 3G and 3Gs) is that Apple externalized its antenna, leading to the touch problem. All they had to do was keep the antenna inside the case, and this problem would go away. And here’s the thing: Yes, you can get other phones to drop signals by giving them “death grips”, but a) as Ms. Ritchie points out, none of them have a single point of contact for failure, and b) in the other videos (and you can look at the Palm Pre video for an example of this) you practically have to wrap the whole phone in your fist to get the same effect. The comparisons are apples to oranges (no pun intended).
@Rene:
I doubt it, but nobody pays attention to some kids video anyway.
Apple made this bed, and they will forever sleep in it. And I predict they will be sleeping single.
Microsoft is still wearing Vista (which was never as bad as it was made out to be). Mac and Linux had the same protections, but never took the heat for theirs. The “Will it Blend” meme never spread much beyond Apple. These things tend to be focused on the origin.
Nobody notices death grip because it rarely causes dropped calls. Not on HTC, not on Apple, not on moto.
Deathtouch does, and the media and public notice that.
For Apple, this is not going away any time soon. Every new iPhone will be touched every which way. It will be a fondling free for all.
Apple’s next phone is a year away.
HTC, Samsung, Moto? Next phone is next week.
@zero credibility
Your welcome. May you please point out how exactly my post is an example of “limited comprehension”. We are not discussing the principles of quantum entanglement here. It seems a rather simple situation to me. You don’t like it you get something else. You like it you don’t. What’s the big deal? It is a cell phone after all.
Updated to include Dilber’s Scott Adams, who’s take is fairly similar, and a video via DF showing the Samsung Galaxy S suffering, if not from death-touch, than at least from death-finger.
No. Phone. Is. Safe.
I understand people’s anger and issue over the “deathtouch”, but only to a certain degree. I was informed about the issue, like most, shortly after the iPhone 4 release by a friend and BB slappy. My immediate response was, I always keep my phone in a case, so it won’t affect me. Furthermore, when I heard about the press conference I figured Apple was too arrogant to even offer a solution to it’s customers. I give them credit for taking the steps they did, even if it does come off as childish to also lay blame at everyone else’s feet. Stop Snitchin Apple.
In the end, I will purchase an iPhone 4 because, based on my own research, it’s the best phone I can find on AT&T for my needs and wants. It seems the media has taken an issue that is a minor annoyance and beat on it to the point where it’s World War III. If you don’t want to have your phone in a free case provided by Apple, DON’T BUY AN IPHONE 4. If you don’t like the way Apple dealt with the issue, DON’T BUY AN IPHONE 4. If you think AT&T is a crappy company with a crappy network, DON’T BUY AN IPHONE 4. If you bought an iPhone 4 and don’t like it for any reason, you’re still within 30 days, so RETURN IT AND GET SOMETHING ELSE. It just seems like people want to take every opportunity to rake Apple over the coals because of an issue that is real, but not really a huge deal. Wake me when phones start exploding in people’s faces or something truly horrible because it seems like this is a lot of talk about almost nothing.
while the fact they deflected the issue and raised a larger one is true, it hasnt helped them, rather than
here lets all have free cases, we know we messed upand that being an end to it, its now rolling on, and the more it rolls on, no matter how they play it, the more people seesignal issuesandiphonein the same sentence. also now there are reports coming in saying that 3GS models are freezing iOS4 on SMS, and taking forever to recieve SMS (reported by BBC) its far from helping them. Apple had a chance to gracefully say sorry and let everything blow over, they didnt take it.Christ this is getting boring!
I feel sorry for all the guys who aren’t going to buy one now as they’re missing out on what I believe is the best smartphone on the market. Their loss though…
Methinks you should probably unpat that back of yours:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66E52I20100719
I really don’t think that this was the PR masterstroke that you seem to think it is.
@chieze: me either. I think that for the average person, the details of what went on at the press conference are going to be more or less lost, and what is going to remain in the forefront of their mind is “iPhone? that’s the one that has all those reception problems, right?”
But I think that in the fullness of time, this is going to blow over. Apple will issue out free cases for a while, then they’re be some kind of 4.1 version of the hardware, and people will sort of forget about this. But “sort of” is the key word – there’s unquestionably some damage done to Apple’s brand here, and it’s going to take a while to completely work that out. The issue of problems other phones may have is a red herring, and is being seen as such.
@Sean
“The issue of problems other phones may have is a red herring, and is being seen as such.”
Really? Then why is there a poll on almost every support or fan forum for non-iphones? Apple successfully made this an industry wide problem. So that its not their problem alone.
Did Apple make everyone happy? Of course not. There’s links posted above that prove that. And as long as an apple controversy means more hits, media will continue to stretch it out.
Did Apple do enough to get by this? Yep. Hell, their brand alone is powerful enough to weather this storm. But the act of admitting a mistake and handing out bumpers should easily be the icing on this cake.
Apple’s chance to really leave this overblown issue behind won’t arrive til iphone 5. Sales of iphone 4’s will be fine. Those worrying that this issue will affect sales? Apple can’t make these fast enough. They couldn’t possibly sell anymore then they are now.
In addition, i expect Apple to blow past wall streets predictions like they always do. That dip in the stock price? Good time to buy.
Some other idiot analyst mentioned Droid X’s success as a way to indicate why apple’s stock may have fallen.
The Droid is on Verizon. It’s not like these verizon buyers were going to buy iphones on at&t instead. Very few change carriers.
Now if the Captivate sells out and remains a success for the next quarter, then that could be seen as something…
I dont understand why people continue to ignore facts!? I have a Blackberry and tried gripping the phone and it indeed lost several bars in a weak reception area. I have wanted an iphone since they came out (I just refuse to switch to att). Why are people so insistent on bashing the Apple? And why is Steve Jobs this huge **** for defending his company and pointing out an issue related to all phones? Its not like he is aimlessly bashing other companies…he used video evidence and facts to back every single thing he said. Instead of Blackberry, Android, and other smartphone users coming onto sites and bashing Apple, get some facts. Until then, this entire “Antennagate” is just ridiculous.
LOL! They only succeeded with moron fanboys. The rest of us, who have used other phones, saw it for the complete BS it was and is. And hey Rene, no post about the wired.com article that finally reveals that fanboys have been hating on ATT when the real problems have always been the phone? No fanboy or Apple ever answers the question – why don’t BBs and other phones drop calls on the ATT network?
I have an iPhone and it’s a nice pocket computer, but it is and always has been an utter fail as a phone. Nice to see people FINALLY point that out. Maybe Apple will focus on the functionality of the PHONE for a change. And yes, Steve’s “statistics” about dropped calls are utter BS. I travel nationwide with these phones and they drop 40-50% of their calls. It’s a known joke in my office and with clients “sorry for the disconnect – what can I say? I use an iPhone!”
Tip: if you’re having lots of dropped calls in a particular location turn off 3G while making calls. The apple software cannot seem to handle the transition from edge to 3G and drops you off. Neither Apple or a fanboy will tell you that because then they’d have to admit apple wasbthe problem. And THAT can never happen!! They’d rather see you lose 10000 calls instead of telling you what to do.
@RJD,
40-50 percent dropped call rate and you still own the phone? And business no less? Come on. I have used plenty of other phones including many that trouble making the EDGE-to-3G switch. Here’s a little hint, sell your 50 percent dropped call phone and call it a day. Don’t let the door hit you in the arse on the way out!
I moved from the Palm Pre to the Apple iPhone 4. I was a die-hard fan of Palm…but got sick of a crappily built device. Glad those days are gone.
I love the iPhone 4! Seriously, it is truly amazing what it can do.
However, the antanna issue is 100% real. It does not require a death grip. Just allowing to sit in your left hand, count to five, the signal fades…and then eventually, the call is dropped. This has happened to me many, many times. Dropped calls on my previous devices was extremely seldom…like half a dozen times a year, maybe.
Apple: I love you, but the cheezy the-phone-isn’t-perfect, let’s-accuse-the-competition thing is weird. ‘Fess up: it is a design flaw. Fix it and move on. Glad you’re sending me a bumper, otherwise, this would probably had been a deal-breaker.
I can’t believe you guys fell for that crap and still are. Apple has been working on this phone for over a year and how did something like this not be noticed. HTC, Moto, Samsung, etc..come out with many phones in a year so a design flaw is bound to happen but to a iPhone, c’mon man. I for one am not falling for SJs slight of hand. FCUK U!!!
Wow! I guess people read “iPhone 4″ and “death-grip”, skip ahead to the comments and begin to rant nonsensical.
To the question put forward by the author of this article. I don’t believe that the antenna shortcomings of Apple’s competitors will get to the forefront of popular media. Those devices simply are not ingrained in poplar culture like the iPhone is and like the iPod was/is in the MP3 player space. Only savvy consumers will file complaints with their mobile carriers or device manufactures, presenting idle Attorney-General threats. Some will get a hold of a sympathetic or disinterested customer service supervisor, who in turn will throw them a free case.
The iPhone 4 has been branded as defective and not even Steve Jobs can persuade all consumers to his point-of-view.
This article is just as fail as apples whole pr spin.
@RJD
Your a **** if you drop 50% of your calls and still stick with the phone.
Do us a favour and piss off to Andriod or Blackberry then we don’t need to put up with your crybaby whining.
Android
Before so many claim Apple has screwed up over this let’s just wait until September or so and see what effect it has on iP4 sales and their financial numbers – only then will we know if it has affected things. My bet is it’ll still be the top selling smartphone on earth and return rates will still be lower than previous models, and Apple’s profits will be through the roof.
AT&T have a lot to answer for, outside the USA this antennagate thing is a huge non-issue, there aren’t enough weak reception areas in most places for it to affect things (in most cases the iP4 has much better reception than previous models) and all non-US customers are concerned with is how the hell they can lay their hands on an iP4!
Wait a second? don’t all companies say they have the BEST product?
now you guys are using that against apple as well?
I suppose HTC and Motorola get up on stage and say they have a So So product, and they are second best.
/rollseyes.
Fernando is exactly right. I love that we’re trying to make the point that in the mainstream, no one bought the snake oil this time around and we point to major mainstream news outlets to indicate such. The rebuttal is: “but there are polls on tech enthusiast websites!” Indeed.
Fernando is exactly right. I love that we’re trying to make the point that in the mainstream, no one bought the snake oil this time around and we point to major mainstream news outlets to indicate such and the rebuttal is: “but there are polls on tech enthusiast websites!” Indeed.
Apple is comparing their premium high end devices to old and sometimes discontinued phones…
Who cares about the Droid Eris? … Verizon doesn’t even sell them anymore…
The Evo doesn’t have a deathgrip problem The Droid X doesn’t have a deathgrip problem The desire doesn’t have a deathgrip problem The Droid Incredible doesn’t have a deathgrip problem… Those are the Iphone 4 competition.. not a droid eris ..
@iphonemilk
Aren’t all these companies trying to make an “iPhone killer”? That’s because they consider it the top of the line device. Companies learned long ago that they can make lots of money by making good enough products but that’s not Apple’s business model now is it and that’s why the extra scrutiny.
I own several phones for work and pleasure, and none show any connection loss no matter how I try it… and believe me I’ve tried. These are 2 Nokias and 1 Sony Ericsson. No problem whatsoever. In all fairness, I have never had any problems with my iPhone 3GS. I’m an Apple fan (sort of) but I think they went too far by involving other manufacturers. It reminds me of a small child who is caught at something and then immediately starts pointing fingers. Major letdown.