iphone 4 just announced.

[mithrilG60]

Care to explain exactly how expecting Apple to replace defective units with upgraded hardware as it becomes available instead taking the attitude of "either accept this band-aid for our defective hardware or return it and bugger off" is like wanting a refund and a pony too? I hate to break it to you but that's effectively what Steve Jobs announced today and it was a very arrogant attitude to take towards his customers. Apple dropped the ball on this device, period. While it's great that they're taking some measures to offer a solution to those customers who are affected by it, the real solution is to offer to replace the defective hardware.

That's what any reputable company that cares about keeping it's customers does. Offering a full refund instead of charging a restocking fee just let's people return your product. The people that take advantage of that offer are lost customers.... because they are highly unlikely to re-buy another iPhone on Jobs' announcement that the hardware problem has been "fixed". Seriously, I enjoy my iPhone 3Gs and think it's a great device and all but the whole "Apple mentality" of blindly accepting whatever His Jobs-ness throws out there just confounds me.

[KenS]

Originally Posted by mithrilG60

Care to explain exactly how expecting Apple to replace defective units with upgraded hardware as it becomes available instead taking the attitude of "either accept this band-aid for our defective hardware or return it and bugger off" is like wanting a refund and a pony too? I hate to break it to you but that's effectively what Steve Jobs announced today and it was a very arrogant attitude to take towards his customers. Apple dropped the ball on this device, period. While it's great that they're taking some measures to offer a solution to those customers who are affected by it, the real solution is to offer to replace the defective hardware.

That's what any reputable company that cares about keeping it's customers does. Offering a full refund instead of charging a restocking fee just let's people return your product. The people that take advantage of that offer are lost customers.... because they are highly unlikely to re-buy another iPhone on Jobs' announcement that the hardware problem has been "fixed". Seriously, I enjoy my iPhone 3Gs and think it's a great device and all but the whole "Apple mentality" of blindly accepting whatever His Jobs-ness throws out there just confounds me.

Well, personally, I don't expect Apple to release new hardware anytime soon. Again, I don't think this is a 'defect', so I don't expect there to be anything to replace it with (at least in the near term).

This has absolutely nothing to do with "Apple mentality" for me. Just because I think this is a tempest in a teapot doesn't mean it's 'blindly accepting' anything at all. It has nothing to do with a specific attitude toward Apple. My blackberry has similar behavior, but I also don't think they should be giving me a new one.

People think there are only "Apple Fanboys" and "Apple Haters" in the world. I suspect you'd find that most people are far less passionate about the company, and simply enjoy the nice products (or not), but they don't spend their time posting on message boards about it. Don't think for a minute that all the fanboys and haters on the internet are representative of the larger population (you know, that 99% of people who aren't complaining about this )

Let me guess, you don't even have an iPhone 4, do you?

(by the way, I just happen to like ponies )

[mithrilG60]

Originally Posted by KenS

Let me guess, you don't even have an iPhone 4, do you?

No, as mentioned above I have a 3Gs. I actually fall into the category you're talking about, I buy and use whatever tool happens to be the best for the job. Be that phone, OS, computer platform, whatever. I choose to give up a BB which my company paid for to move to a iPhone 3Gs which I pay for instead simply because it was a much better phone.

To deny that there is a hardware defect causing the reception issue with the iPhone4 is simply ignoring all the evidence presented from a large number of different sources. First it was a software problem, now it's a hardware problem that can be solved by a rubber band. Just in saying that is an implicit admission from Apple that there is a design defect that affects signal quality.

The issue for me has nothing to do with the phone itself, it's with the corporate attitude towards how Apple intends to deal with the problem. They don't need to work to sell their products to the people that line up around the block waiting for the AppleStore to open on launch day, or the people that will sit and hit refresh constantly to get on the pre-sale list. They do have to work to sell to people like me that base their purchase decisions on: a) the quality of the product, b) how well the company supports their product. The later includes taking the steps to make it right when there's a problem. Refusing to replace defective hardware and effectively saying "put a bandaid on it or give it back" is not taking the right steps...... and it will turn a large number of people off the company and it's products.

I love my 3Gs, there's not a chance in hell that I'll upgrade to a 4.... not because there may or may not be a reception issue in the unit I'd get, but because I have zero confidence that Apple would fix a problem of their own making if such a problem occurred. As a business you live and die by the reputation you build for customer service, someone should remind Apple of that fact.

[mithrilG60]

Originally Posted by mithrilG60

I love my 3Gs, there's not a chance in hell that I'll upgrade to a 4.... not because there may or may not be a reception issue in the unit I'd get, but because I have zero confidence that Apple would fix a problem of their own making if such a problem occurred. As a business you live and die by the reputation you build for customer service, someone should remind Apple of that fact.

The other thing is that this attitude in customers, myself included, extends to ALL that company's products... not just the one that initially had the problem.

[floydpink]

I'm just gonna wait a bit before getting the 4.

I own the 3 and can't comment on the 4's alleged reception problem other than to say that everyone I know that has the 4 loves it and isn't complaining about reception problems. Just the same, I'm cool with the 3 for now. Loved it when I got it, still do.

My phone is used a great deal for work and if the reception problem affected me and I was in the 1% complainer club, it could potentially cost me a great deal of business which would negate all the benefits of a sexy design with video conferencing and blazing fast speeds making Superman seem like a snail.

As far as Steve Jobs goes, I like his way of doing things a whole lot more than Bill Gates'.

I couldn't see Microsoft giving anything away nor admitting any problem in any of their products, let alone listening to the consumer while developing them.

[newcigarz]

Originally Posted by floydpink

As far as Steve Jobs goes, I like his way of doing things a whole lot more than Bill Gates'.

I couldn't see Microsoft giving anything away nor admitting any problem in any of their products, let alone listening to the consumer while developing them.

Did I hear someone say Vista?

[Sauer Grapes]

Originally Posted by newcigarz

Did I hear someone say Vista?

The COO of MSFT actually said that he thinks the iphone 4 will be Apple's vista. MSFT is fully admitting that vista sucked now that 7 is out. 7 is nice, but I haven't used my PC enough to compare it to OSX.

[white_s2k]

Originally Posted by mithrilG60

Seriously, I enjoy my iPhone 3Gs and think it's a great device and all but the whole "Apple mentality" of blindly accepting whatever His Jobs-ness throws out there just confounds me.

And so does the "Apple is the devil, they can't ever do anything right" mentality.

Your phone is defective? Take it back, get a refund. When new hardware comes out, go buy it. Jobs can't replace a phone today, there is nothing to replace it with.