"...but I'd say one of the worst aspects is how the issue undermines your confidence in the device, leading to a kind of idle paranoia that at any moment a call may drop or an email won't go through if I'm not holding the phone in just the right way." - Ryan Block, gdgtvia engadget.com
So the good folks at Engadget have taken an informal survey across their geographically-dispersed team and among their media inudstry peers, concluding that the Antenna problems associated with iPhone 4 are inconsistent and overblown.
Nonetheless, I am just going to call this hiccup on Apple's most successful product launch ever Antenna-Gate from here on out, so it's clear that at least from a PR perspective, Apple has a (mini) crisis on its hands.
Why? Simply put, perception is reality. As much as I love Apple, and as much as I hate to say it, this is one of those cases where Apple's legendary secrecy, certitude and silence on gray areas (e.g., think: App Store and iOS platform policies), has lead many to conclude that Apple is wearing a black hat in this matter.
Add to that, the Apple haters and attention whores that have a vested interest in this one not going away, and you have the requisites for a firestorm - heat, oxygen and fuel. Or, "shit storm," as industry curmudgeon, Dave Winer, puts it.
This, despite both the macro data (there are no legions of frustrated users that one would expect with a sample size of 2M units) and the anecdotal data (media types are exactly the group to self-righteously flagellate themselves if they could consistently replicate a problem) suggesting that this is more mole hill than mountain.
Put it all together, and it will be really interesting, from a future case study perspective, to see how Apple unwinds this one in a manner that reconciles their brand equity, their (recent) history of limited missteps and their legacy of heroic customer support.
Mea Culpa: I mocked up this cheesy overlay of Steve Jobs on Nixon not because I think Apple is doing anything scandalous, illegal or otherwise, but rather, to frame how (mis) handling of even minor crisis' can be ruinously damaging, if for no other reason than perception has a way of becoming reality, something that I blogged about HERE.
UPDATE 1: Jim Dalrymple reports that Apple to hold special iPhone 4 press conference on Friday.
UPDATE 2: Crisis "resolved," as Steve Jobs does the mea culpa, offers unconditional return for unhappy iPhone 4 owners (no re-stocking fee) and offers up free iPhone 4 cases. At the same time, touts 3M units sold in three weeks since launch. Yowza. You watch, this one's over. Light is always/usually better than shadows - except when there is a marketing advantage to be gained from said shadows.
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- Apple, iOS and the Post PC Era
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