Apple Offers Free Cases to iPhone 4 buyers
16th July 2010 - in response to the increasing clamor over calls being dropped when the iPhone 4 is held in a certain way, Apple has announced that they will be giving free cases to all iPhone 4 buyers. Starting next week, buyers will be able to apply to receive the free cases through Apple's web site.
Apple willl be offering a free case to anyone who buys an iPhone 4 before September 30th. Apple says that they won't be able to make enough of their own bumper cases, so they will be sourcing cases from other companies and offering these as an option. Alernatively, they will offer a full refund if the phone is returned within 30 days of purchase.
The problem comes after it emerged that, when the iPhone 4 is held in a certain way, the performance of the phone antenna is affected, which could cause a call to be dropped or poor data performance. The issue arises because the antennas that send and receive cell phone and Wi-Fi signals are on the outside of the case, and touching the gap between the two on the bottom left corner of the phone body connects them together, causing the performance to drop significantly. During the press conference that announced the free case, Apple enginner Bob Mansfield said that "
When you make contact with that phone, its performance in contact with you is less than its freespace performance. It’s a way to attenuate the signal by some amount."
