How much did the iPhone 4 antenna cost Apple?
Although they seem to have faded into the far, far background, the problems, either actual or perceived, with the iPhone 4 antenna had to have been at least a little costly for Apple. Do we know how costly?
To this day, it can be difficult to tell if Antenna-gate was more of a real technical problem or more of a PR problem exaggerated by the working tech press. Some people swear they had a problem with bridging the infamous gap in the antenna with a finger while another group of us could not recreate the problem no matter how hard we tried. Certainly, it was a design and product testing flaw, at the very least, and it caused Apple to take unprecedented steps to stamp it out.
An article in Fortune lays out the thinking of Piper-Jaffray Apple guru Gene Munster on this very subject. Munster concludes that the antenna issue may have cost Apple 20% of the sales that it could have made without the problems, but also says that Antenna-gate did not cost the company nearly as much as being locked to AT&T as a wireless provider.
Munster surveyed a group of cell phone owners to get their views. He and his cohorts were trying to figure out exactly what factors, if any, were limiting sales of the iPhone 4. After the group interviewed 285 cell phone users, Munster came to the following conclusion: “The antenna issue is removing upside potential for iPhone units, but Verizon is actually the most significant factor limiting demand.”
About 20 percent of the people interviewed said that hearing about iPhone 4 antenna problems actually made a difference in their cell phone purchase decision. However, three times more users (60 percent) said that not being able to get an iPhone from Verizon was a major factor in their decisions. Apple has done all they can to solve the antenna problem, real or imagined. When are they going to do something about the Verizon problem?
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September 8th, 2010
For god’s sake, are you serious?
“Apple has done all they can to solve the antenna problem, real or imagined.”
Even Apple has freaking acknowledged the fact that there IS a problem…cmon man
As for their loss, I’m quite happy since it wasn’t such an annoying launch like with the iphone 3G and 3Gs
September 9th, 2010
What part of sold-out do these jokers not understand. If apple is having difficulty selling the product, then the survey may mean something.
Why did munster just include a question on verizon sprint and tmobile combined is as big as verizon. Verizon must really be hurting and trying to find alternative routes to push apple into even hinting on a verizon deal to stop the bleeding. Regardless of what apple does, the next media placements will be about apple definitely releasing an iPhone in January based on analyses like munster. After that, Schumer and his ilk will chime in. WS at it’s best.
Verizon must be hurting and are trying to bamboozle apple. Verizon is definitely putting their ad dollars to work. How many more of this sophistic analyses will we have to bear with.
September 9th, 2010
Real or perceived? What rock have you been hiding under? The only ones with the “unperceived” problem have been the Apple loyalists unable to face reality. Now they are stuck with a defective product.