Free cases for iPhone 4 customers

Here's a digest of what you need to know from today's Apple press conference. Jobs said:

• Out of the 3 million+ iPhone 4 customers, 16,500 of them called to complain about antenna issues (that's 0.55 percent of all iPhone 4 customers). Apple has only seen a 1.7 percent return rate for the iPhone 4. Very few people are seeing dropped calls, he said.

• Media blew the issue out of proportion because no phone is perfect - the human body will absorb signals when you grip it, even in other phones. "Maybe it's human nature. When you're doing well, people want to tear you down."

• Nevertheless, he loves you all and will give away free cases for all iPhone 4s purchased until September 30 (you have to choose from Apple's bumper or a few other cases, since they don't have enough Apple bumpers to meet demand). If you already bought an Apple bumper, you can get a refund. No refund if you bought another company's case.

• Apply for the free case on the Apple website starting next week.

• If you're unhappy, you can still return your iPhone 4 for a refund, and AT&T will refund your contract.

• Jobs says Bloomberg story of them knowing about antenna problems is "bullshit."

• So why free covers only until Sept. 30? Well, maybe by then they'll be able to reevaluate the issue, he said.

• Still working on tracking down problems with the proximity sensor, meaning they're looking into complaints of the phone screen not properly detecting the face during a call, causing a cheek to hit the hold/hangup/mute buttons mid-call.

• Wait until the end of July to get a white iPhone 4.

Comments

[freesim]

PR in overdrive again.