DIY solutions and fake emails
Apple maintains its lab testing shows the new iPhone's wireless performance is the best yet and the majority of users have been untroubled by reception issues.
However, a fan site claims it has solved the problem using rubber charity bracelets, instead of a $29 rubber case Apple has previously suggested could aid reception as well as protect the phone.
In a DIY project even Blue Peter would be proud of, the unofficial Apple weblog suggests users cut holes in a rubber charity bracelet (like Lance Armstrong's Livestrong bands) for the phone's headphone jack, silent switch and dock connector, thus insulating the metal antenna.
The Livestrong foundation set up by cyclist Armstong told Business Week it had noticed a rise in its site traffic since the iPhone 4 solution came to light. But unsurprisingly Apple suggests people should buy its official cases and avoid holding the phone on its left-hand corner.
In a busy week, Apple has also confirmed emails apparently from Apple CEO Steve Jobs, insisting an iPhone 4 user should ‘calm down' over reception problems, are fake.
Mobile phone site Boy Genius Report published a conversation purportedly between Jobs and one of its readers. In the exchange, the allegedly fake Jobs tried to placate angry ‘Tom' about his iPhone 4's reception problems.
Gems from the increasingly heated conversation in which ‘Tom' attacks Jobs' ‘jackass' comments, include replies from ‘Jobs' of: "No, you are getting all worked up over a few days of rumors. Calm down," and "you may be working from bad data. Not your fault. Stay tuned. We are working on it."
Apple's press department reportedly strenuously denied these messages were sent by Jobs.
In an intriguing twist to the iPhone ‘fakery', another site, AppleInsider insists it was offered what would appear to be the same email exchange for publication by a bloke in Virginia...for lots of cash, of course.
It says the man apparently posted a YouTube video of him blocking signal on an iPhone 4 and was swiftly contacted by Apple, resulting in the now well-publicised email, which he tried to sell to various members of the tech industry.
The site says it was contacted by a Jason Burford of a small advertising firm who tried to sell the email and offered to send headers for proof. He admits to ‘kind of going off' at Jobs.
