16 July 2010

Weekend Reading:
Apple's Attempt To Draw Other Into
Its Self-Made Debacle Is Unacceptable

To make it clear, I'm not someone who is ardently anti-Apple, not at all, I just can’t resist to say that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is considered as one of the greatest marketers in history which means that nothing he claims can be trusted without checking twice and it’s hard not to be angered and frustrated knowing that Mr. Jobs usually only telling the half-truth at best.

Anyway, Nokia has just released an official statement about their antenna design and their engineering philosophy in direct response to Apple's Friday press conference on antenna issues and said that their engineering devoted thousands of hours to study how people hold their phones in order to prevent the so called death grip problems that have been reported on the iPhone 4.

Official Nokia's Statement:

As we’ve all seen, Apple had mentioned Nokia in their press conference today regarding the iPhone4. I wanted to take a moment and send you a statement regarding Nokia’s own antenna design and function.

Antenna design is a complex subject and has been a core competence at Nokia for decades, across hundreds of phone models. Nokia was the pioneer in internal antennas; the Nokia 8810, launched in 1998, was the first commercial phone with this feature.

Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying human behavior, including how people hold their phones for calls, music playing, web browsing and so on. As you would expect from a company focused on connecting people, we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict.

In general, antenna performance of a mobile device/phone may be affected with a tight grip, depending on how the device is held. That’s why Nokia designs our phones to ensure acceptable performance in all real life cases, for example when the phone is held in either hand. Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying how people hold their phones and allows for this in designs, for example by having antennas both at the top and bottom of the phone and by careful selection of materials and their use in the mechanical design.

As you read through that, you probably noticed a few gems. Like how Nokia was “the pioneer of internal antennas.” We’re not going to say that they weren’t, not by any means, but let’s just try to stay focused. A comment that’s more on track would be something like this: “we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict.” Yes, that’s how it should be — but if you can figure out a way to get them both down, why not take a shot at it?

Everyone has their own feelings about the iPhone 4’s antenna situation, and even after Apple’s response, we’re sure people have already chosen their sides of the discussion, so Steve Jobs’ resolution of the situation probably won’t matter to them. What about you? Where do you stand in all of this?

But not only Nokia, Steve Jobs had his has also managed to call out the entire smartphone industry including RIM who also responded with an official statement.

Official RIM's Statement:

Apple's attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple's claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public's understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple's difficult situation.

RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage.

One thing is for certain, RIM's customers don't need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.