i-Phone sales approach two million.
Anticipating “brisk” sales, Apple ramped-up production and staffing for the biggest product roll-out in the company’s history. Even with reinforcements, production and sales staffs barely could keep pace with demand. Apple had sold out of iPhone 4 models in white before the end of pre-sales. Today, just one week after the product’s launch, sales approached two million. So far, Apple has introduced iPhone 4 in four countries. By the end of this month, the new gadget will be available in eighteen countries worldwide.
About that “antenna thing”…
They said it. For the record, they said it. And then it got quoted about ten gazillion times. Apple officials said they were “stunned” by their discovery that iPhone 4—and other iPhones, too—contain a software glitch that prompts their nifty little handheld to miscalculate how many bars it should display for signal strength. “Stunned,” they said. The software error prompts iPhone 4, and others, to misrepresent the signal strength by as much as two bars—the difference between fine voice quality and a dropped call.
Insisting that they will have a software fix available within two weeks, Apple officials hastened to squelch the other complaints about its antenna design. Located at the lower left corner of the sleek little device, the antenna is integrated into the case design, and engineers admit they took a calculated risk by their placement of the antenna, focusing on keeping the unit slim. When some users hold the unit in their left hands, they block the antenna and reduce their signal strength. This difficulty affects just about all hand-held units without visible antennas. Asked about the problem, Steve Jobs said it by no means represented a design flaw, and he suggested that users simply should change the way they hold their iPhones.
Google steps-up Droid marketing
Meanwhile, American television viewers and magazine readers may have noted more Google Android advertising between segments of their crime dramas. Google and its marketing partners have increased promotion of their iPhone rivals by approximately 25%, especially targeting major markets in primetime. Market analyst Seth Monsen explained, “The Google folks anticipated iPhone 4 would dominate the headlines. Their strategy works to maintain public awareness of their product. More importantly, now that some consumers have become aware of difficulties with iPhone’s call quality, look for Google ads to focus on their product’s durability and reliability.”
