If there’s anything the iPhone 4 launch taught us, it’s no matter how good your product is, there will always be issues at launch. In Apple’s case, that means pre-ordering, activation, reception, dropped calls or uncured glue. It’s a part of the massive feat of putting one million handsets in the hands of the market. Personally, I am pleased with my iPhone 4, but have maintained an open perspective to the issues, solutions and responses.
Despite these issues — many people I talked to who waited in line for the iPhone read the same blogs I did — people maintained confidence and trust in the product quality. It seems that word of mouth is a great way to spread product buzz, but equally as strong to spread uncertainty and even untrue statements.
During the process of activating my iPhone 4, I asked the Apple employee Amy (I think) from the Chandler location on the official word or confirmation of the then-rumored iPhone issues. She, just like the hundreds of thousands of customers, were left in the dark about the antenna issues or yellow dyes. This concerned me because Gizmodo/Engadget seem to be more knowledgeable about the device than Apple themselves. Either way, I paid $356.86 for a 32GB handset, ‘Bumper’ accessory and tax so you can assume Apple won this battle.
Apple probably underestimates the power of their massive audience of publishers. Engadget and Gizmodo receive about four million uniques monthly. Those visitors probably aren’t exclusive from each other, but it can be reasonable to assume that about seven million people read those blogs a month. And it’s important to remember that content is usually incestuous of each other so people often read the same snark, opinion and rumors minutes apart. If these publishers misstate something, many people hear it.
Coming from the software world, I think a lot about customer communication about known issues. It’s my job to help communicate to customers on a regular basis and keep them informed about the status of my employer’s service and features. I know that if a company has a transparent, humble but realistic communications approach with customers, customers will listen and respect them for sharing latest details about their product and service. For a long time, Apple has been the exception to this rule because their products are often flawless requiring no additional messaging.
Today, we learned even Apple is prone to major issues in their products.
As you know, Apple doesn’t do that social media thing. The closest they get is planting (or misplacing, depending on perspective) an iPhone in a bar and letting the blogs eat it up.
I think it’s time Apple operates a blog. It doesn’t have to be a big investment. Hell, it can even be a Tumblr/Posterous account and if an engineer could maintain it, that would be an invaluable gift to their online audience. On top of that, they can at least participate in the discussion, not be an after-thought. Just imagine the type of response they’d get if they could openly ask for research, reports, serial numbers from people who might be victim to innocent manufacturing defects. It’s surely better than people uploading a number of videos to YouTube in an effort to independently validate a defect in the product and buzzkill the launch with problems.
I think managing a blog to clearly communicate a message is better than Steve Jobs replying to email advising people to hold the phone differently. I know Apple appears elitist, but with actions like refusing to openly admit defects and a commitment to resolve them makes me think it’s at minimum, true. While I commend Jobs for tending to his email on launch day, I often wonder if he could help people better by writing his own blog posts via inquiries from his email.
So far, here are the known issues with the iPhone 4 reported by people, magnified by publishers and ambiguous statements from Apple:
- Antenna/Reception Problem — Users of iPhone 4 will notice that when holding the phone in their left hand towards the lower half of the side of the phone, their signal will dramatically decrease to the point of having no service. This is due to the fact the hand will short the circuit with the antenna dipoles and the human body is a great conductor and insulator. This is a defect by design and compliance to the FCC, says AntennaSys, Inc.
SOLUTION: Use an iPhone Bumper ($29), possibly install a thin strip of Gorilla Tape. Steve Jobs advises users to hold the iPhone differently. - Yellow Discoloring of Bottom Region of Screen: When reading something that has a while background, users may notice a yellow tint on the screen. After many confirmed reports of this, Apple states this is a byproduct of manufacturing and should remedy itself over time.
SOLUTION: Wait. - Rear of Phone Glass Spiderweb cracks when Dropped: Apparently, when you drop the iPhone, the rear of the phone will crack in much the same fashion as a head hitting a windshield in a high-speed impact. While unclear on the exact height or speed, it was unintentional.
SOLUTION: Do not drop phone. - Delayed Activation: Some users are reporting difficulty in activating the iPhone 4 from home. It’s recommended to use the latest version of iTunes.
SOLUTION: Power off and turn on the phone (again); make sure to use the latest version of iTunes.
I’m sure there’s a better way to communicate these problems. Thoughts?
{ 1 comment }
Thanks… I appreciate that you focused on what the customer wants to know, and how to satisfy that need. I think your formatting of that list of known issues & remedies is spot-on.
jd/adobe
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 4 trackbacks }