Anyone with a high school knowledge of physics(or even a passing interest) knows if you earth an antenna it will not work effectively.

I cant think of any other such device that has ever has an exposed(uninsulated) antenna.

I've got to wonder why Jobs even bother to hire engineers if he ignores their advice.

Anyone else read that story that other day about how 'the uninformed will continue to believe a misconception when presented with a fact(that opposes their misconception).' Sound like the basis of all apple marketing.

Perhaps the recent use of the word magic in their marketing is not false advertising, just an illustration/admission of the fact that its all slight of hand...

So Apple's messiah has degraded himself and his company to the point of a tu quoque (you too!) argument huh? How expected.

All Jobs' statement is doing is further soiling Apple's reputation as a company that produces something that may be regarded as superior to its competition. Fine work there Jobs; I thought you knew better.

I was actually thinking that the whole rubber-case-giveaway thing was some sort of bad taste joke.

HEY STUPID APPLE CONSUMERS, WAKE UP, YOUR FAVORITE COMPANY IS GIVING A ***$1 PLASTIC THING*** IN COMPENSATION OF THE MOST SHAMEFUL MISTAKE IN THE MOBILE PHONE HISTORY!

And you people STILL defend them. That's how stupid the human race can get, specially its rich slice.

Now, by equivalence, when Toyota cars get another steering problem they will give away free life insurance to all its owners. Hell, why would they call back, nobody's perfect, every product has its share of problems, don't they?

That's what you get for giving that much of your money to Apple, jerks.

Now lets see in which new ways Apple will screw up with iPhony 5.

Martin is correct. My Blackberry didn't drop calls or data when "held the wrong way". My new Palm Pre + doesn't loose signal at all when "held the wrong way". My Palm Centro and Samsung Blackjack didn't lose signal when "held the wrong way". Jobs bait and switch BS and fake "signal drop" presentation aren't convincing anyone but complete idiots. The iPhone 4 Antennae is on the OUTSIDE. It should be OBVIOUS that having the human hand come into contact with it causes the dropped connection. Sure a case or "rubber band" will help because it places material between the hand and the phone, but that doesn't negate the fact that it is an OBVIOUS DESIGN FLAW and that the "reality distortion field" needs to be lifted and Jobs just admit that they screwed up the design in the first place. The case may be enough to placate folks who have reception issues, but what about the screen and sensor? The case going to fix that too??

"Its a physical fact, tocuh a radio emitting device and you will affect its performance doh!"

Umm, D'oh to you too. Have you read the Nokia and RIM statements? Nokia and RIM conceal their antennas specifically so you cant touch them. The Apple defect is due to the antenna being touched, not merely obstructed. And its a single finger touch that causes the problem. A single finger touch does not cause the same problem on other phones. Steve Jobs sidestepped this important fact by only showing a full hand clasp of said phones but this is not the only contact thta causes problems in the Apple phone. In doing so, he mislead the viewers into thinking the problem with the other phones is EXACTLY the same when in fact it is not in the respect of the single finger touch. Sadly the deathgrip phrase has helped obscure this fact and perhaps the death touch phrase would have been more accurate and harder to defend against.

I have a Nokia N82 and every time I find myself in poor reception areas holding the phone in my hand causes it to drop 4-5 bars (on 7 max) down to 0. Phone calls or data connections drop. I never thought of that as an issue: human body is a shield to radio waves, you cannot change that.
iPhone 4 may have a single particularly weak spot, but I really think all this is just FUD against Apple.

What is it about phone manufacturers that makes them go contrary to obvious best PR? You should *always* stay out of confrontations. What the heck did Jobs say that isn't true? Because yes, holding *any* radio transmitter is going to affect it.

I still think Apple's antenna design is entirely defensible, but they may not have explained that well enough, yet, not wanting to explicitly say: It's too *cool-looking* to worry about getting *best* electrical performance.

Its a physical fact, tocuh a radio emitting device and you will affect its performance doh!

I wonder if this could turn nasty - is there enough evidence for a libel case against Apple?