Another 17 countries get the Iphone 4

DESPITE ALL ITS PROBLEMS, Apple is pushing ahead with the roll out of its Iphone 4, with another 17 countries set to be blessed by the arrival of Steve Jobs' latest creation.

The cappuccino firm, instead of dealing with the fundamental problems with its Iphone 4, has decided it's time to entice even more fanbois to part with their hard-earned cash. Given that Apple can't even manufacture half of its Iphone models, perhaps it decided to offset that loss of sales by flogging its shiny toy elsewhere.

By Friday, the lucky residents of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland can queue up for hours, spend huge wads of their local currency and walk away with a shiny toy. While that list may sound impressive, it comes over a month after the original launch and in that time, the Iphone has averaged more than one new fault every week.

Reports of a dodgy proximity sensor, iffy Microsoft Exchange support, Bluetooth connection woes, screen discolouration and duff movie software have all been trumped by the fact that the Iphone 4's antenna doesn't work. This last problem led the firm to wheel out spinmeister Jobs to offer free rubber bands and accuse every other smartphone for having similar problems.

Clearly suffering a huge bout of insecurity owing to the fact it has designed a duff phone, Apple is loading videos on its website claiming to replicate the Iphone 4's antenna problem on other devices. Not surprisingly users of those devices are unable to reproduce the same characteristics. But then again, unlike Steve Jobs, they do not possess the hand of god.

While Jobs decides to advertise competitors' devices as equals to what he claimed was the "best smartphone in the world", even more fanbois can experience the trials and tribulations of owning a shiny brick that needs a rubber band wrapped around it just to work. µ