5 things Apple should do to kill iPhone 4 Death Grip

Joe Wilcox, one day before Apple’s Antennagate news conference listed five things Apple needed to do to quash the iPhone 4 death grip issue.

1. Release iOS 4.1—or whatever update is necessary to properly align the signal indicator and quash any other radio-related bugs.
2. Bring out certified antenna engineers—one to three of them—to discuss how the iPhone 4 radios work and to do comparisons with other smartphones.
3. Offer iPhone 4 owners freebees—Bumpers, $30 credit for case (or other accessories) or some other incentive, like free MobileMe for one year.
4. Reveal the number of iPhone 4 returns—I haven’t seen long return lines at my two local Apple Stores or heard about many iPhone 4 owners—even those complaining about Death Grip—seeking refunds.
5. No iPhone 4 Recall—The announcement would be the right time to reveal availability of white iPhone 4s, increases in production capacity and smartphone availability in more countries.

What Apple did:

1. iOS 4.0.1—improved and more accurate signal strength bar
2. Antenna Pages—significant detail and examples of smart phone attenuation
3. iPhone 4 Case—free $30 case for all iPhone 4 users through September 30
4. iPhone 4 Returns—percentage of iPhone 4 returns to date
5. No iPhone 4 Recall (the problem doesn’t exist)—White iPhone 4 coming, more countries coming, no recall.

The need for media to fan flames of hysteria and controversy won’t end Antennagate, however, a paradigm shift has begun. Death grip videos of smart phone makers RIM, Nokia, BlackBerry, and others are showing up in greater numbers on the web, adding further proof that Apple’s response was spot on, and the iPhone 4 will go on to be the most popular smart phone in the world.