iPhone 4 Signal Saga Continues - Did Apple Know?

Jun 30 by Ty Dunitz | 16 comments

News of the day seems to be a series of job postings at Apple – no less than eight – for antenna engineers. Posted on June 23rd, the day before the launch of iPhone IV (or, 4, if you’re not into epic things), the postings raise some suspicion about the alleged signal failure problem, and whether or not Apple might have suspected something was up with the device before it hit the market – or at least after the flood of signal complaints on the afternoon of the 23rd.

Whatever the case, Apple isn’t prepared to dick around. Applicants “will be expected to performance radiation performance measurements, create test plans, execute them, publish test reports, provide feedback to the other design engineers, and lead some of the manufacturing of antenna.” How many years of experience? X. Sorry, that’s 10. You’d better have made a goddamn career out of antenna engineering if you wanna help Apple solve this issue – an issue Apple continues to claim doesn’t exist. “We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers,” instructs a leaked procedure list for AppleCare representatives. But even if they’re lying, it’s good to see they’re doing something about it. In the background. Secret style. Ninja stuff.

WRITTEN BY TY DUNITZ

Ty is an illustrator who stays up too late, and has to wear glasses. You can follow him on Twitter if you want to (@glitchritual), but he's just gonna throw your stupid PR crap in the garbage, so don't email him.

COMMENTS
  • Mike B

    Are they hiring to fix a problem or refilling newly (involuntarily) vacated stops?

  • Jo Dean

    I got a feeling they knew, but like Jobs says, dont hold it that way LOL

    Lou
    http://www.anon-surfing.at.tc

    • Moss

      I am sure they knew, but Jobs has a thing about design (see story about them redesigning an Apple II-era motherboard because Steve didn’t think the wiring of the memory looked pretty).
      At Apple, engineering and reality doesn’t win against cool design.
      .
      And as for Steve and the “don’t hold it that way”, what did you expect? Look at the way he treated his daughter Lisa for years. Yes, I know he gave her a lot of money in her 30s and they’re BFFs now. How did those first ~30 years work.
      .
      Apple may make cool stuff, but there is one way there. Steve’s way or the highway, and the laws of physics be damned.
      Well it looks like King Canute Jobs can’t stop the sea from rising just by command.

  • Ollie

    If you’d like to apply to any of the Jobs from that image you can here: http://jobs.apple.com/index.ajs?BID=1&method=mExternal.returnToResults&sortBy=5&sortOrder=DESC&CurrentPage=2 – They are not error reports, they are simply jobs available in the apple corporation – this is a poor report that is likely to be taking further for no real reason – and is sad to see

  • http://canadiantechblogger.com Brad

    Ya, I think they knew, but nothing is free of bugs.

    • Juan

      I don’t consider that kind of flaw a “bug”. That’s something else entirely.

    • Moss

      Losing reception when you hold your phone is a wee bit more than a “bug”.

  • http://www.iphonemactransfer.com Eddy

    Steve Jobs thought that the antenna was not the key problem before launched iPhone 4. Not surprise.

  • http://hipcrits.com joejoe

    there’s this really neat apple in cupertino. it’s shiny on the outside but it’s rotten on the inside. this evil queen, named steve jobs, keeps trying to give the apples to the pretty people and they keep taking bites out of it. but they don’t know that it’s rotten and full o’ worms. poor folks. the seven million dwarves who buy this crap need to wake up.

  • http://www.marcvonbrockdorff.com Marc von Brockdofff

    I find it practically impossible to believe they weren’t aware of it before releasing it… I think at this point they’re just trying to let it die down. Mike B might be right – What if they fired the entire Antenna Engineering team?!

  • Staffan

    Why this perpetual obsession with things Apple? Has Steve taken hold of our minds?

  • Antenna Engineer

    Maybe they should just make and sell antennas and hook them to every head possible.. that way they get the job done while making us look errr… futuristic (ally funny). It wud be a sight to behold

  • rosepetal

    well, duh! Of course they knew. They play the same game Microsoft does – get the product to market ASAP, and fix the fallout afterwards. The software game doesn’t change when hardware is involved….

  • Steve Browne

    Apple need to admit once and for all they have made a major cock up. I had the phone and personally i found it unusable to make calls . I sent it back and i suggest others do to. Why pay all this money for a defective product , which it is !

  • Keith

    Too bad they disabled the lost “Engaget” phone so quickly, there may have been a profit shattering review revelation. No free rubber bumpers either, hmmm, those were intended as a high profit antenna accessory?

  • Azreale

    I own 4 iPhone 4s(selling 3 of them) and live on Guam. There is no antenna problem here. Must be an AT&T problem. I tested, did everything I can to try to go to zero bars but there is no such problem. I went ahead an applied for the free bumper program there doing. To own an iPhone 4 though, it would be always practical to put a case because of such it’s gorgeous exterior.