It's not us, it's you

The past few days, there have been a slew of articles about poor reception on the iphone 4. The problem seems to appear when you hold the phone with your left hand, covering the bottom left part of the phone. Doing so reduces reception and apparently drastically reduces data transfer.

Earlier today, Apple finally replied to the issue. In email exchanges about the supposed drop in signal, Steve Jobs reportedly just said, "just don't hold it like that".

Later, an official Apple statement advices users to either use your right hand or get a protective casing.

*laughs at Apple*

This is obviously a hardware problem. To make the iphone 4 even thinner than the old 3GS, they have to make internal components more flat. The long antenna (and you do want it longer for better reception) probably goes around just behind the circumference of the phone.

Being a hardware problem, there's nothing Apple can do about it. There is no software fix, no update. And they certainly can't recall the phones. They are after all working. It's a flaw in the design of the phone.

So at the end of the day, no biggie. Just use your right hand, get a protective case, or just don't hold it that way.

The interwebs have had a field day on this issue and I'm sure Apple and Jobs have been misquoted more than a few times, but in essence, that is what Apple is saying. And it sounds ridiculous and funny.

They could have handled the situation better. The way things have been said and responded to leaves a lot to impressions on how arrogant Apple handled the problem.