Apple fanbois: good sports re. Steve Jobs press conference

By Richi Jennings. July 16, 2010.

Dear Apple fanbois (and fangrrls): wow! You're (mostly) all good sports. You (mostly) didn't object to Thursday's parodic "leak" of Steve Jobs' press conference script. In fact, some of you were even (mostly) complimentary. I'm truly humbled; thanks! Read on, as I breathe a sigh of relief and talk more seriously about iOS 4.0.1, in The Long View...

Aside from the obvious light relief, I was making a serious point in the post. Yes, really! (If you've not yet read it, go ahead; I'll wait...)

Is there more to iOS 4.0.1 than meets the eye?
For a few days now, I'd been thinking: what if there's more to the iOS 4.0.1 firmware upgrade than just the new dB-to-bars calculation? Then, when I heard that newer iPhone 4 units seemed to have a different finish on the antennas, it hit me.

It looks like there's either a manufacturing defect, or there's been a silent redesign (an iPhone 4a, if you will). Either way, Apple would be likely to portray this as a small-scale, isolated glitch at Foxconn in China.

A blanket recall would be expensive
But if Apple are going to recall defective units, they're not going to want to recall every single unit that might possibly cause a problem -- that would be far too expensive. Much better to only replace iPhones that actually exhibit the problem in use.

For example, It would be a bad idea, economically, to publish a list of serial number prefixes that might be affected. Cue an insane rush of iPhone owners to Apple Stores to replace their phones, even if they're working adequately. Not a great plan.

So the in-store Geniuses -- Genii? -- need a way to quickly test that a particular phone has the problem. If it does, authorize a replacement or a free bumper. If not, politely tell the user that it's all in his or her head and to stop believing everything they read on teh interwebz.

Enter iOS 4.0.1
Could it contain a hidden test application of this sort? Just a theory; I claim no special knowledge of the situation. But that's what I'd advise Apple to do if they were a client.

I guess we'll find out, Real Soon Now.

 
What's your theory? Leave a comment below...
 

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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: TLV@richij.com.

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