Lets face it, Apple has had a bad couple of months. Their new flagship product has a major and obvious flaw, and the news media is on it like sharks. Steve Jobs makes some flippant comments. Apple holds a big press event to give away cases. Now the “White” iPhone 4 has been pushed back even further.
One thing I hate about Apple is having to “read the tea leaves” about everything they say or do. But because they are a hyper secretive company, customers have no choice.
So here is my prediction. Don’t buy an iPhone 4 now, because there will be a significant re-release of the product in September. This re-release will be to address the antenna issue.
So why do I think there will be a re-release?
1. The Antenna issue is a Hardware Problem. That means the only “fix” for it will be new redesigned hardware.
2. Apple has hired several new antenna engineers who apparently have been working around the clock. Why would engineers work around the clock to fix something that is already in customers hands? Apple has a million or more current design iPhone 4 in the pipeline from Foxconn in China. It makes more sense that engineers would work around the clock to redesign something. It’s unlikely that Apple would continue to sell a product (with a bumper case fix) if they planed to later recall that product and replace every customers current design iPhone 4 with one that does not have the same antenna issues.
3. In the Antenna-Gate Press conference Jobs said that free bumper cases would be provided through the end of September. This implies that after September bumper case will no longer be needed.
4. The White iPhone 4 has been pushed back till “later this year”. While there may very will have been manufacturing difficulties in with the white iPhone 4 line in the very beginning, Apple still claiming that white is harder to make than black is disingenuous. However, if Apple is trying to keep the over all supply of iPhone 4s at a bear minimum, then holding back the white iPhone 4 until the redesign makes sense.
Putting all this together seems to indicate that sometime in September there will be a quiet re-release of the iPhone 4, most likely to coincide with the release of the white iPhone 4 and the expiration of the free bumper case offer.
I think it will be a quiet re-release because any fanfare will trigger a flood of current iPhone 4 users demanding replacement units weather they are having antenna trouble or not.
Of course announcing this plan will not only trigger demands for exchange, but also will bring current iPhone 4 sales to a standstill, something Apple wants to avoid.
The problem with this plan is that keeping such things “quiet” is no longer possible. The internet allows the almost instant dissemination of information. Even an article such as this, made up of nothing but speculation and semi-logical deduction, if read by enough people itself can become the catalyst for the very problem Apple is trying to avoid. The only way to survive in the modern world is to be open, transparent and honest.
I will most likely get an iPhone 4, but I’ll wait until October or later because I’m still holding out hopes for a Verizon CDMA-LTE iPhone.
