As promised, Apple is gearing up to give away free bumper cases for the iPhone 4. The cases remedy an issue with the antenna that has caused perhaps more media attention than consumer complaints. Apple also announced a major delay in the release of the white iPhone 4.
Apple set up a web page and deployed a special iPhone app that lets iPhone 4 owners know how to get the promised case, which prevents users from touching the antenna band that encircles the smartphone’s edges. Consumers complained that signals dropped when their finger touched the bottom left side of the phone.
Apple will give away free cases to anyone who buys an iPhone before Sept. 30. But users have to download the app for the App Store in order to get the free case. Users can choose a rubber bumper or one of several plastic cases from third-party vendors Apple works with. The cases should ship in three to five weeks.
There’s an App for That
Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis, calls Apple’s moves clever. Clever in the sense that Apple has run ads saying, “There’s an app for that.” And now there is even an app that placates irate iPhone 4 consumers. Apple has information stored about which devices have been registered, Greengart said, so an app is a clever and convenient way for both consumers and Apple to handle the issue.
“Apple is handling this in such a way that the user doesn’t have to jump through too many hoops,” Greengart explained. “If you bought your case via credit card, they are automatically refunding that so you don’t have to do anything at all. If you bought it from AT&T, then you actually have to fill out a coupon the way a normal offer might be fulfilled. But if you haven’t…