Hold our latest smartphone any way you like, says Verizon Wireless in a new ad campaign, and you won’t lose your call. The shot is intended to exploit a public-relations setback for Apple and AT&T: Problems with the iPhone 4’s innovative antenna system.
The fast-selling iPhone’s latest design puts the antenna in a metal band in the center of the device’s glass panels in an apparent attempt to make it slimmer. But widespread complaints about reception have led to class-action lawsuits alleging Apple knowingly sold a flawed phone. Apple has suggested that customers avoid touching the antenna while making calls or put the iPhone in a protective case.
An evidently flippant reaction by Apple CEO Steve Jobs that “it’s just a phone” in what one irate customer said was an exchange of e-mails may make the situation worse as sales enter a second week.
Apple and AT&T, its exclusive U.S. carrier, say they sold close to two million handsets in the first three days.
“I don’t think the antenna issue will slow down sales much,” said Gerry Purdy of MobilTrax. He said Apple might authorize store personnel to give out free carrying cases to address the problem.
Verizon’s response to the controversy came in an ad for its latest Android-based smartphone, the Droid X, which launches July 15. In the small print of a full-page ad in The New York Times that describes the Droid X’s features, Verizon notes that “most importantly, it comes with a double-antenna design. The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like and use it just about anywhere to make crystal-clear calls. You have a voice and you deserve to be heard.”
The controversy comes as Verizon is widely believed to be the next carrier to sell the iPhone. That might explain…