Will Apple learn from Antennagate?

Filed in archive strategy on July 18, 2010

Has Apple actually learned anything from Antennagate?

At the end of last week, Apple chief Steve Jobs announced that Apple will provide free rubber "bumpers" to anyone who bought an iPhone 4 in order to fix the problem caused by the antenna's design flaw. Nothing about fixing the hardware problem.

"We're not perfect, phones aren't perfect either,'' Jobs said.

So let's understand this: is Steve Jobs saying the iPhone is like every other smart phone? That certainly seems to be the impression he is giving.

Now, Apple might be showing some sign of great change by acknowledging there are big reception issues. But then, there would be many iPhone4 customers who would say Apple shouldn't have sold them a phone with this problem in the first place.

Apple says the issue has been overblown and it's doing everything it can to fix it. But as blogger Jeff Hasen reminds us, Apple broke the golden rule of crisis management. It didn't come clean and allowed others to tell its story. While this is unlikely to put off the army of Apple fan boys who proudly wear the allegiance on their desks, phones and even on their heads as caps, it's no way to build a market.

The really interesting question is whether Apple has learned anything from this episode. Certainly what's happened so far is not a good sign.