The Tech For 7/14/10: The iPhone Poor

Photo from James Martin/CNET

That Consumer Report's report sure was damning.

In the wake of Consumer Reports announcing that it would not be recommending the iPhone 4 due to the much-discussed antenna problems, there have been calls for Apple to recall the device.

While a recall could be damaging to Apple's reputation, it would also be a costly endeavor, according to some calculations made by Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi. In a research note on Tuesday, Sacconaghi estimated that while "a full product recall of the iPhone 4 (is) highly unlikely," it would cost Apple $1.5 billion, or 3.5 percent of its total cash on hand.

What would be more likely--and cheaper--is that Apple could issue a free rubber bumper case with each phone. That would prevent a person's hand from coming into contact with the phone's antenna, which is built into its exterior metal strip. Although Apple charges $29 at retail for the rubber cases, Bernstein estimates that giving them away to iPhone 4 customers would cost the company $1 per unit.

"It could be done immediately, would directly address the Consumer Report's concern, and would be financially immaterial," Sacconaghi wrote. "While it would force Apple to 'acknowledge' a design issue with the iPhone, we believe that consumers are increasingly aware of the antenna issue, and remedying it rather than dismissing or ignoring it appears most appropriate."

It sure is not a crying moment for me seeing Stevey Steve and his arrogant company get humbled like they are now.

And that is what the Apple fan club masses get for acting almost like this outstanding replication and getting the iPhone4 when it came out:

How robotic voices can be so great.

But that won't stop them from giving Paul The Octopus his own application !

An iPhone app development company called uTouchLabs just released an app called "Ask the Octopus," which lets users input two options for any query and then has a cartoon "octopus oracle" choose one much in the way that Paul would gravitate toward one of the two flags with which he was presented.

It costs 99 cents in the App Store.

Which is worth 99 more cents than most Apple lovers common sense.