@5erge: You don't have the only working iPhone 4. While I have sometimes been able to make my iPhone 4 drop bars when I try to, it has yet to affect real world use. Reception has been better in areas where I have previously had no 3G or EDGE service.

@drdreydel: You are obviously ignorant to Bill Gates' history running Microsoft if you think he's a standup guy.

@clearbox: Bingo.

@Xeraphim: That's what's so downright asnine about this. If he's buying time, why say anything at all? None of us can expect to hear from a major corporation's CEO. He's making it worse.

1. I don't know any real Mac user that spells MAC in all caps.

As a taxpayer, I'm infuriated by this. Here in the US, iPhone 4 has been out for one week – which means that everyone who has one is still well within the window to return the phone for a full refund. There are legitimate cases that need the attention of our legal system, not this nonsense. If you don't like it,…

@erichg14: That's really what I think they're trying to figure out – is this a real issue or are we making a fuss over something that's not really going to affect anyone.

@erichg14: If the data didn't stop transmitting, there wasn't really a meaningful problem. This is what this post was supposed to get at: does a drop in bars come with a meaningful depreciation in call quality or data speed.

@Big-Tool: It's not like Steve Jobs has to respond to emails from customers... Sometimes he just needs to keep his trap shut.

@Sturm: It's not clear they made a hardware design mistake. Or to be more specific, it's not clear they made an unfixable mistake. They could very well have foreseen this and attempted to compensate for it with software, and the software needs adjusting now that iPhone 4 is out in the wild.

I'm wondering if this problem is related to 3G reception. Last week, I was at my parents' in semi-rural Pennsylvania and could reproduce this issue every time. On my bus ride back to New York today, where service is typically rotten, I could reproduce it again. However, now that I'm home in Brooklyn, I can't make it…

@donjumpsuit: Steve's original replies just fanned the flames. Had his first response been "We're investigating the claims. Stay tuned." this would be a whole different conversation. Saying you're investigating the claims only acknowledges the claims exist, which we all know they do because we've seen them. It doesn't…

@SQLGuru: Thank you! Apple may very well have thought it accounted for this with software and now realized the software needs tweaking. It didn't help that Jobs responded so flippantly and inconsistently, but it's perfectly plausible that there is a software fix for this.

Apple's problem is that it said something before it needed to say anything. First it was "get a life." Then "get a case." Now "stay tuned"? Nobody at our level compels Steve Jobs to respond to us. If we're supposed to stay tuned, then he shouldn't have said anything at all.

@DingoJunior: I'm sure it does. Honestly I'm shocked people have a problem with dropping calls when they hold iPhone 4 up to their ear. If I cup the phone the way I need to to reproduce the issue, then hold it up to my ear, it's just not comfortable. I find it much more comfortable to have my thumb on one side, a…

@FritzLaurel: The more important thing you need to think about is whether or not Apple needs to grow in order for iPhone to remain a successful business. Google and Microsoft both need market share to be successful; Apple doesn't, as it's proven with the Mac. Growth is obviously always great for any business, but I…

@maythetechbewithyou: The thing is, I would probably keep the phone even if I did experience the problem. Here at my parents', no phone has ever gotten more than two bars. My iPhone 4 gets a full five, and call quality and data speeds reflect that increase. Should this trend continue after I head back home, avoiding a…

@erichg14: Also, 3GS owners will be eligible to upgrade sooner at full subsidy pricing. I would have stuck with my 3GS if I hadn't been eligible for the cheapest price.

@kylecpcs: At what point did Apple tell anyone to upgrade? They said "we have a great new product that we hope you're interested in." Nobody put a gun to anyone's head.

@icy_one: iPhone 4 is also likely to see increased sales in the U.S. since upgrade eligibility has been bumped up 6 months. I bought a 3GS on launch day and probably wouldn't have purchased iPhone 4 if I hadn't been eligible for full subsidy pricing.