Nearly everything about how Apple has handled this has been wrong. From their disingenuous attempt to rebrand the problem "Antennagate" to stop the media from calling it the "Death Grip", to their feigned surprise that the iPhone signal bar calculation was heavily weighted to make the iPhone look like a strong performer.

Now they're showing off how much testing the phone went through, which seems indicate they knew it was glitchy from the start. Or did they? I mean after all, in one of the first reviews of the iPhone 4 before it was even released, Walt Mossberg said:

However, on at least six occasions during my tests, the new iPhone was either reporting “no service” or searching for a network while the old one, held in my other hand, was showing at least a couple of bars. Neither Apple nor AT&T could explain this.

So the very first review picked up on it, but they didn't have an explanation? They said they waited to have a press conference because they wanted to do testing to determine the problem, but doesn't that undermine the point that you've done adequate testing? Why after their press conference, is it still so unclear if they knew whether skin connecting the antennas was a problem or not?

The really bizarre thing is I've had an iPhone 4 since day 1, I've seen the glitch and until I got a case it had been affecting my data connections, but I still really like this phone! Is Apple turning us all into battered wives?

No, they said some people might have the problem that everyone's been blowing out of proportion. But only .5% (not 5 percent, half a percent) of users have even reported the problem.

No, they said 0.55 percent called AppleCare. That doesn't count people that called ATT, took their phone to a Genius Bar, or have the issue but were waiting to see what Apple would do based on internet reports that calling Apple or going to a Genius Bar resulted in nothing.

Most of the people foaming at the mouth about this don't even have iPhones, they just want to see Apple fail.

And there are plenty of people who aren't foaming at the mouth, but have a real problem and have been patiently waiting to see what Apple would do. My 3GS worked fine in areas where I can kill data connections by holding the phone in my left hand. Too bad I'm left-handed.

...the perception is that most people are having reception problems, which is simply not true. For most people the reception is better.

Except that according to Apple there is a higher rate of dropped calls. Slightly higher, but still higher. So "for most people" that would sound like slightly worse performance regardless of reception.

Because the media has created this perception, Apple is giving everyone free Bumpers.

According to Apple's Letter Regarding the iPhone 4, Apple is responsible for creating the perception by gaming the signal strength meter to make reception look good.

During the press conference tomorrow, could everyone turn off their WiFi stuff? I want to see the demos.

People keep calling for Apple to redesign the antenna and replace phones, but how many changes can they make before a new revision have to go through the 6 month FCC testing process? I'm guessing their hands are tied in terms of changes to the design. So inevitably free bumpers it will likely be.

If the iPhone 4 is seeing such huge problems why is there a 3-week backlog for new orders?

Perhaps because they have to retool their productions lines to fix the defect?

I love the idea of this tool and the openness Google is promoting on their platform, but it occurred to me... This is a web app, so in theory Google not only has the source to any application developed with this tool, but they could actually have a log of the activity that created a given application. A lot of what Google does these days goes beyond storing information and routes everything through their servers. Google search watches you type to offer suggestions. Gmail stores your mail, but theoretically, Google Wave knows exactly how you typed your message. I believe their intentions are as noble as a for profit company can be, but we are really entering a brave new world when you develop software in a room where someone has an eye over your shoulder.

Microsoft may not have yet have hit the steep slope in its inevitable decline, but does anyone doubt that this is just the tip of the iceberg? They'll become full on IP patent trolls until the eventual winners (Google?) decide they're cheaper to buy than fight In court. It may be 20 years from now, but there's a great Microsoft IP war in our future.

One of apple's biggest blunders is not considering mobileme a loss leader.

Back when it was known as iTools, it was a loss leader. They gave that up after 2 years so there was a probably a good reason. Perhaps because people are willing to pay?

who would rather be part of a group then have a properly working device.

I'll bite... Don't you need to be part of a group to have people to call on a device? Which is more important in life really?

I've been trying to pre-order for the last two hours. Flashback to three years ago with the original iPhone activation debacle. I'm dismayed that Apple and AT&T haven't gotten their collective shit together in all this time. :-(

This is a huge step up from the original iPhone, where I had a shiny new iPhone and it wasn't activated for 3 days. (Leaving me with no working phone at all.) Why ATT can keep a server up while it hands out 100,000+ email addresses, but not for one of the most critical parts of their business, I'll never know.

Just imagine trying to do this from an iPhone in a major market!

The irony is.. that's probably the fastest way to do it. If you use the new "Apple Store" app on the iPhone, you can reserve a new iPhone 4G (for pickup) without them checking your current ATT account. After hours of trying the Apple website, reentering my phone number, zip code, social security digits, etc. I was able to reserve a phone in seconds. And I'm here in New York where 1 out of 5 phone calls drop.

Not all sleep is created equal.

I used to be able to drink a ton of coffee and fall asleep without any problem. It took me years to make the connection that I was having easily-interrupted, non-restful sleep due to caffeine. I've recently confirmed this with an iPhone app (Sleep Cycle) that measures your restlessness in bed while you sleep. I need to give it about 6 hours to get out of my system to really sleep well.

At first I thought the headline said "Caffeine Addicts Get Additional Perks", but I haven't had my coffee yet.

If you listen carefully, just before you hear the guy say "Road Clear" I'm pretty sure you can hear the robot say "Your move creep."

Which, unlike your quotation, is not removed from it's context. How, did you somehow read that I didn't say "fragmentation" isn't a big issue? When the vast majority of developers will never encounter it, fragmentation is not a big issue.

In the iTunes store, games are the biggest category of apps by far. (By any measure, money, downloads, etc.) The design of games are fundamentally tied to screen size, the controls available (keyboard vs. multitouch) and things like graphics hardware. Plus, on Android many are or will be written using the native SDK because they require higher performance (negating the magic of a VM).

So yes, fragmentation is a big issue.