No, this is not a joke. The Democratic Senator from my home state of New York, Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), urged the iPhone 4 maker, Apple, on Thursday to provide fresh answers about the source of the so-called “death grip” glitch that causes poor reception, and called for a fix to be identified and provided free of charge to existing customers. Schumer sites the recent Consumer Report finding of the problem. Researchers with Consumer Reports said they would not recommend the product for purchase. The magazine said it found that the antenna was in fact the culprit behind the drop-off in the phone’s reception. It said a design flaw was responsible for the glitch. Maybe Senator Schumer read my GadgetHigh article on the press conference (which can be found here) and felt so passionate about the issue that he decided to take it one step further and contact Jobs?
While I thank Senator Schumer for his support on the matter, I do believe he has better things to do in the United States Senate. As some of you may know, I have spent the last month working as a Senate Page on the Senate Floor in Washington (shout-out to my fellow pages). I will not spend my time talking about my experience, but I can tell you that Senator Schumer was my sponsoring senator and that the Senate Floor has a strict policy of no cell phones on the Senate Floor. To be more specific, I also happened to notice that Senator Schumer did not own an iPhone. He carried with him a Blackberry and a simple flip phone. It surprises me that a Senator would be so passionate about the iPhone’s antenna problem when there are so many other, in my opinion, larger problems in the United States today. Nevertheless, part of a Senator’s job is to fight for the beliefs of his constituents, and there is no doubt in my mind that he has made many New York iPhone owners (including myself) very happy with this letter.
A copy of Schumer’s letter appears below.
July 15, 2010
Dear Mr. Jobs,
I write to express concern regarding the reception problem with the Apple iPhone 4. While I commend Apple’s innovative approach to mobile technology and appreciate its service to millions of iPhone users nationwide, I believe it is incumbent upon Apple to address this flaw in a transparent manner. According to Consumer Reports’ review, released Monday on its website, the iPhone 4′s signal-strength problem is a hardwire glitch triggered by gripping the device in a particular manner. This finding, according to Consumer Reports, “call[s] into question” Apple’s recent claim that the problem is “largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software.” Consumer Reports declined to recommend the iPhone 4 because of this hardware design flaw.
Given the discrepancy between Consumer Reports’ explanation of the reception problem and the explanation provided by Apple in its July 2 letter to customers, I am concerned that the nearly two million purchasers of the iPhone 4 may not have complete information about the quality of the product they have purchased. The burden for consumers caused by this glitch, combined with the confusion over its cause and how it will be fixed, has the potential to undermine the many benefits of this innovative device. To address this concern, I ask that Apple provide iPhone 4 customers with a clearly written explanation of the cause of the reception problem and make a public commitment to remedy it free-of-charge. The solutions offered to date by Apple for dealing with the so-called “death grip” malfunction-such as holding the device differently, or buying a cover for it-seem to be insufficient. These proposed solutions would unfairly place the burden on consumers for resolving a problem they were not aware of when they purchased their phones.
I also encourage Apple to keep its promise to provide free software updates so that bars displayed accurately reflect signal strength; I further urge Apple to issue a written explanation of the formula it uses to calculate bar strength, so that consumers can once again trust the product that they have invested in.
I look forward to Apple’s swift action on this matter, and once again laud Apple for its innovative efforts and service to millions of Americans.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
Thanks Chuck. The press conference is tomorrow at 1PM Eastern. I will keep you updated if Jobs responds.
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