Apple will not recall the iPhone 4

Ever since Gizmodo got their hands on a prototype iPhone 4, the industry and media have been breathlessly following the saga surrounding its announcement, blockbuster release and the controversy over reports of poor reception and a faulty antenna design. Journalists are now are making all sorts of dire predictions, almost demanding that Apple should recall the iPhone 4.

I’m not the first to say the media is ridiculous. Besides usually failing to understand all the issues involved, they’re also just grasping for attention and relevancy or hoping for failure. Why not take the biggest kid on the block down a notch? Consumer Reports’ loud declaration that they could just not in good conscience recommend the iPhone 4 while still giving it the highest rating of any smartphone on the market is the culmination of this cynical trend.

Estimates for the cost of a complete recall run up to a billion or two dollars. Not a likely course of action. The flaw of being able to short out your phone’s antennas is unavoidable due to the design. A redesign would take a year to put into production. Until then, people would need to keep their iPhone 4′s anyway.

Apple has a press conference tomorrow to announce some iPhone related news. I’m prepared to put good money down that says they will admit to the design flaw, but will not announce a recall. Instead they’ll basically tell everyone that if they have a problem, get a case for the phone already. It’s very likely they will issue everyone who has bought an iPhone 4 a $30 iTunes credit, to pay for a Bumper or not. Relatively low cost to them, and money they will gladly announce as record iTunes app store sales next quarter. Giving Bumpers away for free would cause more distribution and tracking headaches than simply dropping $30 in everyone’s iTunes accounts.

What Apple is also betting, and it’s a safe bet, is that most people are satisfied with their iPhone 4′s as a solid product. It does a lot of great things that aren’t phone-related at all. As a phone it’s fine for most people out there. A million sales in the first week wouldn’t happen if people truly had problems they cared about with AT&T’s network. Essentially, the smart part of “smartphone” is more relevant to consumers’ needs now than the phone part. This is the real gambit, that consumers want this thing for more than just making calls, that communication is taking on new modes and mediums that have different demands on device connectivity.

I’m eagerly awaiting the press conference tomorrow. There are some rumors of an internal hardware fix. I don’t see how that’s possible without changing the external antennas. I could certainly use $30 to keep up with my app buying habits.