You can’t be missed all the fuss over the issues with Apple’s latest phone. Everything from yellow screens to sensors failing and of course the issue of losing signal when you hold the phone.

There are a combination of factors which make this interesting from both a technology and a PR side. The PR side is probably the most complex part of the story and potentially is the reason for the problem in the first place. Apple branded the iPhone 4 as the most advanced phone ever made – rewriting the history books again they told us. But signs were not good. Even in the press launch the iPhone had issues and lost signal in the hands of its maker; Steve Jobs. However the press train wheeled on, at launch the media spoke of the massive queues and high turnout (actually turned out to be low but that doesn’t matter to these media folks).

Issues are bound to be found with new devices and even more so when so many are produced so quickly. Apple’s first mistake was to say their clients’ were wrong. Steve Jobs himself told users who were concerned with their $800 phone not working correctly that they “are holding the phone wrong”

Even die-hard Apple fans found this a touch harsh. How can you hold a phone wrong – even more so when Apple marketing material shows the models holding the phone in the same way.

It is perfectly possible that in all of the hype about the new phone and the new technology in it that someone forgot to test if it could do the basics – make a phone call. In reality, that is unlikely. All phone parts are mass produced and use pretty much the same technology. Many use the same chips. It is far more likely that the PR machine around Apple was the cause of this issue in the first place.

Such is apples obsession with the “big unveiling” that all the test iPhone were camouflaged when used out in the real world. These special cases made it look like another phone but also meant that the antennas in the phone were protected from human hands. Thus the problem of losing signal strength was not discovered, all because of a couple of millimetres of rubber.

Apple now informs us that it is just a software issue causing the drop in signal. Many experts doubt this is unlikely and expect Apple will just soften the reporting of the drop in signal but until the software is released there is no way to test.

Such was the media storm over this problem that Apple was forced to have a news conference where Steve Jobs had the unusual role of defending his product. A role he does not like. So instead of just saying sorry and here is a free cover to fix the problem, Apple tried to say that all phones have this problem so it’s not *really* a problem. Considering the marketing material for the iPhone has always been about how special it is, their assertion that all phones have this problem (coupled with the fact no one else has the problem, at least not as bad) has meant a very unimpressed fan base. It was a press conference which Apple would rather forget pretty quickly.

Looking back at the whole story, it seems obvious that Apple lost sight of the actual users and concentrated far too much on their big PR unveiling. If they had just tested the phone in the way people would actually use it then it might have just been the most successful launch in history… but it wasn’t. Far from it.