Antennagate & Apple’s claim

The antenna-gate episode took a very bad turn last week when Apple tried to turn the media attention away from itself in such an un-Apple like manner. Apple claimed that other phones, specifically RIM’s Blackberry, have similar reception problems.

RIM has come back strongly with an email that declares  ‘Apple’s claim as unacceptable’.  Apple’s claim is not totally baseless though. If they are subjected to some standards for reception, FCC should hold everyone else to the same standard. That really calls for thorough tests and study of all the phones out there. What’s really wrong is the timing of this statement. Apple is really in the middle of a self inflicted mess and now is definitely not the best time to point fingers at others (more importantly their chief competitors) to escape from the media scrutiny.

What really disturbed me is that by taking such a stance Apple has gone against the very principles that has made it such a cult brand. In terms of products Apple is in a league of its own, each of their products is so different from their competitor’s products and Apple puts a lot of effort in its design and production to make it so different. By going this route they have themselves opened the door for comparisons to be drawn, they have basically brought themselves down to be on par with the market. This really is going to take a lot to undo.