Jobs on iPhone reception issues: “Don’t hold it like that”

Apple has issued an official fix to the reception problems facing the new iPhone, particularly for left-handed people: “Just don’t hold it that way.”

In addition to advising those who waited on long, hot lines to snag their new toy to not be lefties, they also told lucky owners of the new phones to pour more cash into accessories:

“Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas,” Apple said today in an e-mailed statement. “If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.”

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, because as a hardware problem, it obviously can’t be fixed with any software updates. Another point of contention being bandied about is Apple’s suggestion that users affected by the signal interruption purchase a $29 bumper sold by Apple that seems to address this particular problem. Mashable implies the design of the bumper might suggest Apple was aware of the impending large-scale issue and knew the accessory would solve it, effectively knowingly selling Apple’s rabid fanbase a defective product.

Have you snagged a new iPhone only to discover it was useless to make phone calls? Does it seem like Apple knew this would plague many users of the iPhone and handled it opportunistically?

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