RIM, HTC, Nokia want no part of Apple’s ‘self-made debacle’
During a press conference on Friday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs called media coverage of the iPhone 4’s antenna problems overblown. Jobs said that reception issues were something common to all smartphones, playing a video that showed smartphones from HTC, Samsung, and other manufacturers dropping signal when held in various ways.
Apple’s attempt to paint other smartphones with the same wide brush didn’t sit well with RIM, makers of the BlackBerry. Calling the whole saga “Apple’s self-made debacle,” RIM co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie didn’t mince words. “Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation,” they said in a statement obtained by CrackBerry. “RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage.”