Three weeks after release in the US, the iPhone 4 is heading north of the border with a scheduled launch date of July 30th. On top of that Apple has announced a new white version will be available at launch, although in limited quantities.
The news comes as Apple defends poor reception on the popular handset. Steve Jobs spent a good 10 minutes explaining to the press today that smartphones are not perfect. In fact Jobs went on to explain many of the top smartphones on the market today have similar reception problems once in user hands. With that being said he announced bumper cases help alleviate the problem, and that is why Apple will offer a free case to everyone who has already purchased an iPhone 4, and a refund for those who already purchased a bumper. A free case will also be given to all new iPhone 4 customers who purchase the device before September 30th, including those here in Canada.
“We think this has been so blown out of proportion… it’s fun to have a story, but it’s not fun on the other side. So here’s what we’re going to do to make our users happy. The first part is the software update, that fixes the way the bars report and other bugs, that’s out now. Second, people said the bumper fixes everything… ‘why don’t you give everybody a case’? Okay — we’ll give you a free case” Jobs told the media.
While all three major Canadian carriers have confirmed they will carry iPhone 4, when I contacted them today not one is willing to say it will have them on launch date. In fact Rogers is directing all media enquiries regarding iphone 4 to Apple. Interesting.