When Rogers launched the iPhone 3G in July of 2008 their network must have been beaten to a pulp. They were the only network in Canada with iPhone for over a year, and until Bell and Telus launched their HSPA+ network in late 2009, Rogers seemed poised for a network over-extension. Recently Toronto saw Rogers’ network crack under the weight of the Pride Parade and a million visitors descending on the downtown core. It was not a good day for the network, and I have no doubt that Americans feel similarly perturbed on a daily basis when waking with AT&T’s spotty service.

But where we’ve heard the most chatter from iPhone 4 users about reception problems is in the US. A country with a network problem as it stands. Rogers rarely has signal degradation on their 3G network, and it will be interesting to see how the carrier handles the extra load when thousands of people inevitably sign up new contracts for the iPhone 4.

Suffice it to say, the antenna design was not an afterthought. If AT&T had a better network with a more pervasive 3G signal, this would be a non-issue. Merely covering the antenna does not always end in dropped calls and signal degradation, but when the signal is already low, it may lower it to a breaking point. There is a distinct difference between a design flaw and a co-dependance problem. Apple relies on its carriers to supply the data routing and signal availability. AT&T may have over-promised when they renegotiated with Apple to continue their exclusivity contract. No one really knows at this point. What we do know is that Apple is taking a lot of heat for this problem, and they may not be the right giant corporation to be pointing fingers at.

Then again, maybe they are.

As of today, the share price has taken quite a beating, losing about $9 billion in market share. That is peanuts in the scheme if things for Apple, but try to remember the last time the company was in hot water for one of their products? Doesn’t happen too often. I am no fanboy, and I hope the company learns a lot of lessons from this debacle, but let’s be clear here. A lot of engineers have claimed that the antenna, when receiving a strong signal, is actually much better than any previous iPhones. This is a fact. The fiction is the “improvements” AT&T seems to be making to their network.

Facts? Facts don’t sell phones.

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