The recent announcements from Steve saying that the reception issues are from people “holding the phone wrong” was quite a shocker. Could he really think that people are that stupid? Well I guess he could after all during the iOS4 preview he bragged about a new “feature” in the OS called iAds; there is nothing an end user wants more than another way to shovel advertisement onto them.

But it is more than that, for a very long time Steve has been telling us that Jailbreaking  the iPhone is bad. That there is no compelling reason for anyone to do this; if that is so, then why has Apple finally added features that you could get with a jailbroken phone? I have had multiple Exchange Accounts, Multitasking, Themes, Categories (and even stacks) since the iPhone 3G. So there is nothing compelling about jailbreaking? How about being able to truly have control over your phone? That is the biggest reason of all in most jailbreaker’s opinion.

Still even taking all that and putting it aside; the plastered smiles that Steve and Apple are putting on are beginning to crack at the edges. The lines like, the real internet, multitasking done right, and many others are not holding with the current generation of computer and internet savvy consumers. Even my kids, upon seeing the multitasking function on the iPhone 4 made comments that it was “just like Backgrounder” not to mention that not all apps work with it. This means that there is still no real multitasking on the iPhone. Multitasking, means being able to run multiple applications at once; on the iPhone 4 it means suspending an app (if it supports that) and then re-launching it.  That is not multitasking.

I think we are going to see Apple hit a bit of a rough spot soon. It is true their gadgets command attention and gobble up market share like almost no other product, but people are just not buying the lies coming out of Cupertino anymore.  After the fiasco with the iPad and Dual Band wireless N, the delay on the 3G versions, the delay on the white versions of the iPhone 4, screen and reception issues, and now being lied to about the causes we think that consumers will begin to wise up to what is really going on. Of course this is even more true with AT&T killing off Unlimited Data plans for new iPhone owners. To many, that new HTC EVO and a much cheaper unlimited Sprint contract are looking mighty attractive right now.

Of course as of today we find out that Apple has been lying all along. The issue is in fact hardware, not the way someone is holding the phone, nor the software. But a good old-fashioned hardware mistake; and one that apparently Apple knew about before launch.