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Have you been reading up on the new iPhone? If you have, you’ve probably heard that if it’s held a certain way, the reception is terrible – and you can thank the poorly placed antenna for that!
The solution? According to Steve Jobs, “just don’t hold it that way.”
Wait. There’s a wrong way to hold a phone?!
Sure enough the competition picked up on this. With a post called “How do you hold your Motorola Nokia?” the folks behind the official Motorola Nokia blog certainly didn’t waste any time. The post, which doubles as a how-to guide, spotlights some of the ways Motorola Nokia users hold their phones, including, “The cup”, “The balance” and “The four-edge grip.”
The post concludes by saying that, “people generally tend to hold their phone like a . . . well, like a phone.”
And they the jabs at iPhone don’t stop there. Another mobile company, Motorola, has released this ad for their latest smartphone, which reads: “Introducing the DROID X . . . it comes with a double antenna design. The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like . . .”
Ouch.
So what’s your take on the parody this mess? Was this a low blow from Motorola? Low blows from Nokia and Motorola? Or was it clever of them to grab hold of the issue? (Pun intended. Sue me.)
UPDATE: Oops! In light of some feedback we got in the comments, we’ve realized there were a couple of errors with our original post. Changes are indicated with strikethroughs and in blue above.
Tweets that mention How not to hold your phone « Big Orange Slide -- Topsy.com
July 12, 2010 @ 9:33 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by miranda and christopher hopkins. christopher hopkins said: Motorola burns Apple, ouch! RT @bigorangeslide: Today on the Slide: How Not To Hold Your iPhone http://bit.ly/b4kUGa [...]
Mitch
July 12, 2010 @ 10:11 am
I was reading this great article, but noticed something is wrong…
See what I mean here: http://mitchservice.com/blog/tech/interesting-article-but-the-facts-are-wrong/
chris
July 12, 2010 @ 10:14 am
I believe this article links to an incorrect external post! The “How do you hold your Motorola?” link goes to a Nokia forum. I had some followers of mine bring that to my attention, and think the story is bogus. I showed them this article:
http://androinica.com/2010/07/01/motorola-runs-full-page-droid-x-ad-proclaiming-you-can-hold-the-phone-any-way-you-like-it/
I am not sure if this is more like the content you would want to link to opposed to the Nokia forum. I could be totally off here, but just thought it’s important you guys see how some people are interpreting it.
-chris
Martin Cinzar
July 12, 2010 @ 10:39 am
A weak throw away line in body copy. Everybody knows no one reads body copy. IF they were going to do an attack ad, they should do an attack ad.
There is an ad there to be made, but this ad/bit of marketing is a wasted effort.
Ian Mackenzie
July 12, 2010 @ 11:01 am
Hi Mitch, Chris.
Ah. Yes. You’re absolutely Right. We messed up.
Please see the changes reflected in the post. Omitted copy has been given a strike through. New copy in blue.
Much thanks for the heads up.
Sara Vinten
July 12, 2010 @ 1:04 pm
Thanks Mitch and Chris for flagging the mix up!
Both Motorola and Nokia that have been taking a stab at the iPhone 4 reception issues… Think anybody else will jump on the bandwagon?
@mynameisguygal
July 12, 2010 @ 1:31 pm
Nokia and Motorola are making a mistake positioning against this because they are essentially saying that the only advantage they have over the iPhone is more holding options. That’s not a compelling reason for anyone not to buy anything. And once Moto and Nokia have thoroughly invested lots of money in positioning this way, Apple will release version 2 with a solution and completely wash their competition all over again.
Comparative/position marketing is something that suffering brands do to carve out a few more points on their sales, but long term it’s going to hurt them. It’s the corporate equivalent of trolling. They would have more success if they focused on building themselves and not going after others.
Ian Mackenzie
July 12, 2010 @ 4:17 pm
Will said Mynamesisguygal.
Also, here’s more bad news for the iPhone brand (and its reception issues):
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/consumer-reports-passes-on-iphone-4/article1637123/
Darine Sabbagh
July 13, 2010 @ 8:24 am
Great Post and images as usual! This iPhone reception issue is a good case study for guerrilla marketing, as well as crisis management. Yet, teh reaction of Steve Jobs are really surprising.
Claire
July 13, 2010 @ 10:33 am
It seems to me that Nokia and Motorola are taking full advantage of an unfortunate situation. One part of me feels the iPhone’s pain. Yet another says, “It’s just business.”
Michelle Davey
July 19, 2010 @ 9:55 am
In Fridays Press release Steve made a good point, which was that cell phones can suffer from signal problems when gripped a certain way. I tested this on my boyfriends brand new blackberry yesterday and sure enough…if you hold the blackberry with your left hand covering the bottom left the bars will go down significantly.
But with that said, I expect more from Apple and Apple you have failed. (But I still love you)
Jim Monteath
July 19, 2010 @ 12:15 pm
How not to hold your…
HTC Droid Eris (screenshot from the User Manual)
Palm Pre (youtube)
HTC Droid Incredible (youtube)
Nexus One (article)
BlackBerry Bold 9650 (article)
Apple also showed the same problem with the iPhone 3Gs and BlackBerry 9700 during their press conference.
All of these phones are on Consumer Reports’ “Recommended” list.
Credit for the above goes to John Gruber at daringfireball.net, who did some actual investigation.