Steve Jobs apology? Not likely.

Lots of hubbub and hype about “antennagate” and Apple’s attempts to quash it today with a hastily-prepared press conference.  But does Apple really need to apologize for a cataclysm which exists largely in the nubbins of traffic-hungry bloggers and journalists?  No.

I’m not an Apple apologist, but they are in this regard very clearly being held to a higher standard than their competitors.  It is a fact of life in the design of mobile devices that contact with our flesh and our electromagnetic energy  attenuates the signal.  On the plus side these lofty expectations are a (continued) sign that people still expect Apple to remedy the ills that befall wireless communications in general, however the down side is that in this case the laws of physics are tough to defeat.

Apple’s mistake was in hyping the antenna as newer/faster/better which in reality may be true (apparently not true enough), however that brings focus to bear on a technology that is weak in every mobile device, including the iPhone 4.  Reception quality is not something you use to market a mobile phone unless you’re suicidal or incredibly arrogant as they all tend to devolve to the similar orders of entropy.

And so no, they did not apologize.  They tried to use logic in explaining that it’s a problem common to any phone, not just those that errantly promise to be better.  But this is no longer a logical debate, it’s a semantic war… a classic case of Tall Poppy Syndrome.  Now that APPL is top dog, germinalists will try to make their bones knocking them off the pedestal.

And so obviously, giving away a few bumper cases and delving into the facts of the matter didn’t work.  I don’t think this is a situation where an apology is necessary, however it is a situation in which Apple must reassess where they will dig the trenchline.  And as with prior “scandals” Apple is learning the hard way what the pitfalls of marketing in the wireless industry truly are.