Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"Research in Motion, Nokia, and HTC hit back at Apple Friday after chief executive Steve Jobs claimed that all smartphones have "weak spots" that could lead to the "death grip" problems witnessed on the Apple iPhone 4."

image source: Mad 4 Mobile Phones

Research in Motion (RIM), Nokia and HTC have all responded to last Friday's Apple claim that all the leading smartphones have "weak spots" leading to the "death grip." RIM's response was that Apple's claim was "unacceptable," and that RIM have used "innovative designs which reduce the risk of dropped calls, especially in areas of low coverage." Nokia's response acknowledged that the problem is real, but that their phones have been designed "... to ensure acceptable performance in all real life cases, for example when the phone is held in either hand." HTC's response (referring to the Droid Eris) was that "at the end of the day, customers aren't seeing a problem with our device, and that's the ultimate measure." Samsung had not responded at the time of this article. I don't know about you, readers, but I'm not eager to go back to the days of the brick-phone. I'll keep my iPhone 4, thank you!

"While playing up the fact that 50 phone makers around the world have licensed the company's Windows Mobile platform, Microsoft inadvertently let it slip out that a full 80% of all Windows Mobile phones ever made have actually come from a single maker: HTC."

Why did I pick to post this? Shortly after the first iPhone was released, Don Reisinger of C-Net did an interview with someone from the Windows Mobile team at Microsoft who reminded us that Apple was the only maker of devices with the iPhone OS, but Microsoft had tons of licensees that would develop a wide range of diverse devices. The only problem is that 20% of the devices are being built by 49 out of 50 of those licensees.

I bring this up because this is yet another time that the iPhone and Apple were criticized for something when out rolls another device or company with the same shortcomings. For another shining example, see the Palm Pre and its web apps compared to the iPhone and its initial web apps model.

Microsoft loves the diversity of its platform, but no matter how you look at it, one company making 80% of your handsets isn't a diverse market.