I loved watching this, and it really cements for me how out of touch with reality the common antennagate narrative was.
Everything about this Q&A was thoughtful, well-meaning, and heavily considered. And it's true: while the iPhone 4 had ways it could be better, it wasn't materially worse than any of the other phones of its era. A recall would have been ridiculous because that would have required them to have a fix for something the industry at large hadn't yet solved.
And they were extremely measured in their response. If you're unhappy with your cell reception, they were happy to give you a case to improve the situation, no questions asked. If you still weren't happy, they had (and had had, and continue to have) one of the best return policies in the industry. They wanted to you to be happy with your purchase, and if you weren't, they wanted you to be able to get a phone you would be happy with.
Steve Jobs may have been a terrible person in many ways, but one of the good things about him absolutely was his unfailing commitment to his customers.
My iPhone 4 was like the Nokia of iPhones. Mine lasted forever and I think it was my longest lasting one. I had it for 5 years, I knew people who had it until 3G was being phased out and they had to switch.
I always use a case on every phone and never had a single issue with the 4.
iPhone 13 pro almost exactly 5 years old. Had the battery replaced once under warranty. I feel like all iphones these days are built like tanks. The waterproofing helps a ton.
I had my iPhone XR (bought 2019) until last year. At that point an upgrade made it so slow it was barely usable, while the lack of further updates made it impossible to install or upgrade apps after the device and OS went EOL.
It's fascinating how Jobs isn't afraid to pause and wait while he thinks about his answer (07:00, 20:00). He doesn't have that habit most have of babbling to fill dead air. It makes him sound a lot more authentic/less rehearsed.
Of course he rehearsed every keynote. You would be a fool to do any performance without some kind of rehearsal, unless it’s improv.
You can search YouTube for Steve Jobs demo fail for plenty of examples of it not going smoothly. He practiced but he still did live demos and had plenty of opportunities to mess up
I doubt it. If this was a presentation, sure, but here he’s answering questions in a room full of journalists, surrounded by other Apple employees with specialised knowledge. It seems likely he really was pondering the right words to answer.
An anecdote from the book "Steve Jobs in Exile" I just read: at the beginning of one product announcement, Jobs told the audience that he was a little nervous, but his coworkers said that he was never nervous for keynotes. It was pure manipulation.
He doesn't actually answer the question until over 25 seconds have passed!
He takes a sip of water, sits in silence, the crowd starts heckling. Jobs gives a small quip to buy time. Sits in silence again. It's an eternity on stage.
Obviously lying to people you know is generally unhealthy but when you are putting on a performance to an audience I don’t judge so harshly. Of course I imagine he did both.
I'm sure the pause is something he rehearsed at some point, but I've watched a few of his Q&As where he's done it. If I recall, he was even doing it in the 90s (the Q&A I'm thinking of is the one where he picks up a chair and pretends to use it as a shield). So while I'm sure it was something he originally rehearsed, it undoubtedly just became a habit of his over time.
One of the issues with the iPhone 4 was that holding it in your left hand caused problems for the antenna. The iPhone Duo seems to indicate that Apple still don't actually believe that left handed people exists.
Some related Gruber insights:
The iPhone 4 'Antennagate' Press Conference Q&A
https://daringfireball.net/2026/09/iphone_4_antennagate_q_an... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49829984)
I loved watching this, and it really cements for me how out of touch with reality the common antennagate narrative was.
Everything about this Q&A was thoughtful, well-meaning, and heavily considered. And it's true: while the iPhone 4 had ways it could be better, it wasn't materially worse than any of the other phones of its era. A recall would have been ridiculous because that would have required them to have a fix for something the industry at large hadn't yet solved.
And they were extremely measured in their response. If you're unhappy with your cell reception, they were happy to give you a case to improve the situation, no questions asked. If you still weren't happy, they had (and had had, and continue to have) one of the best return policies in the industry. They wanted to you to be happy with your purchase, and if you weren't, they wanted you to be able to get a phone you would be happy with.
Steve Jobs may have been a terrible person in many ways, but one of the good things about him absolutely was his unfailing commitment to his customers.
Isn't their return policy duration 2 weeks? How is that one of the best return policies in the industry? Nearly every other retailer allows 30 days...
My iPhone 4 was like the Nokia of iPhones. Mine lasted forever and I think it was my longest lasting one. I had it for 5 years, I knew people who had it until 3G was being phased out and they had to switch.
I always use a case on every phone and never had a single issue with the 4.
iPhone 13 pro almost exactly 5 years old. Had the battery replaced once under warranty. I feel like all iphones these days are built like tanks. The waterproofing helps a ton.
I had my iPhone XR (bought 2019) until last year. At that point an upgrade made it so slow it was barely usable, while the lack of further updates made it impossible to install or upgrade apps after the device and OS went EOL.
I'm still running it with the stock battery. This thing will probably last a few more generations at this rate.
primordial social media
It's fascinating how Jobs isn't afraid to pause and wait while he thinks about his answer (07:00, 20:00). He doesn't have that habit most have of babbling to fill dead air. It makes him sound a lot more authentic/less rehearsed.
The pause is probably rehearsed. I don't think anything Jobs did in public wasn't calculated.
Of course he rehearsed every keynote. You would be a fool to do any performance without some kind of rehearsal, unless it’s improv.
You can search YouTube for Steve Jobs demo fail for plenty of examples of it not going smoothly. He practiced but he still did live demos and had plenty of opportunities to mess up
I doubt it. If this was a presentation, sure, but here he’s answering questions in a room full of journalists, surrounded by other Apple employees with specialised knowledge. It seems likely he really was pondering the right words to answer.
The pause may have been rehearsed, though.
An anecdote from the book "Steve Jobs in Exile" I just read: at the beginning of one product announcement, Jobs told the audience that he was a little nervous, but his coworkers said that he was never nervous for keynotes. It was pure manipulation.
He really did feel comfortable with sitting in the silences though. His '97 response to a tough question springs to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeqPrUmVz-o
He doesn't actually answer the question until over 25 seconds have passed!
He takes a sip of water, sits in silence, the crowd starts heckling. Jobs gives a small quip to buy time. Sits in silence again. It's an eternity on stage.
Can anybody explain what the actual question was about? On the face of it, it's about this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDoc#Cancellation I guess. And Java?
I wouldn't count it as manipulation, it can be a good way to connect/relate with audience beforehand. Similar to making a joke?
One might say showmanship.
Obviously lying to people you know is generally unhealthy but when you are putting on a performance to an audience I don’t judge so harshly. Of course I imagine he did both.
I'm sure the pause is something he rehearsed at some point, but I've watched a few of his Q&As where he's done it. If I recall, he was even doing it in the 90s (the Q&A I'm thinking of is the one where he picks up a chair and pretends to use it as a shield). So while I'm sure it was something he originally rehearsed, it undoubtedly just became a habit of his over time.
One of the issues with the iPhone 4 was that holding it in your left hand caused problems for the antenna. The iPhone Duo seems to indicate that Apple still don't actually believe that left handed people exists.