iPhone Phollies

This video was made by a Best Buy clerk on his own time and doesn't even mention Best Buy, but they still tried to can him for it. They took it back later, but the employee, Brian Maupin, isn't sure he'll return: "I’m not sure if it would be comfortable returning to Best Buy considering the circumstances," he said.

Apparently, the iPhone 4G is the (not necessarily) latest and greatest of the so-called smartphones. My phone--an LG Cyon model LV 3700--seems to be a stupid one even though it remembers all my phone numbers, takes pictures, can give me complete info on the Seoul subway system and even knows Korean as well as English. Also, it doesn't care which hand I hold it with.

That last seems to be a problem with the iPhone 4, so much so that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had to hold a press conference to pretty much deny design problems with the phone, while giving away a $29 case to purchasers to fix the non-existent problem. Even though it's not a problem, all other smartphones have the same problem, he said:

He showed off demonstrations of the BlackBerry Bold, the HTC Droid Eris, and the Samsung Omnia II that exhibited the same problem that's been reported on the iPhone—when you hold them a certain way, their signal bars begin to drop. "Phones aren't perfect," he said, and the problem reported with the iPhone is a "challenge for the entire industry.

Well, Korean electronics giant Samsung and other smartphone makers beg to differ. Their field tests did not find the same kind of problems the iPhone4 has:

“The antenna is located at the bottom of the Omnia 2 phone, while iPhone’s antenna is on the lower left side of the device. Our design keeps the distance between a hand and an antenna,” Shin Young-joon, a Samsung spokesperson, told The Korea Herald. [...]
He also questioned the reliability of the reception test made by Apple, saying its results may differ depending on the circumstance.
Samsung, however, fell short of releasing a statement on Apple’s latest claims unlike Nokia, Research In Motion, and Motorola. This is possibly because Apple is one of the biggest customers for Samsung, the world’s No. 1 memory chip maker. The popular iPhone 4 uses Samsung’s DRAM and NAND flash memory chips, and an application processor manufactured by the Korean chip vendor.

Another Korean company, KT (Korea Telecom), has reason to be miffed at Apple, since Korea was not included in the list of 17 countries to be included in the international rollout of the phone at the end of July. KT is the Apple vendor here. According to JoongAng Daily:

While Jobs told reporters that the reason for the hiccup in Korea was “a delay in receiving government approval,” the Korea Communications Commissions said that KT hasn’t yet filed for a certificate guaranteeing that the device fits domestic technological conditions. Such a certificate is a must for all new communications devices coming to Korea.
“We have completed our internal test on the iPhone 4,” a KT official said, but that Apple wanted more time for the launch.
The delay is apparently good news for Samsung, which last month launched the Galaxy S, its latest Android-based smartphone.
Galaxy S has been selling well: 350,000 units in the three weeks since its release. Apple’s iPhone 3GS sold 800,000 units in about seven months after its release in November.

Back to the iPhone press confererence. Jobs made one of the most bizarre jabs at Korea ever--and I'm surprised this hasn't been picked up here, where people will sometimes take offense at even the most innocuous things:

I guess it’s just human nature, when you see someone get successful you just want to tear it down. I see it happening with Google. Google is a great company. Look at everything they’ve created. Would you prefer we’re Korean companies? Do you not like the fact that we’re an American company leading the world right here?

Yes, Steve, I think that's great. But I'm not sure how that has anything to do with the issue at hand. And considering that this phone gets some of its key components from Korea, I'm even less sure.