shauny.me

Apple consiracy uncovered:

1. Glass panel connects with drop surface on falls. The guys at iFix Your i claimed this design flaw when they noted the steel frame offers no protection to the glass panel when dropped face flat. Apple’s iPhone 4 Bumper has a raised rubber edge to prevent this.
2. Square steel edges are uncomfortable in hand. I noted this when I first got my iPhone 4, mentioned it a few weeks ago, and even a genius at the Apple store brought it up without prompting. The 4 is just uncomfortable to hold. Oh, but the Bumper has nice, soft, rounded rubber edges.
3. The back is too darn slick. That oleophobic coating makes it wonderfully easy to wipe away fingerprints, but it also makes the 4 a frictionless wonder. Hard to pluck from my pocket, impossible to rest on a slightly rounded surface. That grippy rubber Bumper sure fixes that problem though.
4. And finally, there’s that magic spot on the lower left that kills wireless signals on contact, like a can of Raid smashing a cockroach. Can’t touch that spot if there’s a Bumper in the way, can you?

So if Apple knew about the problems and designed the Bumper to address them, why didn’t they include Bumpers with the 4? Short answer: money. If people buy cases anyway, why give them away?

gottabemobile.com

Actually yes, they knew about issues, and they want you to buy a Bumper case along with your iPhone 4. But this time Apple’s habit to put less and less into product boxes finally backfired.

Dear Apple, why didn’t you just include a bumer case with each iPhone 4? If you did, now you wouldn’t have to read all those articles everywhere.

(via dear-apple)

Whilst I agree that it seems like you really need a case to make your iPhone 4 more usable (although the examples above are a bit OTT), I think they would have had complaints if they included the bumper in the box anyway.

The price of the phone would go up $30, so you would effectively be ‘forced’ to buy their case. What about other cases? Not only would case makers call foul (and say Apple has a monopoly on iPhone 4 cases because of bundling), but this would also limit consumer choice.

If you want a bumper, buy it. If you’re pissed off at Apple for the ‘conspiracy’ then buy a case from someone else. Simple.