Although "Antennagate" has long since slipped from the headlines and become little more than a fuzzy memory for most, the legal drama surrounding the matter has finally come to a close.
Apple has settled a class action lawsuit targeting their controversial antenna design – a design which has been determined to be responsible for unusually poor signal and dropped calls. The company will be responsible for coughing up $15 settlement or a free bumper case to each customer who purchased an iPhone 4. The payment only applies to customers who experienced the issue and who did not take advantage of Apple's free bumper case offer back in 2010.
"This settlement relates to a small number of customers who indicated that they experienced antenna or reception issues with their iPhone 4 and didn't want to take advantage of a free case from Apple while it was being offered in 2010," Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison told me on Saturday.
Source: loopinsight.com
For those who may not remember, bumper cases seemed to effectively remedy the issue. This type of case maintains a small gap between the iPhone 4's metal rim and the user's skin which insulates the handset from resulting signal attenuation and incidentally, also insulates the user from dropped calls.
When complaints originally surfaced about antenna issues, various in-depth looks began to appear in order to uncover more about the problem. Apple remained silent for nearly a month, but eventually held a press conference where the company said customers can either return their iPhone 4 handsets for a full refund or sign up for a free, Apple-branded bumper case.
During the keynote, Apple also tried to soften the blow by showing consumers the shortcomings of many other handset antenna designs, but that didn't change the severity of the iPhone 4's antenna issues.
In order to make customers aware of the settlement, Apple will be sending out emails and publicly announcing the settlement through USA Today and Macworld.