According to gdgt sources both inside and outside of Apple, after Antennagate, the iPhone engineering team identified another potential design flaw. This time it has to do with the cases themselves, and their effect on the iPhone. Apple has apparently found that non-bumper style cases, particulary those that slide onto the iPhone 4, are prone to particles getting caught between the rear of the phone and the case. This can cause scratching that could actually develop into a full cracking, or a fracture of the entire rear glass. Essentially, Apple is worried you buy a standard slide-on case, put it on, and then soon after discover your iPhone has been shattered. The last thing Apple wants is to further tarnish the iPhone brand.
According to the rumor, Apple swiftly moved to block sales of nearly all third party iPhone 4 cases. What better way to move their own bumper cases than to give them out for free? It is also rumored that the iPhone team has even created a lab and a large new test program to investigate this issue. As always, Apple declined to comment on this rumor.
So before things escalated out of control and they had "Glassgate" on their hands, Apple swiftly moved to block sales of nearly all third-party iPhone 4 cases from its stores (which it just this week reversed, but only online -- physical retail stores still aren't yet stocking cases). Internally, I've heard the iPhone team has grown to be very concerned by this issue with slide-on cases, and has created a lab and large new test program specifically to investigate this further. (If the bumper seemed like kind of an odd concept for a case when it was announced, now its design, which doesn't come in direct medial contact with either of the iPhone 4's glass surfaces, seems to make a lot more sense.)
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According to the rumor, Apple swiftly moved to block sales of nearly all third party iPhone 4 cases. What better way to move their own bumper cases than to give them out for free? It is also rumored that the iPhone team has even created a lab and a large new test program to investigate this issue. As always, Apple declined to comment on this rumor.
So before things escalated out of control and they had "Glassgate" on their hands, Apple swiftly moved to block sales of nearly all third-party iPhone 4 cases from its stores (which it just this week reversed, but only online -- physical retail stores still aren't yet stocking cases). Internally, I've heard the iPhone team has grown to be very concerned by this issue with slide-on cases, and has created a lab and large new test program specifically to investigate this further. (If the bumper seemed like kind of an odd concept for a case when it was announced, now its design, which doesn't come in direct medial contact with either of the iPhone 4's glass surfaces, seems to make a lot more sense.)
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