Dumb News of the Week: Apple Losing Sales Because of Antennagate


Wow. Just dumb. First, let’s start with this headline from the Business Insider:

Apple Is Losing 20% Of U.S. iPhone 4 Sales To Antennagate

Wow. That’s impressive sounding. I should read on.

Apple is losing iPhone 4 sales to Antennagate, according to a survey conducted by Piper Jaffray.

Piper surveyed 258 cell phone owners in the Minneapolis area to determine the effect of the iPhone 4 antenna controversy.

Of the people that knew about antenna problems, 20% said it was affecting their decision to purchase the iPhone. As a result, “the antenna issue is removing upside potential for iPhone units.”

So let me get this straight. Their survey group was made up of 258 people from Minnesota. And out of those 258, 52 won’t buy the iPhone 4 because of the antenna? C’mon.

First, we’re talking about Minneapolis, which isn’t exactly famous for anything other than retirees and snow drifts. Second, how small is that sample group? Why not sample a larger community of people or more people in more areas? Either way, this is linkbaiting BS no matter which way you cut it, and it pisses me off that I fell for it. Stupid me.


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

4 Comments

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  1. “First, we’re talking about Minneapolis, which isn’t exactly famous for anything other than retirees and snow drifts.” – You are ignorant.

    Minneapolis the home of one of the country’s great music communities. It’s also the home of Prince. Just to name a couple of things.

    Besides you being a complete short-sided blowhard, I regress. They probably did the test in Minneapolis because unlike the West and East Coasts, Minneapolis actually has GOOD AT&T coverage. Granted 258 people isn’t enough to warrant a real test. But if really want to “witty” and “ironic” then you should have brought up their bad math. They stated “Of the people that knew about antenna problems, 20% said it was affecting their decision to purchase the iPhone.’ 20% of the people who were aware of the issue, not 20% of people they surveyed.

    Did you know that the Twin Cities has the highest concentration of Mac users per capita in the country? That’s why Apple Retail does so much testing of new I guess it’s not all “retirees and snow drifts.”

  2. If you read the article a little more carefully, it isn’t even necessarily 52 people. It says “Of the people that knew about antenna problems….” 20% won’t buy. It does not say that all 258 Minnesotans surveyed had any idea at all about the antenna problems.

    My guess is that only a small fraction of those surveyed (if actually random) would have any clue what you were talking about if you mentioned ‘antennagate’ – and 20% of that small faction may only equate to a handful of those 258 people being affected.

  3. Your math is wrong, it is more ridiculous than you are pointing out. They didn’t find 52 people who weren’t buying:

    “Of the people that knew about antenna problems…”

    Not 20% of 258 Minneapolis peeps but 20% of the the less than 258 that they talked to who had heard of the antenna problems. It could be 20 or 4 or any number below 52 actually.

  4. Chookalana is right about the cultural significance of the Twin Cities especially in the music scene. Along with Prince, lets’ see; Husker Du(which gave us Bob Mould & Grant Hart. Do google search if you doubt their indie music cred or their massive influence on more “mainstream” acts, The Replacements(which gave us Paul Westerberg), and Soul Asylum, to name but a few. Plus one the most legendary club/live music venues that’s right up there with CBGB’s and the Whiskey, Minnesota’s First Ave Club.

    And just for the record, I don’t live there nor have I ever been there(I’m up here in CANADA), but at least I know enough about the place to not talk smack about a place that doesn’t deserve it.

    Hey Kevin, your ignorance is showing!