【英语科技】苹果早知晓iPhone 4天线问题

Chief Executive Steve Jobs's insistence on strict control of Apple Inc.'s product-design process appears to have backfired with his new iPhone 4, leading the company to overrule internal concerns about antenna reception and to deny carriers adequate time to test the phone before selling it.

Apple's iPhone 4 has been dogged by reports of antenna-reception problems since its launch last month. The company has called a news conference to discuss the issue Friday. Apple doesn't plan to recall the phone, a person familar with the matter said.

Apple engineers were aware of the risks associated with the new antenna design as early as a year ago, but Mr. Jobs liked the design so much that Apple went ahead with its development, said a person familiar with the matter.

The electronics giant kept such a shroud of secrecy over the iPhone 4's development that the device didn't get the kind of real-world testing that would have exposed such problems in phones by other manufacturers, said people familiar with the matter.

The iPhones Apple sends to its carrier partners for testing are 'stealth' phones that disguise a new device's shape and some of its functions, people familiar with the matter said. Those test phones are specifically designed so the phone can't be touched, which made it hard to catch the iPhone 4's antenna problem.

Apple gave its carrier partners limited time to test the iPhone 4 before its June 24 launch and gave them significantly fewer devices to test than other handset makers, people familiar with the matter said.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the company's development process or relationship with carriers. On Thursday, the company released a test version of new software that tries to fix a problem with the iPhone's signal bar display, which misrepresented signal strength.

Earlier, Bloomberg News, citing a person familiar, reported that Apple's senior antenna expert had voiced his concern to Mr. Jobs that the antenna design of the iPhone 4 could lead to dropped calls. In response, a spokesman for Apple said, 'We challenge Bloomberg BusinessWeek to produce anything beyond rumors to back this up. It's simply not true.'

The mounting iPhone 4 controversy has hit a receptive ear in Washington, as Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D., N.Y.) Thursday wrote to Mr. Jobs urging Apple to come up with a 'permanent fix' to the problem at no cost to customers. Mr. Schumer asked Apple to provide customers with a clearly written explanation of the cause of the iPhone 4's reception problem and 'make a public commitment to remedy it free of charge.'

苹果公司(Apple Inc.)首席执行长乔布斯(Steve Jobs)坚持严格掌控公司产品设计流程的做法在新推出的iPhone 4上看来造成了反效果，导致公司驳回了有关天线接收情况的内部担忧，也没有给运营商充足的时间在出售之前对该产品进行测试。

据知情人士透露，苹果不会召回iPhone 4。另外，苹果的工程师们早在一年前就已经预料到新的天线设计所暗藏的风险。苹果iPhone 4自上个月发布以来，关于其天线接收信号问题的报道就纷扰不断。苹果公司将于周五召开新闻发布会讨论这个问题。一位知情人士说，苹果不打算召回该产品。

知情人士说，苹果的工程师们早在一年前就知道与新天线设计相关的风险，但乔布斯很喜欢这个设计，于是苹果就继续开发了。

知情人士说，这家电子产品巨头对iPhone 4的开发采取了极为严格的保密措施，以至这款产品未能像其他生产厂商出品的手机一样，进行实地测试。这类测试原本可以暴露出这些问题。

知情人士说，苹果给运营商进行测试的iPhone样机只有新产品的外形和部分功能。这些样机经过了特别设计，机身不能触摸，因此也就很难测出iPhone 4的天线问题。

知情人士说，苹果在6月24日iPhone 4上市前给运营商的测试时间有限，而且提供的测试样机数量也远远少于其他手机厂商。

苹果发言人拒绝置评公司开发流程或与运营商的关系。周四，苹果发布了一个新软件的测试版，试图修复iPhone信号条显示的问题，信号条无法准确显示信号强度。

早些时候，彭博资讯(Bloomberg News)援引一位知情人士的话说，苹果的资深天线专家曾向乔布斯表示担心iPhone 4的天线设计可能导致通话断线。苹果发言人对此回应说，我们要求彭博《商业周刊》(Bloomberg BusinessWeek)拿出谣言以外的证据。这绝不是事实。

关于iPhone 4的争议愈演愈烈，在华盛顿也引起了注意。纽约民主党参议员舒默(Charles E. Schumer)周四致信乔布斯，敦促苹果在无需客户出任何费用的前提下拿出一项永久解决方案。舒默要求苹果就iPhone 4接受问题的原因向客户出具清楚的书面解释，并公开承诺免费修正这个问题。