Apple follows 'bendgate' with 'iOSgate'
It’s starting to feel like Apple (AAPL) is giving Richard Nixon a run for his money as far as “gate” scandals are concerned. First there was antennagate (iPhone 4s). Then, there was bendgate (iPhone 6). Now, there is iOS update-gate (iOS 8).
The first sign of trouble with iOS 8 came with a glitch in Apple’s health app. When the company issued an update to fix that problem, another round of problems kicked in, preventing people from making calls and connecting to the Internet.
Now, Apple has apologized and pulled the latest update. “We apologize for the great inconvenience experienced by users, and are working around the clock to prepare iOS 8.0.2 with a fix for this issue,” Apple said. Expect that fix in “the next few days.”
“I feel like this is something that is a feature with most of these launches,” said Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Michael Santoli. “The lousy antenna on the early iPhones, we had the bad mapping software, we had previous kind of difficulties in terms of installing new version of iOS and when you have half a billion iPhones in service and 7 or 800 million iOS devices out there in the world obviously it becomes a big but temporary problem.”
The software issue may not have garnered nearly as much attention – after all, software glitches are not uncommon – if it hadn’t come on the heels of the widely publicized “bendgate.” Users of the iPhone 6 have said the device can permanently bend when placed in a back pocket. A YouTube video of a “bend test” showing how pliable the phone can be has attracted some 16 million views.
“The bendgate thing, I mean I think people want magic from Apple. They want complete advances in material science that are just not possible on earth right now,” said Santoli.
Apple also facing several less public blows to the iPhone 6. The device’s China debut has been delayed. This follows a streaming interruption during the September 9th launch.
Still – it’s likely the iPhone 6 will go on to be Apple’s best selling iPhone as many previous devices have done, despite scandalous starts (looking at you, iPhone 4.)
Apple sold a record 10 million devices the first weekend the phone went on sale, and one analyst predicts as many as 235 million phones could be sold in 2015.
