On Friday, Apple’s Chief Executive Officer, Steve Jobs, held a press conference where he addressed the antenna problems that have been affecting users of the iPhone 4. At the event, Jobs made it a point to say that the iPhone was not the only smartphone to have this problem and that “most smartphones” have this issue in one form or another.

Jobs reinforced his comment with a video presentation that showed signal loss being experienced on three different handsets, the RIM Blackberry Bold, Motorola Droid and the HTC Eris. In doing so, he brought into the controversy, three of the largest mobile handset makers and of course, they were not pleased to have their products compared in a negative way to the iPhone 4.

Research In Motion came out striking and stated: “Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation.” Nokia and HTC also went public to defend their phones saying that the comparison made by Jobs was inaccurate.

Jobs went on to say that the Antenna problems have been blown out of proportion and that only 0.55% of iPhone 4 users have phoned Apple Care about the “death grip”. It remains to be seen how many consumers will go for the free bumpers offer or will request a full refund of their iPhone 4.

Via: CNET