The iPhone 4 is giving Apple a PR nightmare as a result of the iPhone 4 signal problems but is it really as bad as the scorn poured on Windows Vista? One of Microsoft’s top execs seems to think so. At the firm’s Worldwide Partner Conference, Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s COO compared the issues around the new iPhone with the problems that plagued Vista. Is he right? And why is Microsoft still using its own products as a punchline?
Turner joked with attendees at the Worldwide Partner Conference: “It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista and I’m okay with that.” When Vista arrived in 2007, it was hammered on all sides for a litany of errors, problems, bugs and irritations. Windows 7 has managed to erase some of the scorn (though another Microsoft exec got himself into hot water by saying OS X inspired the rethink).
But while Windows Vista has gone down in history as Microsoft’s biggest blunder, iPhone 4 picked up glowing reviews even after the signal issue came to light. Our iPhone 4 review discusses the problem but still concluded that it’s Apple’s best phone so far. If Turner means Apple has screwed up from a PR point of view though, just as Microsoft did with Vista, he has a point.
He also managed to use the iPhone 4 controversy to score some points for Windows Phone 7: “One of the things I want to make sure you know today is that you’re going to be able to use a Windows Phone 7 and not have to worry about how you’re holding it to make a phone call.” Zing! We’re glad he’s confident but we’ve only seen an LG Windows Phone 7 prototype in the flesh so far.
Let us know: will iPhone 4 turn out to be Apple’s disastrous Vista moment? Or will Friday’s iPhone 4 press conference put a lid on the issue?
Out now | £varies | Apple (via Computer World)
