BusinessWeek reports that while Apple has refused to publicly acknowledge that the new iPhone has any network connections problems, the company is actually working on a software fix that should be ready by the end of September at the latest.

Apparently the problem involves an Infineon-made chip inside the iPhone that Apple has improperly configured.

From BusinessWeek:

One source says the problem lies squarely with Infineon’s technology, which is fairly new and untested in high volumes outside a lab setting. Not only is the iPhone shipping in much higher volumes than other handsets, it’s also gobbling up far more 3G minutes as owners use it to surf the Web, watch YouTube videos, and utilize other bandwidth-hogging services.

As much as the chip might be the chief problem, glitches might also stem from Apple’s software or the AT&T network. Part of the role of the Infineon chip is to check whether there’s enough 3G bandwidth available in a given area. If 3G isn’t available or there isn’t enough bandwidth, the iPhone will be shifted to a slower network. One source says Apple programmed the Infineon chip to demand a more powerful 3G signal than the iPhone really requires. So if too many people try to make a call or go on the World wide web in a given area, some of the devices will decide there’s insufficient power and switch to the slower network–even if there is enough 3G bandwidth available.

If the survey on this here blog is any indication (and feel free to keep voting), the connection problems are certainly not rare.

It sounds like there is plenty of blame to go around here, but at least Apple is developing a software fix that should be relatively painless to install.

But BusinessWeek does recommend that a much more radical correction could be required if a software update isn’t enough to solve the problem of dropped calls and weak connections: a recall.

Allowed, a recall sounds like a remote possibility, but the fact that it’s even being discussed isn’t a good thing.

In other Apple news, the company’s total market value has just surpassed that of Google: $158.8 billion compared to $157.2 billion.

I expect Google to declare Chapter 7 bankruptcy and shut its doors by the end of the week.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 9:18 pm and is filed under General News.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.