Apple Says “Sorry” With Free iPhone 4 Cases

Way better than a “I’m Bear-y Sorry” e-card, Apple CEO Steve Jobs addressed the “Antennagate” debacle at Friday’s press conference and announced Step One to winning back customer loyalty: Free iPhone 4 cases and a refund for those who already shelled out the $30 for a Bumper case, for any iPhone 4 purchase through September 30.

If you still need a case for your iPhone 4, no need to sign any petition -Apple will send you a free case but no word on exactly which cases will be available. Because case production can’t keep up with the iPhone’s red-hot sales, Apple plans to outsource. Check back on Apple.com this week for exact deets, as well as info for those who plan on buying an iPhone 4 in the near future.

If you’ve already bought a Bumper case, you’ll need to apply for a refund on the Apple website so hopefully you saved your proof of purchase. Only Bumper purchases made in their stores or Apple.com can be refunded – even if you paid three times the retail value for one on eBay.

In addition to free cases, Jobs also came bearing a few interesting nuggets of information. Issues relating to the way a phone is held are not unique to the iPhone 4 – the HTC Droid Eris and BlackBerry 9700 are just a few of the phones also affected – which is why Apple didn’t think rolling out their latest smartphone as-is would be “a big problem.” According to statistics, less than half of a percent of iPhone 4 users made reception-related complaints to AppleCare (Apple’s customer service line). Only 1.7 percent of the devices were actually returned, far less than the 6 percent of iPhone 3GS that were sent back.

Apple iPhone 4 users: Will this be enough to win you back? Or was your loyalty to the company never in question to begin with?