RIM executives call Steve Jobs’ BlackBerry reception claims “unacceptable”
The maker of BlackBerry is telling Apple CEO Steve Jobs to back off after Jobs implicated Research in Motion’s BlackBerry Bold 9700 in Apple’s ongoing “Antennagate” scandal. When Jobs promised refunds for iPhone 4 customers dealing with dropped calls because of the phone’s antenna design, he specifically mentioned the BlackBerry Bold 9700 as having a similar problem and showed a video of it having trouble finding a signal. A statement from RIM executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie called Jobs’ claims “unacceptable” and a deliberate attempt to “deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation.” Shortly after iPhone 4’s June 24 release in the U.S., the U.K., Japan and France, customers started to report dropped signals. Apple told them to buy a case or avoid gripping it in the lower-left corner, something now known as the “death grip.” At a rare Apple press conference on July 16, Jobs offered iPhone 4 customers free cases to address reception complaints. Lazaridis and Balsillie’s statement noted that RIM customers “don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity.”