poor reception

Mark Papermaster, Apple's senior executive for iPhone hardware, has left the company, leaving behind a firestorm of controversy surrounding the iPhone 4 and its antenna problems, and the resultant complaints about reception.

Despite a firestorm of complaints about the iPhone 4's antenna problems, experts say Apple will likely stick to its usual schedule for releasing new iPhone versions. Instead, a fix for the iPhone 4's defect may be incorporated in the device's new production run.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs received a heads-up warning from the company's senior antenna expert early in the planning process that using a bezel antenna design on the iPhone 4 could lead to exactly the reception problems that now plague the smartphone.

Consumer Reports took Apple's workaround solution to the poor reception and dropped calls plaguing the iPhone 4. While it works, the venerable consumer product ratings magazine won't recommend Apple's latest star product unless it makes the fix free to customers.

It took just one week for the wrath of Apple's new iPhone 4 owners to translate into legal action: Two separate lawsuits were filed Wednesday over the newly released smartphone's reception problem. The claim: Apple knew about it beforehand.

Like a drunk coming off a night of partying, Apple shares were sluggish Friday -- closing down a slight 0.86% to $266.70 a share. The weak performance happened despite the iPhone 4 launch Thursday and several Wall Street analysts raising their Apple earnings estimates.