Dubbed Antennagate, the iphone4 has received a mixed reception (sorry I know that was bad!) since its launch a few weeks ago with the reputation for the apple brand receiving a kick in the teeth. It certainly hasn’t been plain sailing for Jobs and his kronies at Apple HQ. Indeed, such has been the hype in the media and on the street that Apple were forced into a press conference today to answer the problems users have faced so far.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs kicked off a press conference Friday at his company’s headquarters with an unusual admission of fallibility.

“We’re not perfect. We know that. You know that. And [our] phones aren’t perfect either,” Jobs told the assembled crowd of about 90 journalists and bloggers, addressing widely-reported problems with the iPhone 4’s antenna.

“We’ve been working our butts off to understand what the real problems are,” Jobs added, referring to the problem as “Antennagate.”

For those who had either tuned in, eager to hear an apology from Steve Jobs, they would have been severely disappointed because an apology wasn’t and isn’t forthcoming! To counter the signal problem Jobs has offered owners a free protective case which will alleviate the problem caused by fingers making an electrical connection when the phone is in use.

Customers who already bought a case will be able to get a refund of the purchase price, Jobs said. The offer will be available on Apple.com starting next week through September 30th.

He also stated that just 0.55% of iPhone 4 customers have called the company’s customer support line to complain about antenna problems, and that just 1.7 percent of iPhone 4s were returned by their customers. By comparison, he said, the iPhone 3GS return rates were 6 percent.

When the iPhone 4 hit stores June 24, numerous anecdotal reports spread across the web with customers claiming that covering the lower-left gap of the phone caused a significant drop in reception, as signified by cellular bars.

In a letter to customers, Apple said the reception loss was an optical illusion caused by a software algorithm that was making the cellular bars exaggerate the iPhone 4’s signal strength.

So there you have it, you can get a free case or hand your phone back in for a full refund by the 30th September if you still aren’t happy. Not the recall that a lot of users had hoped for but it’s not a bad deal. Apple share prices rose by 3% following the press conference so I guess the city is happy enough!