Support Our Site
Get Better Gear!
- Kensington Windshield/Vent Car Mount with Sound Amplified Cradle for iPhone from Kensington, $39.99
- SigFx Energy iPhone Case Contains Smart Battery from SigFx Energy, US$69.95
- NAVIGON AG - True GPS Software for the iPhone from NAVIGON Inc., 89.99
- Tweetie 2 from atebits, $2.99
- Snood: Flawed Casual Play from Electronic Arts, US$3.99
Premier Sponsors
Top 5 Free Apps
iTunes New Music Releases
Top 5 Paid Apps
Discover New Music
- David Bowie
- It must be a lonely place to be considered David Bowie's worst album by just about everyone, including the artist himself. As the last album before Bowie "rebooted" and formed the band Tin Machine, "N
- Powderfinger
- Guitar-driven rock out of Australia, Powderfinger has not seen much exposure in the States, but should get a nod for their toe-tapping songs. Building off their previous release, "Internationalist" (
- Tegan and Sara
So Jealous is the third album from these sisters, and easily the one to single out for an introduction to their music. Some people may not get on board with their vocal styles, which are slightly
- Nine Inch Nails
- For years I wanted to make music that sounded like something between Love and Rockets and Ministry. In 1989, Trent Reznor beat me to it with this genre-defining album, and it smacked me upside the hea
- Cake
Pressure Chief, Cake's latest album, didn't immediately grab me. In fact, it took perhaps half a dozen listens before I started truly enjoying it. Any
Reader Specials
Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!
News
BW: iPhone’s Failure Rate is Low
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 at 4:00 PM - by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Manufacturing a device as complex as the Apple iPhone in large quantities entails the statistics of engineering failure. However, the iPhone failure rate appears to be much smaller than the industry standards, and Apple will continue to improve it, according to Business Week on Thursday.
"What’s important about bugs or glitches in any new product, annoying as they may be, is what the manufacturer learns from each individual episode and what’s done about it to ensure that it doesn’t recur," Arik Hesseldalh wrote.
Despite few reported problems, users who do have problems can make a fuss on the Internet, and that gets the news organizations salivating all out of proportion to the problem.
The BW author, with the help of iSuppli, took a close look at just one part of the iPhone, the multi-layer display, which is quite complex. "I don’t know exactly how they were manufactured, but no amount of prying or scraping could get [two of the layers] apart," said Andrew Rassweiler of iSuppli.
Despite the iPhone’s complexity, the author’s informal estimate of the failure rate puts the number at something less than 1 percent. Another iSuppli employee, Jagdish Rebello, said that it’s not uncommon to see failure rates of 3 to 4 percent, especially when a product is new.
"What’s important is that the failure rate goes down over time. As products mature, and the understanding of the various pitfalls in the manufacturing process improves, Mr. Rebello said, the failure rate drops in most cases to 1% or less. We don’t know the actual failure rate on the iPhone. Apple isn’t in the habit of releasing such data, mainly because it’s not material to earnings," Mr. Hesseldahl concluded.
That’s the key to understanding Apple’s approach. They look at the overall statistics, not the juicy headlines, and work to learn from their mistakes.
Recent Headlines
- Apple TV 3.0.1 Update Fixes Missing Content Bug
- Taiwan Leak Shows Verizon UTMS/CDMA iPhone for Q3 2010
- iPhone Moves Into RadioShack
- Dictionary, Dictionary, Dictionary, And More
- The Latest App Store Games: Gravity Sling, RocketBird, Ground Effect, Checkers!
- iPhone Game Developer Sued for Collecting User’s Cell Numbers
- Apple May Be Bringing RFID to the iPhone
Post Your Comments