Apple Refunds Bumper Case Purchases, Launches Bumper App

Apple has started to refund buyers of the $30 rubber-band it calls the Bumper Case. The refund was promised to buyers after Apple offered free bumper cases to iPhone 4 owners to fix the signal-dropping death-grip.
With little fuss, Apple has been refunding customers? credit-cards for the $30 purchase price plus any tax or shipping. If you paid cash, lord knows how you?ll get your money back. A postal-order or a check, probably. Why not fax Apple to find out?
Some have looked at the bumper cases, which perfectly cover the troublesome exposed external antenna-band on the iPhone 4 and nothing else, and seen conspiracy. ?Apple knew about the problem all along,? they cry, ?the Bumper proves it!?
That Apple would realize the problem and, instead of fixing it just try to sell a case seems unlikely. I?m with Daring Fireball?s John Gruber on this one: I think that Apple just wanted a slice of the lucrative iPhone case market. After all, at Apple?s entry-level $30 accessory price-point, a rubber-strip costing a few cents will certainly generate a profit.
For those of you who sensibly held-off buying a $30 piece of stationery, you can now get one free. Apple has also launched its iPhone 4 Case Program. This is an actual application, available from the App Store. Download it, log in and order. The Bumper is in there but, as Steve Jobs promised at last Friday?s press event, there are a number of third-party cases too. These actually look pretty good, and come from respected manufacturers like Speck, Belkin and Griffin. All of the cases, from Apple or anyone else, will take 3-5 weeks to ship.
iPhone 4 Case Program [Apple]
Apple Automatically Refunding iPhone 4 Bumper Purchases [Mashable]
Photo: By Mr. T in DC/Flickr
See Also:
Fix iPhone 4 Reception Troubles for $1
Can Black Tape Double the Speed of Your iPhone 4?
Apple's Answer to Antennagate: Free iPhone 4 Cases
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