Nokia: We Prioritize Antenna Over Aesthetics

Steve Jobs had his time on stage today, and in the process, managed to not only clarify Apple's position on "antennagate," but also call out the entire smartphone industry at the same time. All in a day's work, if you ask us. In any event, while we weren't expecting major manufacturers to actually respond to the Apple press conference today (we probably should have), here we are telling you that Nokia has their own opinion on Jobs' comments. And, sure enough, they're full of Nokia innovation.Official Statement:As we've all seen, Apple had mentioned Nokia in their press conference today regarding the iPhone4. I wanted to take a moment and send you a statement regarding Nokia's own antenna design and function.

Antenna design is a complex subject and has been a core competence at Nokia for decades, across hundreds of phone models. Nokia was the pioneer in internal antennas; the Nokia 8810, launched in 1998, was the first commercial phone with this feature.

Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying human behavior, including how people hold their phones for calls, music playing, web browsing and so on. As you would expect from a company focused on connecting people, we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict.

In general, antenna performance of a mobile device/phone may be affected with a tight grip, depending on how the device is held. That's why Nokia designs our phones to ensure acceptable performance in all real life cases, for example when the phone is held in either hand. Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying how people hold their phones and allows for this in designs, for example by having antennas both at the top and bottom of the phone and by careful selection of materials and their use in the mechanical design.

As you read through that, you probably noticed a few gems. Like how Nokia was "the pioneer of internal antennas." We're not going to say that they weren't, not by any means, but let's just try to stay focused. A comment that's more on track would be something like this: "we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict." Yes, that's how it should be — but if you can figure out a way to get them both down, why not take a shot at it?

Everyone has their own feelings about the iPhone 4's antenna situation, and even after Apple's response, we're sure people have already chosen their sides of the discussion, so Steve Jobs' resolution of the situation probably won't matter to them. What about you? Where do you stand in all of this?