根据一份iPhone 4信号接收欠佳的消费者报告，苹果公司召回iPhone 4的可能性越来越大。有不少博彩公司对这件事情进行了跟踪，并对苹果公司是否召回iPhone 4这一事件开出了赔率。
爱尔兰最大的博彩公司Paddy Power PLC表示，自从iPhone 4的消费者报告出来以后，iPhone 4的质量问题就引起一阵狂热的博彩投注热潮，不少人认为苹果最终将召回iPhone 4。消费者组织在7月12日的一份报告建议，因为iPhone 4接受信号欠佳，因此不推荐消费者购买。
“如果目前的投注趋势可以相信的话，那么苹果公司很有可能召回有质量问题的iPhone 4”。Paddy Power 公司的一份新闻稿如此表示。 苹果发言人纳塔利没有立即回应这些信息。
Paddy Power公司首先苹果是否召回iPhone 4提供了2比1的赔率，这意味着如果召回发生，输家将支付两倍的本金赔款以及本金。此外还有赔率是4比6。
消费者报告表示，它将不会推荐iPhone 4，除非iPhone 4信号的问题得以解决，尽管iPhone 4的其他测试项得到了很高的评分。测试结果表明，当用户用手指或手掌覆盖手机的左下方时，iPhone 4的信号强度明显减弱，甚至出现断线的情况。
7月2日，苹果公司把iPhone 4手机信号接受不好问题归咎于软件显示问题，并承诺为iPhone 4用户提供免费的改善方案。
分析家已经开始预估苹果公司召回iPhone 4的成本。纽约的一名分析师托尼萨科纳吉估计该召回成本至少为15亿美元，但他说召回iPhone 4是“极不可能的。”苹果公司采取的改善方案很可能是以每部手机1美元的成本，为手机左下角配上橡胶套。另一位分析师维杰。拉克什估计，iPhone 4的召回成本不超过1亿美元。
译文：
Apple Inc. is increasingly likely torecall its iPhone 4 after complaints about poor reception and acritical review from Consumer Reports, according to a bettingcompany that tracks odds for such events.
Paddy Power Plc, Ireland’s biggest bookmaker, said thechances that Apple will ultimately recall the phone haveincreased following what it described a “betting frenzy” afterthe Consumer Reports review. The consumer organization said onJuly 12 it wouldn’t recommend the phone because of its tendencyto lose signal strength when held in a certain way.
“If the current betting trends are to be believed, it nowseems certain that a recall is in the cards,” Paddy Power saidin a press release. Natalie Kerris, an Apple spokeswoman, didn’timmediately return messages left outside of business hours.
Paddy Power first offered odds of 2-to-1 against a recall,meaning a bet on a recall would pay $2 plus the initial $1 ifsuch an event occurred. Now those odds are 4-to-6, meaning awinning bet of $1 would pay $1.66 if a recall were to occur.
Consumer Reports said it wouldn’t recommend the latestiPhone until the signal problem is fixed, though the deviceotherwise received high ratings. The test results showed thatwhen a user covers the phone’s lower-left side, where two partsof the antenna meet, the loss of signal strength may lead todropped calls in areas where AT&T Inc.’s coverage is weak,Consumer Reports said.
On July 2, Apple blamed the problem on software that helpsdisplay the phone’s signal strength, and has promised to issue afree fix to iPhone owners. It hasn’t specified when that fixwill be available.
Analysts have started to estimate the impact of an iPhonerecall on the company’s earnings. Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst atSanford Bernstein & Co. in New York, put the price tag at $1.5billion, though he said a recall is “highly unlikely.” A morelikely step would be issuing rubber cases to cover the phone’sbottom-left corner, which would cost Apple $1 or less per phone,he said in a report.
Vijay Rakesh, an analyst with Sterne Agee & Leach inChicago, estimated that a recall would cost Apple less than $100million.
