10 Dumbest Things on Wall Street in 2010 (Part 2)

One Very Bad Apple

In June, Apple (AAPL) unveiled the iPhone 4 -- and unwittingly unleashed "antennagate." And then, as is often case with corporate dumbness, the company's ham-handed response made matters far, far worse....

Originally published on July 16 -- Apple's new iPhone 4 may not be as bad as the company's infamous Newton, yet that is not stopping Consumer Reports from bonking Steve Jobs on the head.

Shares of Apple sank over 2% Tuesday even as the tech-heavy Nasdaq surged 2%, due to a troubling Consumer Reports review of the newest iPhone. The review, which otherwise spoke glowingly about the phone, concluded that "Apple needs to come up with a permanent -- and free -- fix for the antenna problem before we can recommend the iPhone 4."

The major malfunction with Apple's newly redesigned iPhone is a faulty antenna that gets knocked out when the phone is held a certain way. The problem has persisted since the phone's introduction last month, a rollout that had early adopters sleeping in the streets to be the first ones on their block with Apple's supposedly sublime smartphone.

Curiously, Apple seems unwilling to accept the fact that one of its gadgets has a problem at all. Like a parent who does not want to admit that his child is indeed imperfect, Apple initially blamed users for reception difficulties, telling them to hold the phone differently. Then, more recently, Apple changed its story and said its signal strength meter was faulty. At last check, Apple said it will hold a press conference this afternoon to announce an iPhone 4 fix.

Part 1: Click here for the 10 Dumbest Things on Wall Street in 2010, Part 1>>

Consumer Reports said a temporary solution is to simply apply duct tape to the iPhone. We say Apple CEO Steve Jobs would have a better chance at curing the company's ills by taking the duct tape off his ears and listening to his customers complaints.

TheStreet Says: Can you hear me now, Steve Jobs? No, this is not a Verizon (VZ) commercial. It's a disgruntled iPhone user.

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