Research In Motion has hit out at Apple's attempts to bring other smartphones into its antenna reception problems on the iPhone. In a joint statement, RIM's co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie called the company's "attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle" unacceptable. Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed other smartphones which he suggested may experience similar reception problems during his press conference on 16 July. This included the BlackBerry 9700. RIM said Apple's claims about RIM products "appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public's understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple's difficult situation". RIM said it has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4, instead employing designs that reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. The company underlined that BlackBerry users do not need a case for their phones in order to maintain network connectivity. HTC also responded to Apple's claims, saying reception problems aren't common on smartphones and Apple should address the problem on its own rather than blame competitors. HTC CFO Hui-Meng Cheng suggested that Apple didn't give operators enough time to test the phone, the Wall Street Journal reported. HTC told Bloomberg that the HTC Droid Eris, cited by Apple in its presentation, has experienced a customer inquiry of less than 0.02 percent, 35 times less than the iPhone 4. Samsung said the company "hasn't received significant customer feedbacks on any signal reduction issue for the Omnia II" smartphone, which was featured also in Jobs' presentation. Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha said his company's own devices don't have the same antenna shortcomings as the iPhone 4. "It is disingenuous to suggest that all phones perform equally," Jha said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg. "In our own testing we have found that Droid X performs much better than iPhone 4 when held by consumers."
