July 30 is the big day many are holding out for in the land of Oz with Apple launching its iPhone 4 then. But perhaps the sales numbers won't be quite as big as they would have been if the whirlwind of reports about signal issues (dubbed antennagate) weren't floating around.

However, Jobs had this to say upon opening a press conference on Friday morning. "We're not perfect. We know that, you know that and phones aren't perfect either, but we want to make all of our users happy. If you don't know that about Apple, you don't know Apple.

When we fall short, we try harder ... if a user is having a problem, it's our problem."

In defence of the signal woes, Jobs demonstrated that when holding other types of phones such as RIM's Blackberry Bold 9700, HTC's Droid Eris and Samsung's Omnia 2 in the same way as the iPhone 4, each phone lost signal in a comparative way.

He also went on to say that the issue was amplified materialistically due to an incorrect algorithm that was used to calculate the number of bars indicating signal strength, showing a larger drop in strength than was actually the case.

But despite that claim, people are quick to report that the 4th gen iPhone is somewhat more lacking in giving a decent signal (physically) versus the 3G/S. It will be interesting to see how far Apple go in providing excuses for the problem before something is actually done.

But there is going to be a little cherry handballed over to AU iPhone 4 owners in attempts to help offset antennagate somewhat. Owners will be able to apply for a free bumper case on Apple's website that protects the outer rim of the phone, while owners who previously purchased a bumper will get a full refund on theirs.