Apple tells iPhone 4 owners to get a grip

Apple wants owners of its latest generation iPhone to get a proper grip on the handset.

As analysts on Friday fired off predictions that opening day iPhone 4 sales would easily top a million, Apple dismissed complaints that cupping the smartphones in a way that covered the lower left corner cut signal strength.

"All phones have sensitive areas," Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was quoted as telling technology-focused Ars Technica website in an email. "Just avoid holding it in this way."

Aspiring iPhone 4 owners swarmed Apple stores in Europe, Japan, and the United States on Thursday in a launch that rivaled the release of the first iPhone by the culture-changing California firm.

Some new iPhone 4 owners discovered that holding their new smartphones so that their palms covered the lower left corners choked off the strength of the telecom service signals.

Apple designed silver edging on handsets to be part of the antenna system to improve signal strength.

The problem could be fixed by moving one's hand or encasing iPhones in rubber "bumper" frames that Apple sells for 30 dollars.

"Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas," Apple said in an official statement on Friday.

"This is a fact of life for every wireless phone."

Apple advised those that experience the signal problem to "avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases."

Antenna concerns did not appear to deter the hordes that descended on Apple stores on Thursday. Oppenheimer analysts Yair Reiner and Michael Suh raised their estimate of iPhone 4 sales to 1.5 million.