Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) will have its big press conference today. Ahead of the event the company is in the midst of offering software and other solutions to weak signal and false signal readings on its iPhone 4.

Just as Apple appears to be slowly putting its iPhone 4 problems behind it, some users have found what could be a significant flaw with the iPhone 3GS. The BBC reported that “some owners of the iPhone 3GS are reporting that an earlier update to the handset’s operating system made their phone far more likely to drop calls.”

“The Apple support forum dealing with the problem now has more than 36 pages of comments attached to it. Apple has yet to give specific advice about this problem but many users report that restoring the phone’s firmware fixes the trouble,” the news agency reports. Apple may be able to dodge one problem with its iPhone smartphone series, but it may not be able to dodge two. The latest iPhone is so popular that it is still out of stock at many stores. Most analysts believe that the reception problem with the iPhone 4 may keep some consumers who were on the fence about purchasing the phone from delaying or even deciding against that purchase, but few experts expect it to do any real damage to Apple.

Problems with popular products have a way of perpetuating themselves. First, one or two Toyota Motor (NYSE: TM) models had problems with brakes or accelerators. Suddenly, the problem moved to other models, at least in the minds of some consumers, whether the problem is real or not. The imagination becomes stronger than rational thought.

Apple may have a second problem, one that effects a model that has been very popular–the iPhone 3GS, which was the company’s flagship handset before the iPhone 4.

Another model, another problem. Suddenly, Apple’s reputation for high-quality, well-featured handsets has been undermined.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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