The Members Forum

After a decade of hit products that made Apple the cutting-edge darling of the mobile and computing world, the rollout of the iPhone 4 has been an atypical and ugly scratch on the company's glowing image.

From a lost prototype of the device that slipped into the hands of a technology blog to what some have called a tone-deaf response to the new phone's reception problems, the knocks have kept on coming.

On Friday, Steve Jobs and his Cupertino, California-based company hope to set things to rights with a news conference expected to address the drumbeat of complaints, and bad press, about the iPhone 4's antenna.

What is said at that event, analysts say, will go a long way toward determining whether the tailspin ends now or continues for weeks, and maybe months.

"Apple's image, from just before the release to today on this phone, is taking a beating," said Edward Snyder, principal analyst with San Francisco-based Charter Equity Research.

"I don't think this is cataclysmic by any stretch, but it's unflattering, and it's getting worse the longer they stonewall."

The iPhone 4 broke Apple sales records upon its release on June 24, drawing positive reviews from tech bloggers and almost religious fervor from Apple fanatics who waited hours to get their hands on one.

It sold more than 1.7 million units in its first three days, the most successful product launch in Apple history.

But just hours after its release, reports of a problem with reception began surfacing.

One of the new phone's vaunted features is its sleek design, nearly 25 percent thinner than its most recent predecessor. That's achieved, in part, by snaking the antenna through a metal band around the edges of the phone.

Analysts determined that holding the band in a certain spot leads to interference, causing weakened reception and, sometimes, dropped calls.

For its part, Apple downplayed any problems.

CNN has the details HERE!