We reported on this earlier, Apple’s new iPhone 4 users, far from enjoying the honeymoon period, are complaining vociferously about the loss of signal on the set if held by the band.For those that have just plunked down $200 or $300 on a new iPhone 4 (or more if you are upgrading before your contract is eligible), having your cellular connection drop out while doing something as simple as holding the phone in your hand is unacceptable.

However, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, those who are having reception issues are just holding their phone incorrectly. A reader sent an email to Steve Jobs stating that his new iPhone 4 was having receptions issues when holding it his hand. In typical Jobs fashion, his response was short and to the point according to Engadget:

Just avoid holding it that way.

Apple’s official stance on the issue is the following:

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. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, 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.

So Apple made a phone with an external antenna that has problems with reception when it comes in contact with the human body, then blames the consumer for holding the iPhone 4 in a perfectly reasonable fashion. This seems to be a very puzzling and troubling statement from the boys from Cupertino which sounds more like a hardware design problem than a “you’re holding it wrong” problem.

Interestingly enough, a user over at Apple Insider has a photo montage from Apple’s iPhone 4 commercials that seems to contradict Jobs’ “avoid holding it that way” comment.

And the little notation about using a case to fix what is at the heart a hardware issue also is a bit interesting as well. The bumper case for the iPhone 4 is the first iPhone case direct from Apple that we can recall — possibly it was made available to mask the reception problems.