After they first tried to downplay it, then claimed it was a display issue, I honestly can't see them admitting it's a design issue. They've dug themselves into a hole.

I think it'll be an all out pro PR offensive.

They will announce/reveal 4.01 with the "improved signal display", and reiterate that the antenna on the iPhone is actually better (probably true), and that all phones are susceptible to signal loss if held a certain way (true, but massively disingenuous). They'll also talk about how few people have returned them for a refund due to this issue, but they will extend that offer anyway.

There may be some announcement of cheap/free bumpers, but if so it will be presented as something that helps ALL phones avoid interference, not just the iPhone 4, and they're doing it because they want their customers to have the best experience. These bumpers will be either black, or a different "I have the free signal panic bumper" color to keep enticing people to pay $30 for a $3 piece of plastic.

I suspect they hope that this message and the subsequent articles by the carefully picked pro-Apple press will be enough to make the signal issue go away, or at least become something people have no interest in talking about any more.

You might be onto part of that, since 4.1 went into beta this afternoon.

My guess is they're going to announce they started putting a coating on new phones to fix the issue, and will offer free exchanges or cases to existing iPhone 4 customers.

*Either that, or Jobs is going to come out on stage and give a demonstration of how to hold the phone the right way.

They'll announce the iGlove, which will fix your faulty left hand.

Well, truth is stranger than fiction:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/02/apple_glove_patent/

Edit: And it looks like someone's beaten me to the joke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bL8PB_w0-8

I love the iGlove. It's so bad.

Haven't watched that movie in awhile!

Change the subject by revealing some minor new thing the Apple and tech blogs can spew out piles of articles and summaries about.

Yeah they are going to announce the new Apple TV with iTunes, Hulu, NetFlix, Justin.tv and ESPN360 integration; all in 1080i HD and for only $99.

Except for the fact that Apple already said the press conference was for the iPhone 4.

My wild guess: $50 gift certificate until the manufactured units have a mitigating change. At that point, a limited period of swap-ups if requested.

Since I've yet to encounter the problem, that would make me pretty happy. But for the same reason, I struggle to believe they'd be that generous.

Just to flesh out your data point, then:

Where do you live?

Have you had any other network issues -- dropped calls or an inability to dial out -- either with iPhone4 or a previous iPhone model?

Is there no effect on your call or data quality (either as reported by 'bars' or subjectively experienced) when touching 'the gap'?

I live in central London, UK (you can assume signal strength is pretty high here). Obviously I've also used my phone plenty of other places. In daily use I've not noticed any call or data issues with either the 3G or 4. Not that I've been looking for any, especially

Having just checked, seems I can drop my bars down from 4 to 3 by putting my thumb across the famous gap.