There’s no doubt that the iPhone 4 launch was one of Apple’s sloppiest hardware launches to date. The antenna issue was definitely the worst PR we’ve seen from Cupertino and yet, somehow, the iPhone continues to blow through millions of models. After all that, Apple’s finally made an inside move, a sort of quiet omission of guilt despite its protestations over the last several months.

Mark Papermaster, the exec at the helm of iPhone hardware, has left Apple. There’s no word on whether he was given the boot or left of his own accord. His departure is a bit coincidental for me to believe that, whoever initiated his departure, it wasn’t all related to the antenna issue. When consumers are making joke band-aids and “End Call” stickers to fix your missteps, you can bet someone’s head will roll.

As you might imagine, Papermaster declined to comment.

Well, there you have it folks. Apple didn’t exactly do what some expected (read: massive recall) but it did do something that should at least help relieve some of the, ah, anguish around its latest iPhone model.

The details are pretty simple – you have an iPhone, you get a bumper. If Apple is out of bumpers, you can pick another case from a predetermined selection. If you already bought a bumper you will be reimbursed and lastly, you can only take advantage of all of this until September 30th, at which time Apple will determine whether it should extend the offer or come up with another solution.

It’s better than the first explanation, right?

Apple announced that it will be holding a press conference regarding the iPhone 4 tomorrow afternoon. Though no one knows exactly what the event is about, it’s a safe bet there will be a mix of good news and bad – sales numbers and hopefully the truth about the antenna situation.

As I’ve said before, I’m not experiencing the antenna trouble many are. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, though. A lot of people have had problems, some of my friends even, and there are a whole host of reasons that could occur.

TechCrunch had a guest post from Steve Cheney, a former engineer and web programmer, who offers a comprehensive solution to Apple’s technical problems and the PR nightmare that came as a result. His technical solution is to coat the steel band that surrounds the phone, a solution many have tried with rubber bands, nail polish, and Apple’s lauded bumper cases. After reaching out to iFixIt, Cheney discovered that Apple may already be using some sort of coating, which could explain the inconsistency of the antenna problems.

Whatever the problem or the solution, hopefully tomorrow will offer more than “our signal strength calculation was a bit off.”

The big question surrounding the iPhone 4 reception issue is how did Apple not catch it? They had the phone for months, presumably testing it in the Bay area for months. So why didn’t the Apple techs experience the problem?

Miguel Helft at the NYT Bits Blog had one theory – when the Apple techs were out the field, the iPhone 4 prototype was disguised in a case to look like the 3GS. The case meant a tech’s hands didn’t touch the antennae, so there were no interference issues, so there was nothing to catch.

Apple said Thursday that a case is one way to solve the reception issues.

A lot of new iPhone 4 owners have been sorely disappointed by the handset’s reception. There is an issue that causes reception to drop dramatically when held so that the two bands on the side of the phone that serve as antennae are connected.

Users at Apple Insider claimed to have seen reports on Apple’s official tech forums that a software fix would be coming this week, as early as Monday.

Readers report that Apple’s tech support forums originally confirmed that a iOS 4.0.1 software fix addressing the issue would ship early next week (as early as Monday), before the comments were subsequently taken down along with all the other related discussion about the matter.

The fix is expected to address a issue in iOS 4 related to radio frequency calibration of the baseband. Readers who saw the original forum discussions say that the issue is believed to occur when switching frequencies; because the lag is allegedly not calibrated correctly, it results in the device reporting “no service” rather than switching to the frequency with the best signal to noise ratio.

iOS 4 introduced some enhancements to how the baseband selects which frequencies to use, so it makes sense that the error may have crept into those changes. Additionally, this explains why iOS 4 has also caused similar problems for iPhone 3GS users.

Let’s hope this is true. I haven’t personally had the problem, but I’d be pretty pissed if I had a great handset that couldn’t actually be used as a phone.