Apple has officially started to reimburse iPhone 4 owners who purchased a bumper case on their own, and it looks like the rest of us can send away for a free bumper now, too.

Apple is managing the promotion through an app, available now in the App Store. Instructions are pretty simple. You download the app, sign in using your Apple ID, and select your bumper or case. As it stands you can only get one color (black) and you’re looking at a three to five week delivery window. As for time limitations, here’s the official word:

For iPhone 4 purchases made before July 23, 2010, you must apply no later than August 22, 2010; otherwise, you must apply within 30 days of your iPhone 4 purchase. To qualify for this program, you must purchase your iPhone 4 by September 30, 2010.

Remember, you don’t have to get a bumper. You can get any of the approved cases for free as well.

After all the noise surrounding the iPhone 4’s antenna/reception issues, a couple designers from Brooklyn decided to make a sticker for the phone that looked like a band-aid. It was all supposed to be a joke. And then they started to get an order every minute.

The sticker, which the designers have cleverly called the “Antenn-aid,” is just a colorful band-aid for the seam between the antennas on the iPhone. It’s a great satire, and the two designers have hammed it up to poke a little extra fun at Apple.

You can buy the Antenn-aid in packs of six for $4.99 plus shipping. Does it work? The official website says it “Works like magical.” Well done, fellas.

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.”

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.