Apple's Apology to 40K Addled iPhone 6 Users is iOS 8.0.2 Release

Apple’s (AAPL) hadn’t even wiped the egg from its face over the bungled iOS 8.0.1 update before the vendor released yet another version of its iOS 8 mobile operating system, one day after the first fix made matters worse for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus owners.

Apple insisted that the iOS 8.0.1 snafu affected fewer than 40,000 iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users and issued an apology along with the update. With more than 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units sold in the first weekend of sales, the OS update bug addled .4 percent of new buyers, which depending how Apple views it, either is unacceptably too much or merely fixable temporary collateral damage.

From Apple’s canned response to the iOS update merry-go-round, it seems like the latter: “iOS 8.0.2 is now available for users, it fixes an issue that affected iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users who downloaded iOS 8.0.1, and includes improvements and bug fixes originally in iOS 8.0.1,” the vendor said. “We apologize for inconveniencing the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users who were impacted by the bug in iOS 8.0.1.”

Version 8.0.2 was made available for download late Thursday, Sept. 25. According to an Apple support web page, the new release “contains improvements and bug fixes,” including those of version 8.0.1:

The question of who might be to blame for the iOS 8 blowup surfaced in a Bloomberg report last week that identified the same mid-level manager who presided over quality control for Apple’s much publicized maps program mangle two years ago still heading quality control for iOS 8.

Apple also downplayed reports of widespread complaints about bent iPhones resulting from users stashing the device in their pockets, saying a “total of nine customers have contacted Apple with a bent iPhone 6 Plus.”