In an apparent attempt to deal with the mounting criticism that Apple has been facing because of some issues with the iPhone 4’s antenna, Apple has, according to the information forwarded spokesman Steve Dowling, called a surprise press conference at 10 a.m. on Friday.

The conference will be held at the company’s Cupertino, California, headquarters.

Though Dowling, in his late Wednesday revelation about Apple’s forthcoming press conference, refrained from letting out any details about what issues the company will address, there are speculations galore that the signal-strength problem plaguing the new iPhone will be discussed at the event. 

While there have been several complaints about the problematic reception of the iPhone 4, especially when the handset is held in a particular manner, Apple has thus far not given any convincing explanation about the issue.

In fact, Apple has been criticized by iPhone 4 users and analysts for its seemingly ‘sloppy’ response to the antenna problem. Initially, when users complained about the problem, Apple had merely asked them to either grip the phone in a different way or to make use of a rubber bumper case so that the user’s fingers do not touch the handset’s exterior antenna.

However, later on, Apple said that the antenna problem was rooted in the manner in which the iPhone 4 displayed the signal bars; and added that it would soon release a software update to fix the issues.