How to claim your free iPhone 4 case or bumper

The deathgrip scandal, otherwise known as 'antenna-gate', has undoubtedly sullied the opening month of Apple's iPhone 4, just as Gizmodo-gate sullied the months immediately before.

When will Apple catch a break?

Thankfully, amid rumours of recalls and class action lawsuits Steve 'Magic' Jobs fixed everything last weekend by taking to the stage and announcing that all iPhone 4 owners could either get a full refund for their handsets, get a full refund for their bumpers, or get free bumpers.

But how do you avail yourself of one of these reception-fixing miracles? Simple – just follow these steps.

Go to the App Store on your iPhone 4 (or iTunes, if you prefer) and search for 'iPhone 4 Case Program'. You'll find a free app published by Apple Inc. Download it.
Get started. At this stage you'll need to enter your iTunes password.
Now you get to select your case. There are eight on offer, arranged in order of how quickly they arrive. The official Apple bumper is amongst the fastest, with a 2-3 week lead time. You'll need to wait a whopping 2-3 months for the Speck Pixelskin HD iPhone 4 – Black. Don't worry too much about shopping for maximum value – they all cost about the same, between £15-£20, aside from the Official Apple cover, which costs £25.
When you've made your selection, you get to browse through a few pictures of the case being modelled by the phone so that you can see whether you like it on. Once you're happy, tap Select and you're away.
The next screen just invites you to check that your address details are correct. I don't want you to know what my address is, and in any case I forgot to take a screengrab at this point, so here's the Apple version, featuring the irrepressible Mr John Appleseed.
And here, apropos of nothing, is what happens if you realise you forgot to take a screengrab of the screen containing your address – which you didn't want anybody to know anyway, so it's fine – and you go back into the app. Then you get an email from Apple telling you your order is being processed. Simple.