"Bounces off me and sticks to you..."

The reactions of other cell phone manufacturers to Antennagate have been interesting. According to Seth Weintraub at Fortune, the four companies that Steve Jobs mentioned at the press event — HTC, Nokia, Samsung and RIM — "all issued statements saying that they've tested and the death grip doesn't affect their phones."

But numerous YouTube videos are demonstrating exactly the opposite. And Nokia even has an illustration online showing where not to touch the Nokia 6230i -- take a look at page 15 of the Nokia 6230i user manual…

As Rene Ritchie, of TiPb points out, Apple has "changed the dialog from death-touch — a single point of antenna trouble on iPhone 4 — to death-grip — a device-wide point of antenna trouble faced by the entire industry."

And, via Gruber, a compilation of manufacturer recommendations on how not to hold their phones- at the aptly named dontholditwrong.tumblr.com.

I suppose this whole story is another example of the way Apple and the iPhone have transcended the technology arena. They are now cultural touchstones as well, and any controversy acquires resonance beyond the traditional tech environment.