I wouldn't really call 4th generation a new product, they just should have caught this glitch in product testing before releasing it... But that would involve retooling the phone which would cost a bit and delay the release, so they likely knew about it already anyways. And if that is the case it isn't really "Apple-like" in operation as they used to care more about quality in the past.
Meanwhile I'm typing this on my 20" iMac after listening to my iPod all day in the airport/airplane and using my android phone on sprint all day.