David Winer, who is called the father of blogging, wrote this tough indictment of Apple on Gizmodo today.

I agree with much of what Winer said:

• The brewing iPhone 4 mess is the worst crisis Apple has faced since Steve Jobs came back to run the company in 1997.
• Apple has rarely, if ever, faced real crisis. Its PR team (which generally refuses to deal with the media like other companies — almost always to Apple’s great advantage) is not ready for this.
• Apple has thus far been inexplicably, inexcusably in denial about the iPhone 4 reception problem.

One of the best things Winer wrote in his piece was this:

Apple is a company that desperately needs to grow up and wipe the smile off its face, and roll its sleeves up and start to appreciate that they’re no longer the upstart, the underdog, the Crazy One in the Richard Dreyfus ad. They are The Man, the Boss, the one who, from now on, everyone is going to be taking shots at and shits on.

Winer’s insights are terrific.

But here’s where we diverge:

I don’t think it will be as bad for Apple as he thinks it’ll be.

Why?

Because, despite this iPhone 4 fiasco, Apple remains the only company in consumer electronics to enjoy consumer evangelists. Consumers love Apple no matter what. It borders on the unconditional love great parents give their children.

Don’t believe me?

When the reception issues were blowing up on the Internet the week after the iPhone 4 was released, people were up in arms. Angry. Then Steve Jobs, in emails to customers, said it’s not an issue. Just hold it different, he said famously.

And people did. And almost overnight, much of the anger subsided. Instead of venom on the message boards, many people were making the Jobs argument. “What’s so hard about getting a case? What’s the big deal?”

That’s the incredible trust that Apple has developed with its consumers over more than a decade of terrific products, amazing marketing, and very good customer support.

We are witnessing the most extraordinary example of consumer evangelism here.

When you have evangelists, problems are minimized. Mistakes are forgiven. Trouble is chalked up to honest oversights — instead of diabolical ulterior motives.

Tomorrow at its press conference Apple will announce that it has identified the reception problem, and has fixed it for future shipments of the phone. Then Apple will say it will fix or replace all affected iPhones.

And the consumer evangelists — which make up a good portion of the media that will be reporting on the press conference — will be placated. People will nod their heads and say Apple did the right thing.

Never underestimate the trust and the power of the consumer evangelist.