Apple faces class-action lawsuit over 3G iPhone
Up until now, Apple has been known for its unshakeable thirst for perfection, with product launch after product launch proving almost flawless. But the launch of the iPhone 3G has changed all of that, and it could lead to a massive class-action lawsuit being filed against the company.
Ever since the new iPhone 3G went on sale last month, there have been complaints from users about the spotty 3G coverage. This has been evident all across the U.S, including major cities such as New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, and also in other countries such as the U.K.
These issues, which lead to dropped calls and slow connectivity to email, SMS and other communication methods, meant speculation was rife over the chances of a class-action lawsuit being launched against the company. And that has now happened, or is at least in the process of happening.
According to Ars Technica, Alabama resident Jessica Alena Smith has issued a lawsuit against Apple over her “defective iPhone 3G”. The suit alleges that the iPhone’s reliability and performance have been below par, and didn’t reflect the claims in the wall-to-wall TV, radio and print adverts surrounding the launch.
Smith alleges that her iPhone only appeared to be connected to AT&T’s 3G network less than 25% of the time. This is despite the fact that 3G coverage in her area of Birmingham, Alabama is said to be excellent. Smith hopes her lawsuit will become part of a much large class-action lawsuit which could cover the complaints of thousands of unhappy and unsatisfied Apple customers.
There certainly seems to be many people who could latch on to this lawsuit as the Web has been full of complaints over connectivity issues since the iPhone 3G launched on July 11th.
Apple has admitted there are some problems and even tried to remedy them with the release of the iPhone 2.0.2 firmware update earlier this week. Unfortunately, as Justin reported yesterday, the update failed to solve the existing problems and even caused new ones to occur.
Smith claims that her and the thousands of other potential members of the class-action have “sustained monetary and economic injuries due to the purchase of the defective iPhone 3G”, and while that may seem a little over the top, Apple’s failure to yet offer a solution to the issues being experienced may see a judge siding with the class.
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August 21st, 2008
I travel around the country with a 3G phone (not iPhone) and would venture a guess that the dropped calls are more an issue with AT&T’s network than with the iPhone. Since Apple / AT&T started selling these things like hot cakes, MY service (using a Palm Treo 750) has also been taking a hit. AT&T touts their 3G coverage, but “coverage” and “capacity” are NOT THE SAME THING. You could be standing right next to a 3G tower and get dropped if the network is too congested. That’s probably why you have been seeing all of the carriers threatening to cut off 3G users who use more than 5GB/mo of bandwidth. I am guessing that AT&T saw lots of $$$ from the sale of these iPhones and SERIOUSLY underestimated how much people would actually USE them.