Apple and AT&T Sued Over iPhone 4

First Class Action Lawsuit Filed

[incrediBILL]

Gizmodo reports that the iPhone 4 lawsuits [gizmodo.com] have started:

The first iPhone 4 class action suit against Apple and AT&T has been filed today in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. The lawsuit focus on the antenna design problems, making several claims

This is rumored to be just one of several in the works.

Besides the antenna issues listed in this lawsuit, others are complaining the new glass design breaks if it falls out of your pocket or you drop it, and many complain the phone randomly says there's no sim card making people reboot over and over to get rid of that error among other things.

Did the QA team at Apple take a vacation when the iPhone 4 was in production?

[weeks]

What nonsense. You don't like the product, ask for your money back.

This suit is claiming:
-General Negligence (APPLE and AT&T)
-Defect in Design, Manufacture, and Assembly (APPLE)
-Breach of Express Warranty (APPLE)
-Breach of Implied Warranty for Merchantability (APPLE and AT&T)
-Breach of Implied Warranty of Fitness for a Particular Purpose (APPLE and AT&T)
-Deceptive Trade Practices (APPLE and AT&T)
-Intentional Misrepresentation (APPLE and AT&T)
-Negligent Misrepresentation (APPLE and AT&T)
-Fraud by Concealment (APPLE and AT&T)

Fraud by concealment?!?

[jimfields3]

Although I agree our nation had become too litigious, I think the plaintiffs have a point. Apple led everyone to believe this would be a better phone, but they designed it in such a way there would be antenna issues. And Jobs' response: you're not holding right. (Read: the way I want you to.)

Verizon should have made their dig more prominent in their Droid X ad in the NYT: you can hold it however you want.

[maximillianos]

Mine is arriving in 2 weeks. I'll test it out and if there is any problems or concerns I'll simply return the thing and go back to using my 2G phone.

Not sure why a lawsuit is required here.

[incrediBILL]

Not sure why a lawsuit is required here.

Because 1.7M lemons were unleashed on the unwitting public.

If it were some minor quirks I wouldn't see the point but this appears to be a very flawed design not-ready-for-primetime on multiple aspects of the phone's architecture.

[StoutFiles]

The newest "fix" from Apple concerning the antenna is insulting to say the least.

A software glitch that shows too many bars is the reason my calls have been dropping? So really my signal has been #*$!ty this whole time? Wow Apple, thanks for calling me a moron. Just admit the antenna design is flawed and cut the price of the bumper to something affordable (currently 30 bucks for a piece of rubber?).

[longen]

Apple says a significant fault on its new iPhone 4 is causing it to incorrectly display the phone's signal.

[news.bbc.co.uk ]

[maximillianos]

Because 1.7M lemons were unleashed on the unwitting public.

Not so sure I'd go that far. Consumer Reports (a pretty reputable consumer testing company) could not reproduce any antenna problems in their testing. They recommend the phone.

[J_RaD]

What nonsense. You don't like the product, ask for your money back.

Exactly, do the sheep want their iphone so bad they will sue apple to fix it?

[incrediBILL]

Consumer Reports (a pretty reputable consumer testing company) could not reproduce any antenna problems in their testing. They recommend the phone.

That's probably because they follow Jobs instructions and put the phone in a paper bag and swing it over their head while screaming like a chicken, supposedly getting the best signal strength available :)

Seriously though, the sheer number of people reporting the problem can't be wrong can they?

Plus, we can always trust consumer reports (toyota) can't we, right?

[Future]

gizmodo on link baiting ;) ?
some more news abt. already known Iphone OS 4.0

[maximillianos]

I think one could say more folks are also reporting no problems, along with countless folks who report they cannot reproduce the problem that is being demonstrated on videos.

[J_RaD]

(currently 30 bucks for a piece of rubber?).

wow so apple is profiting off flawed hardware, and profiting on making you fix it yourself.

dannngg they got some big ones!

[zeus]

ohh man once again this suing about everything, well before you buy a product how about first read a review or test it, instead of buying something on hype.

[artek]

Let's see:

I bought new cell phone for 300 dollars and it drops calls sometime.

…I think I will sue the manufacturer for:
-General Negligence
-Defect in Design, Manufacture, and Assembly
-Breach of Express Warranty
-Breach of Implied Warranty for Merchantability
-Breach of Implied Warranty of Fitness for a Particular Purpose
-Deceptive Trade Practices
-Intentional Misrepresentation
-Negligent Misrepresentation
-Fraud by Concealment

…Yeahhh! That's the way to do it! Money for nothing and the…

…But wait, it is very common occurrence that every cell phone drops calls and the phone reception bar indicator is not guaranteed or calibrated instrument to measure exact strength of the cell tower signal…

…And I can still use my new cell phone and I did not try to return phone and get my money back…

…And it will cast about 5000-6000 dollars to file 21 pages lawsuit written by two attorneys…

…But that is OK I will get reimbursed for that…

…And definitely I will demand jury trial because I like to spend few weeks in the court away from my job, but wait a minute I forgot this is my job, I create BUZZ!

[andyll]

I'm not sure a lawsuit is warrented but...

What nonsense. You don't like the product, ask for your money back.

It's not always that easy.

There are restocking fees, paid for accessories, you might have bought the phone from a vendor that makes it challanging to return.

You might have bought apps for the IP4... are those refundable?

If you don't have your old IP3 it might take time and expense to get your service up and running on a new one.

Having to move to a new phone could mean 100s/1000s of dollars of apps are lost.

Some people rely on their phone for business and even a day of not having a working on is significent.

I think one could say more folks are also reporting no problems, along with countless folks who report they cannot reproduce the problem that is being demonstrated on videos.

Apple has admitted that there is a software bug that improperly shows 5 bars even if the strength drops. When that fix comes out I would guess that everyone will be able to reproduce the problem.

The phone drops about 20Db when the lower left corner is held.

[physics]

This is probably OT, but I swear the day the iPhone 4 came out (and a guy in my office got it) I started having call quality issues with my Moto Droid. Is it possible that SOMEHOW the iPhone 4 is interfering with my signal!?
If so, expect a new lawsuit Apple :)

[WebPixie]

How many people just buy an iPhone? Even if you can just return it without fees or hassles is AT&T just going to release you from the contract you signed when you bought it? What if you bought apps for it? Buying an iPhone is not like buying a blender you can return for a full refund and simply move on to another blender.

That said the lawsuit does seem premature at best.

[StoutFiles]

I think one could say more folks are also reporting no problems, along with countless folks who report they cannot reproduce the problem that is being demonstrated on videos.

It's a very real problem. I own the phone and love it, but if I cover the spot on the bottom-left the signal will slowly drop. I just don't cover the spot when I use it and it's not a big deal.

The lawsuit is greedy people being greedy. Return your phone if you don't like it, that's why they have return policies.

[tangor]

well before you buy a product how about first read a review or test it, instead of buying something on hype.

Good advice... except for the fact there were no reviews/tests since none were available until 1.4m will sold IN THE FIRST DAY.

Then the tests began.

[frontpage]

Apple should be given an award for the best marketing in history to form a Cult of followers who purchase a product that is defective yet still delight in owning it.

[physics]

frontpage, this whole thing reminds me of a story my grandfather used to tell. It was a long joke about a man who couldn't afford a nice suit but really wanted one. He finally was able to buy one on sale and couldn't stop raving about it. Only thing is he had to hold up the leg, hold in his arm, tilt his head, etc. to make up for the fact that it wasn't tailored right for him.
The punchline was:
"Look at that poor *disabled* man in the *nice* suit!"

suit => iphone 4

"Look at that poor *fanboy holding the phone in a weird way* with the *shiny* iPhone 4"

:)

[frontpage]

I think this link best describes the situation.

[cdn.lolboom.com...]

[apauto]

I've had mine for a week, not a single problem

[IanKelley]

but they designed it in such a way there would be antenna issues

You say that as though they did it on purpose! Should we start suing every company that makes an imperfect product (i.e. every company)?

is AT&T just going to release you from the contract you signed when you bought it?

I believe AT&T's remorse policy gives you 30 days no questions asked.

These lawsuits are silly... but then so are a lot of the lawsuits Apple has filed against others.

[maximillianos]

I was considering cancelling my order after reading about this a few weeks back. But the only other phone I wanted was the Droid Incredible. And folks are complaining about poor antenna reception on that phone regardless of how you hold it.

I will report back next week. I have 2 iPhones arriving next Wednesday.

[StoutFiles]

Apple should be given an award for the best marketing in history to form a Cult of followers who purchase a product that is defective yet still delight in owning it.

Because otherwise the product is still great? There are few products, if any, that are 100% perfect.

[engine]

The iPhone 4 is defective by design ... get used to it! [zdnet.com]

The issue might not affect everyone, but those affected by the iPhone 4 “grip of death” problem need to understand that the design flaw isn’t going to be solved by something as simple as a software update.

There’s little doubt that the iPhone 4 (or at least some handsets under certain signal conditions) suffers from signal degradation when the handset is held “the wrong way” (specifically, in the left hand where a finger can bridge the gap between the two halves of the antenna which forms part of the chassis). Plenty of testing has been done and for the skeptics out there there is video evidence. The problem undoubtedly exists.

[artek]

So it is competitors' anti-apple buzz scared of iPhone4 after all:

Apple CEO Steve Jobs responded to weeks of criticism over a faulty antenna in Apple's iPhone 4, saying that the phone's flaws are no worse than other smartphones. Still, he said Apple would give a free case to all iPhone 4 owners to fix reported signal problems.

Still not happy, iPhone users? Jobs had another solution: Return the phone.

"This is life in the smartphone world," Jobs said. "Phones aren't perfect.

"We haven't figured out a way around the laws of physics yet."

And here are the statistics:

Despite admitting there might be an issue, Jobs said some of the problem seems to be media hype. He said just 0.55 percent of iPhone users have called AppleCare to report antenna problems while there has been a return rate of 1.7 percent.

Read whole article here [nbcbayarea.com]

[BillyS]

I'm sorry, but giving away a cover is completely lame. Microsoft would be blasted all over the news if they tried to pull a stunt like this. Fix the phone.