Apple, AT&T Sued Over iPhone 4 Antennas

bannable writes "Apple has been accused of violation of the Federal Communications Act, three counts of products liability related to negligence, defect in design and breach of implied warranty, intentional and negligent misrepresentation, fraud by concealment, unfair business practices and more. 'The iPhone 4 manifests design and manufacturing defects that were known to Defendants before it was released which were not disclosed to consumers, namely, a connection problem caused by the iPhone 4's antenna configuration that makes it difficult or impossible to maintain a connection to AT&T's network,' the California complaint reads."

Comments

Not surprisingly

[jgagnon]

This will have no affect on Apple's sales.

Before everyone cheers (or jeers)

[elrous0]

A lot of times (I suspect most of the time) these sorts of class-action lawsuits are instigated by not just the usual suspects (greedy lawyers), but also with the support of the companies themselves. The lawyers get a big payday. The company gets shielded from any further individual lawsuits. And the consumers get stripped of their right to sue individually, for the "settlement" of a "5% off your next purchase" coupon.

In other words, when you hear "class-action lawsuit," don't think "Yeah, we're sticking it to the big guys!" Think "No, they're sticking it to *YOU*."

Re:Before everyone cheers (or jeers)

[jgagnon]

In a better world, that should be "Apple will not be shielded from further suits in which the plaintif failed to opt in to the class action."

Re:Before everyone cheers (or jeers)

[mea37]

If you're going to turn someone's phrasing back on them, try reading carefully enough to know what they said; or are you too stupid to know the difference between "indignant" and "ignorant"?

In any event, feel free to point out a class action where the only notice was buried in the NY Times classifieds. Or were you just full of crap? That the law doesn't prescribe mail as the only means of notice, does not change the fact that classes are notified by mail.

Good riddance

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, Steve, "You're holding it wrong" just doesn't cut it.

If your user's can't actually hold your phone, it's your problem, not theirs.

Re:Good riddance

[Skuld-Chan]

I expect the signal to vary when I touch the phone - that's a given. I remember when doing amateur radio as a child there was a calculated (and sometimes very noticeable) gain loss when a handheld radio came in close proximity with the human body - and most of these radios had really really efficient antennas compared to most cell phones.

I think with the iPhone 4 - the issue is if you have particularly sweaty hands (which I do) they can short the two antennas and increase the swr so much it effectively knocks the signal out *completely*. When putting the piece of tape over the gap solves the issue I think its more of a design flaw than common problem. I had a rubber antenna for some handheld radio that had a short in it once - you couldn't hear hardly anything unless the transmitter was right on top of you.

In the link you have there - the Nexus 1 owner/author admits that the signal doesn't go completely away - it still lets you make a phone call.

My Rev 2 Nexus 1 (the one made for AT&T/Telus) this issue occurs, but in most cases its not a big deal (maybe 10-20 db - if that). I had the same issue on my Nokia N97 too.

Re:Good riddance

[DRJlaw]

For what it's worth, the Nexus One had similar problems... where's the lawsuit?

You merely assume that the problems are similar. Upon what are you basing the assumption?

Could you 'short' the antenna in the Nexus One merely by holding a phone in the 'wrong' way? No.
Did the Nexus One signal drop by 24 dBm when you held it in your hand? No.
Is the reception quantifyably worse than either the Nexus One or the previous generation iPhone? Yes.

A 10dBm drop compared to the iPhone 3GS is unacceptable when the primary function of the device is to serve as a wireless phone.

The lawyers suing Apple are not going to let it confuse the issue between absorptive signal loss due to coupling with a nearby hand, which indeed most phones are suspectible to, and antenna detuning due to galvanic conduction over an uncoated external antenna, which is a design decision worthy of a Gumby.

Re:Good riddance

[TheRaven64]

A 10dBm drop compared to the iPhone 3GS is unacceptable when the primary function of the device is to serve as a wireless phone.

Is it? I thought the primary purpose was to serve as a status symbol, the secondary purpose was to buy overpriced apps, the tertiary purpose was to browse the web. Being a wireless phone is way down the list.

Re:Good riddance

[geekoid]

No, it is a technical failing.
the Antenna design is BAD. The person responsible should be ashamed of themselves. This may not be the Antennae engineer. He may have been forced to do that design based on some management decision.

Have you ever designed antennas?

"This is validated by scientific signal measurement. "

Care to link to link to said study. Be careful, if it isn't a good scientific study, I will rip you a new one.

Of course you have a fallacy that being better is all that matters. I can build and advertise a car that gets 100 MPG, but if it drops to 80MPG when driven by left handed people, I will be sued. It dosn't matter then t gets better gas MPG then my previous vehicle.

Just Return It

[CowboyBob500]

FFS, if I bought a phone and it didn't work I'd just take the thing back to the shop and get a refund. That way I get my money back so I can buy a different phone as a replacement. With a class-action lawsuit they'll get $5 worth of iTunes vouchers and still have a phone that doesn't work. What planet are these people on?

Re:Just Return It

[barzok]

The idea behind the lawsuit is to remind Apple that marketing poorly designed or tested products is not acceptable. I think.

A higher-than-normal return rate, with the antenna issue being the stated reason, should achieve similar results. In theory.

Re:Just Return It

[DWMorse]

It's not exactly about the phone. Yes, you CAN return the phone, but it's too late at that point - now you're in a 2-year AT&T contract, that you then have to pay $375 to get out of. All thanks to your phone, sold to you by Apple, not working as advertised.

So then you have a choice, do you eat the $199 or $299, and the cost to get a different phone, to hold up your contractual obligation? Or do you start lighting a fire under Apple's ass to fix the phone so you can get the phone and service you paid for? AT&T blames Apple, Apple blames the consumer, so the consumer is going to have to sue to get things righted.

Re:Class Action Lawsuit

[eagee]

Ummm so the result of the class-action lawsuit is that Apple had to do a standard warranty repair? I mean, wait a minute - are you a lawyer?

Re:"Difficult or impossible" is a lie

[Hijacked Public]

Yes but that is a quote from a complaint and it needs to be a damning as it can be as long as there is a kernel of truth to it.

I'm in an area where all the carriers have spotty signals. I am left handed. I have an iphone 4. If I purposely bridge the gap in question it degrades the reception enough to prevent me from making calls when I'm in an area with a weak signal. So indeed there are situations where the issue makes it 'difficult or impossible'.

Luckily for me I don't naturally hold the phone that way, but it would indeed be annoying if I did. I've been using a cell phone for 15 years and would not be interested in adapting to a new phone's peculiarities.

Re:ATT's return policy

[IANAAC]

Why would I want to exchange it for a 3GS if what I want is the *new* 4? Design flaw or not, the product isn't working as advertised.

The lawsuit would surely take much longer than 30 days. Why would you even contemplate the continued use a product that doesn't work as advertised? All to have the latest, greatest yet defective product from Apple?