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

Class Action Lawsuit

[Little Brother]

I'm already seeing all the BS going on about how a class-action lawsuit only helps the lawyers at the expense of the plaintiffs. I do not know if this is usually the case or not, but the only Class-Action lawsuit I have ever been a part of, (interestingly against apple) resulted in a solution that I found quite suitable for the offense.

I didn't get a dime, but I didn't want one. I wanted the system I paid for to work. I got a box in the mail with express shipping paid for me to ship my laptop back to Apple. Apple replaced my defective motherboard, and shipped my computer back. All at no charge to me. I did not even pay shipping either direction.

I bought a product that didn't work as it should. I signed up on the Class-Action, I got a product that worked as it should.

BUT LAWYERS ARE TEH EVILZ! CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS ARE ABOUT LINING TEH LAWYERZ POCKETS NOT GETTING ANYTHING TO THE PLAINTIFF!

Re:Class Action Lawsuit

[kimvette]

That is an excellent and probably the very best possible solution.

I hope in the instance of the Apple iPhone4 class action suit, Apple quickly pushes out a redesign of the case (why can't the case be a clear polymer with black and metallic inserts, so the antennae are at least insulated from shorts?) and issues field replacement units to stores, and issues a recall. The cost would be fairly minimal relative to the amount of GOOD PR Apple will gain by providing the sort of customer care they purport to provide. They're known for stellar customer service, but the reality is, as proven by defective Mac Pro power supplies, a 52%+ failure rate of Macbook Pros (a few years back, as you experienced firsthand), crappy iMacs (the old round pieces of turd), and now, an iPhone which doesn't live up to its primary advertised purpose, they give crappy customer service.

Now is the opportunity to live up to their claim and allow iPhone4 exchanges for new iPhone4 units with redesigned cases, or to issue FRU kits to the Apple stores and replace the cases for free. Yes, it will cost labor, but it will strengthen customer loyalty and help to increase market share.

Steve Jobs' response is absurd at best, especially when the ads show the iPhone being held exactly how he says not to. Who DOESN'T hold a phone like that, except for headset users?

Re:Good riddance

[Anonymusing]

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

Re:Just Return It

[nanoakron]

You're absolutely right.

And the best thing is...this phone's only been out a week. 1 whole week.

And there's already hysterical screaming from the rooftops and people running to lawyers because they see Apple as a potential cash cow, rather than returning a defective product and being done with it. No, they want to have their cake and eat it too.

Not to mention the largest of these suits only names 11 plaintiffs. 11.

I've got an iPhone 4 myself, as do two of my friends and none of us are able to reproduce this reception issue.

I know the plural of anecdote isn't data but we're already nearly a quarter the way to the number of plaintiffs in this suit.

Re:Before everyone cheers (or jeers)

[elrous0]

Yes, so all the plaintiffs who happen to read the "You can opt-out" notice on page 32C of the New York Times classified section, then send a letter and file notarized copies of forms 339-A and 22-4D to the court--yes, all 3 of those people will still have a right to sue.

Re:Just Return It

[mikael_j]

Ah yes, I found the Anandtech writeup pretty funny, at least the following part:

Cupping tightly - This is the absolute worst case and involves squeezing the phone very tightly, like people are doing online in videos demonstrating all the bars going away. I squeeze the phone hard and make sure my palms are sweaty as well. You'd never hold the phone this way because it's physically painful.

I have no doubt this is a real problem but it definitely seems to be affected by the usual "let's piss all over Apple" thing that always happens when a fault with one of Apple's products has been discovered...

Apple is living like it's the 90s

[al0ha]

This kind of thing, "You are holding it wrong" is par for the course with Apple and no surprise to a long time user.

Back in the day, circa late 80s and into the 90s, Apple computers were mainly used by artists with little technological experience. As such Apple's customer was essentially beholden to the company because let's face it, what were they going to do, use a PC? These days the Apple customer is vastly different, and though the products are nifty and slick, continuing the arrogance towards the end user may prove counter productive in the long run.

Re:ATT's return policy

[nedlohs]

The *new* 4 doesn't work. There is no option to get it to work as advertised.

A magically version isn't going to pop into existance just because you want to have it.

You can return it and cancel the plan. Or you can swap it for a different phone and keep teh plan. Or you can keep it and the plan and hope it gets fixed.

Seems really srange to want something so badly, when you know it doesn't work...

Re:everybody back to 4th grade, please.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ooh. Another wrench in the works!

affect: n. a mannerism or personality trait.

He had a strange affect about him. I think he was a grammar nazi.

Re:Before everyone cheers (or jeers)

[ClosedSource]

You make an interesting point because coupons seem to be the remedy in all the class-action suits that I've been a party to.

Can you estimate what percentage of class actions result in payments of "cold, hard, cash"?