Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Lawsuit Claims Apple Forced Users To iOS 7 By Breaking FaceTime (appleinsider.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the inconvenient-truth dept.

According to Apple Insider, a class-action lawsuit has been filed in California that claims Apple broke FaceTime in iOS 6 to force users to upgrade to iOS 7. The lawsuit says Apple forced users to upgrade so it could avoid payments on a data deal with Akamai. From the report: When FaceTime launched in 2010, Apple included two methods of connecting one iPhone to another. The first, a peer-to-peer technology, transferred audio and video data over a direct connection, while a second "relay method" used third-party servers run by Akamai to shuttle data back and forth. Initially, calls routed through Akamai's relay servers only accounted for only 5 to 10 percent of FaceTime traffic, but usage quickly spiked. On Nov. 7, 2012, a jury found Apple's peer-to-peer FaceTime call technology in infringement of patents owned by VirnetX. Along with a $368 million fine, the ruling meant Apple would have to shift away from peer-to-peer to avoid further infringement. Apple began to incur multi-million dollar monthly charges from Akamai as a result of the change. Testimony from the 2016 VirnetX retrial pegged relay fees at about $50 million between April 2013 and September 2013, rates that according to today's lawsuit were of concern to Apple executives. After eating rising relay service charges for nearly a year, Apple saw a chance to slow down or completely negate the fees in iOS 7. Among other system improvements, the next-generation OS included a method of creating peer-to-peer FaceTime connections without infringing on VirnetX patents. The only problem, according to the lawsuit, was that users continued to operate devices running iOS 6. Citing internal emails and sworn testimony from the VirnetX trial, the lawsuit alleges Apple devised a plan to "break" FaceTime on iOS 6 or earlier by causing a vital digital certificate to prematurely expire. Apple supposedly implemented the "FaceTime Break" on April 16, 2014, then blamed the sudden incompatibility on a bug, the lawsuit claims.

4 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. This lawsuit is pretty silly by ZorinLynx · · Score: 5, Informative

    All devices capable of FaceTime supported iOS 7. Apple didn't leave any devices behind when they did this.

    Not only that, but a company cannot be expected to support unnecessary legacy infrastructure forever.

    1. Re:This lawsuit is pretty silly by windwalkr · · Score: 2, Informative

      All devices capable of FaceTime supported iOS 7.

      That really depends on your definition of "support". Apple has an unfortunate habit of releasing an operating system update that technically supports older devices, but in practice brings them to their knees- operations which previously were quite snappy become unbearably sluggish, or cause the device to crash. Obviously it's great that they offer the option for those who need to upgrade for App compatibility or some other reason, but for everybody else it just feels like a forced (in the sense that the older OS version will stop receiving important updates as per this article) upgrade to something which cripples the device, requiring the purchase of a new device.

  2. Make apps independent of (i)OS by MavEtJu · · Score: 3, Informative

    Currently the only way to update included apps when you purchase a new phone is via an iOS upgrade.

    As such this whole drama could be prevented by being able to upgrade a single included app via the AppStore instead of via an (i)OS upgrade.

    --
    bash$ :(){ :|:&};:
  3. Re: But don't worry... by windwalkr · · Score: 3, Informative

    That's a stupid lie. Apple improves the performance of older devices by upgrading the OS.

    Yeah, no. If you were talking about Macs, I'd totally agree. But this has never been the case on iOS. You buy a new device, you get 1-2 major iOS upgrades which actually make things better without substantially hurting performance, then (typically around the 3 year mark) you'll get another upgrade which completely destroys performance. And once you've patched and found out that you've made a mistake, Apple doesn't let you go backwards.

    I'm a long-time Apple fan (since the Apple //e). I've used iPhones exclusively since they came onto the market. I acknowledge that Apple is better than a lot of the competition wrt/ releasing software updates for older hardware. But it's definitely true that Apple has a habit of releasing patches which .. let's be politic here.. strongly encourage users of old devices to upgrade their hardware.