Slash LaneCalifornia resident Jason Medway filed the 14-page complaint in a Northern California court this week on behalf of himself and thousands of other California customers who purchased the iPhone 3G.
The suit revives claims that the smartphone, launched last June, has a defect that keeps it from maintaining a signal on AT&T's 3G network. Â Medway alleges Apple is aware of the problem yet continues to advertise the device's high speed while ignoring complaints and requests to remedy the situation.
"Despite knowledge that the iPhone 3G cannot maintain consistent 3G service, defendant continues to solicit new orders in a multimillion-dollar television and print advertising campaign for the iPhone 3G," the complaint says. Â "Apple simply replicated the problems by providing consumers with replacement phones and thus subject to the same issues which prompted the replacements."
The suit goes on to argue that, as a result of Apple's misrepresentations, "thousands of consumers who purchased Apple's iPhone 3G and accompanying 3G service from AT&T have experienced broken promises regarding the phone's transmission speeds."
Attorneys for Medway are seeking damages for thousands of class members in excess of $5 million. Â The complaint claims the plaintiffs should receive full restitution, including the "disgorgement" of all profits Apple received from sales of the device plus interest at the "highest rate allowable by law", along with attorneys' fees.
The complaint is the latest in a long saga dating back to last August that's pitted the iPhone maker against customers who believe the iPhone's 3G performance is subpar. Â In early December Apple argued in response to one such suit that "no reasonable person" would take the statements in iPhone 3G ads as fact. Â The response was preceded by a succession of lawsuits that claimed Apple and AT&T over-saturated the network, exploited its customers, fell short of promised performance, deceived customers of the real download speed, and even failed to warn about the "defective" third-party apps found on the App Store.
Ironically, an independent study commissioned by Wired last year concluded that iPhone data speed problems "have more to do with carriers' networks than with Apple's handsets."
AT&T, however, is not named as a defendant in Medway's suit.
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Andrew Orr
47 Comments
wah wah wah
how sad....anything to make a quick buck. we all know its not apples fault....
get over it
Ironically, an independent study commissioned by Wired last year concluded that iPhone data speed problems "have more to do with carriers' networks than with Apple's handsets."
AT&T, however, is not named as a defendant in Medway's suit.
I agree that the problem is with AT&T and not Apple. AT&T just wasn't ready for it.
And I'm suing Lotus. There is no way my Elise can do the advertised speed on my local roads. There should be a law that charges people the cost of wasting courts and taxpayers money dealing with claims like this.
I generally don't like class-action suits, but I have to admit that I kind of agree with this one. I got an iPhone 3G a couple of weeks ago and I am disappointed by its 3G-ness.
I thought web sites would load significantly faster, but they really don't. Also, even though I live and work in a major metropolitan area (and my work is next to a major freeway, which is where a lot of cell towers are concentrated), I am disappointed at how often that I cannot connect to the 3G network. What are they calling that these days? Connectile dysfunction?
I have an iphone 3g on fido and have never had any of these complaints and you never hear any complaints from anywhere else in the world but good ol' America with AT&T, so it sure ain't the iphone's fault.