Neil Hughes
Apple has been accused of misrepresenting its iOS 8 operating system upgrade by using an "unexpectedly large percentage" of storage on 8- and 16-gigabyte devices, resulting in a class-action lawsuit against the iPhone maker.
The complaint was filed in a California court on Tuesday on behalf of plaintiffs Paul Orshan and Christopher Endara. The suit alleges that Apple failed to disclose to consumers that as much as 23.1 percent of the advertised storage capacity of an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch would be consumed by iOS 8 once the upgrade is installed.
The suit alleges that "reasonable consumers" would not expect such a discrepancy after updating their device to the latest operating system. By their calculations, each gigabyte of capacity removed from an "iDevice" equates to as many as 500 high-resolution photographs.
Going one step further, the complaint accuses Apple of using this limited capacity to sell users on iCloud storage upgrades. The suit claims that Apple's "sharp business tactics" can take advantage of consumers in a "desperate moment," such as when they're "trying to record or take photos at a child or grandchild's recital, basketball game or wedding."
The class-action lawsuit states that Orshan owned two iPhone 5s units, as well as two iPads, all with 16 gigabytes of storage that were upgraded to iOS 8. Endara is also said to own a 16-gigabyte iPhone 6 that came with iOS 8 preinstalled.
The plaintiffs allege that Apple is engaged in "false, deceptive and misleading practices" in marketing its iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. They have taken issue with the fact that a 16-gigabyte iPhone, even when purchased new with iOS 8 preinstalled, does not actually have 16 gigabytes of usable storage.
The complaint accuses Apple of violating California's Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, and the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act. The plaintiffs have asked the court to force Apple to "engage in a corrective notice campaign," and that restitution be paid to affected consumers.
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368 Comments
Before you jump in with "Apple makes it very clear that some of the 16GB is used for the OS on their Web site" you might want to check the site. I assumed I would be able to find some clear language that would cover Apple, but the closest thing I could find was this: "1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less." on the Technical Specs page. Or "How much storage is right for you? iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus come in three storage sizes: 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB. The term "GB" stands for gigabytes. The more gigabytes you have, the more content you can store on your iPhone, such as apps, games, photos, HD videos, music, and movies. For example, if you have a large music or photo library or lots of apps, it%u2019s a good idea to consider an iPhone with a larger storage capacity. If you rarely download apps or you don%u2019t take many photos or videos, an iPhone with a smaller capacity may be better for you. When deciding which size to choose, be sure to consider how your storage needs may change over time." And, as you can see, they make no mention of the fact that a few GB of storage is used up regardless of what size you get. It looks like Apple dropped the ball on this one, and it may end of costing them.
This guys are morons!!! (a person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment; a person of borderline intelligence in a former and discarded classification of mental retardation, having an intelligence quotient of 50 to 69). Do they think that a, phone or computer, operating system will not take any space? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2545258/Samsung-Galaxy-S4-owners-just-HALF-storage-paid-bloatware.html
I am suing my parents. I found out the tooth fairy isn't real.
I think this has merit, if only because a 16Gb iPhone is nearly unusable. OK, that's a bit of hyperbole but the way any *reasonable* person would use the phone is to install apps and store photos and music. You really can't do much of that on a 16Gb iPhone running iOS8 before it runs out of space. Apple should not even be selling 16Gb models; they should start at 32Gb.
Yawn... the industry has been through this already with hard drives, screen measurements, RAM, etc. I believe Apple was sued before for this with earlier iPhone models and won. Another article on another website pointed out that almost all manufacturers of computer/electronics have been sued for this so-called deception. But since this is Apple, by default, it becomes their issue alone. This is getting funny.