“Amid growing criticism from 3G iPhone customers, a class action complaint was filed against Apple Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alabama,” Ashley Phillips and Ki Mae Heussner report for ABC News.com.
“The lawsuit alleges that despite aggressive marketing that the 3G iPhone is “twice as fast for half the price,” the much-hyped smartphone is actually much slower than advertised and prone to dropping calls,” Phillips and Heussner report.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple clearly states on their website (in multiple places):
Twice as fast. Half the price.*
*Comparisons between iPhone 3G (8GB) and first-generation iPhone (8GB) running on EDGE. Actual speeds vary by site conditions. Requires new two-year AT&T rate plan, sold separately to qualified customers.
Phillips and Heussner continue, “‘Apple sold these devices on the promise that they were twice as fast as the pre-existing phones and that they would function suitably, or properly, on the 3G network. But, thus far, Apple and the phone have failed to deliver on this promise,’ Jonathan Kudulis, an attorney with Birmingham, Ala.-based Trimmier Law Firm, told ABCNEWS.com. Trimmier is the firm representing the Ala.-based plaintiff, Jessica Alena Smith. But Kudulis says, because the complaint was only filed yesterday, Apple has not yet been officially served with the lawsuit.”
“Earlier this week, as customers complaints ran rampant, Apple released a software update for the 3G iPhone on iTunes. The software, called iPhone OS 2.0.2, is for “bug fixes,” but whether that includes the problems customers described to ABCNews.com is unclear. So far, Apple has not released a statement elaborating on the software update,” Phillips and Heussner report.
MacDailyNews Take: That is incorrect. USA Today’s Ed Baig reported yesterday, “Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock said on Tuesday, ‘The software update improves communication with 3G networks.'”
Phillips and Heussner continue, “Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg characterized the problem as a minor one. ‘Any product is going to exhibit a certain amount of problems. Well, I have reception problems with a variety of [carriers]. Reception in terms of cell phone really comes down to where you are,’ he said. ‘I’m not seeing anything that indicates that this [is] widespread. & If the Internet tends to magnify smaller problems, then the fact that it’s an Apple product tends to magnify it even more.'”
Full article, full of uninformed speculation, including a recycled “recall” FUD from quote-for-hire Rob Enderle, here.
A mere six weeks after initial release, Apple is perfectly within their rights to be fine-tuning and optimizing iPhone 3G software, if that – as we currently believe – is indeed what’s happening.
