“The iPhone has only been out for a month, yet there’s already a class-action lawsuit against it over its battery life,” Ed Oswald reports for BetaNews.
“Jose Trujillo filed the suit in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. Among other things, he claims that the battery can only be charged for 300 cycles before needing to be replaced, and that he wasn’t made aware that the battery was soldered inside of the unit,” Oswald reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple.com’s iPhone tech specs have stated “built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery” since its preview introduction in January 2007. In addition, Apple.com’s iPhone batteries page – which went live before iPhone went on sale – states, “A properly maintained iPhone battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 400 full charge and discharge cycles.” In additon, Apple.com states (and has stated before iPhone went on sale) that iPhone “offers up to 8 hours of talk time 6 hours of Internet use, 7 hours of video playback, or 24 hours of audio playback on a full charge at original capacity. In addition, iPhone features up to 250 hours of standby time.”
Apple’s iPhone box clearly states on the label, “Battery has limited recharge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced by Apple service provider. Battery life and charge cycles vary by use and settings. See www.apple.com/batteries.
Apple iPhone’s one-year warranty includes replacement coverage for a defective battery. You can extend your coverage to two years from the date of your iPhone purchase with the AppleCare Protection Plan for iPhone. During the plan’s coverage period, Apple will replace the battery if it drops below 50% of its original capacity. If it is out of warranty, Apple offers a battery replacement for $79, plus $6.95 shipping, subject to local tax. Apple offers AppleCare Service iPhones for us for up to 5 days while iPhones undergo battery replacement. The service fee for the AppleCare Service iPhone is $29. iPhone owners just drop their iPhone’s SIM card into the loaner iPhone while the battery is being replaced.
Any judge or lawyer has already long since stopped reading due to fits of uncontrollable, shaking laughter. If you are still able to read this far, it’s likely that your name is either Jose or you are an ambulance chaser with a client named Jose. Either way, you seem to have absolutely no idea how the U.S. legal system works, but at least you have an ample supply of frivolity.
Yeah, but he filed the complaint in California court in Spanish!
Could this have something to do with AAPL’s performance today?
Jose “FUD” Balmer? The idea of the suit was not even to make it into court with such allegations but to put the headline out there. Isn’t there a law against filing spurious claims? Or is that why someone named Jose – possibly litigation-proof – was chosen to “file the suit”? (my son-in-law-to-be is a Puerto Rican, not poor, speaks both English and Spanish fluently, and is a Sys Admin – no racial bias here)
DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page Pod-Cast – now discussing the ICWP Retreat
Charko,
And here I thought Jose was the stupidest person on earth.
Charko, what performance issues are you having? My Mac is performing just fine today…
Oh, you mean STOCK performance! Doubt it’s due to this lawsuit. It isn’t strong enough to merit any movement in pps. Probably just some people taking profits from the past few weeks.
What a country we live in. This is the stupidest thing I have ever seen. By the time my battery stops working on this IPhone I will probably be ready to buy a newer version anyway.
I believe that all of these battery lawsuits come from the law offices of: Taylor, Suits, Fer-You.
MW: “somewhat” As in somewhat ridiculous, but good luck with that.
Good!
Apple should have made a user replaceable battery. Even if it’s a Apple only battery, at least let people extend the life of their product and get value for their hard earned money.
But NOOOO! Apple solders the dam thing to the mobo and then charges a fortune to replace it and the IT guys get a chance to snoop in on people’s information. Not to mention being without a phone all that time, mail damage etc.
I’m a big Apple fan, but sometimes the things they do they absolutely deserve to be sued out of their collective asses.
If Apple expects people to turn over their iPhones every few years they got another thing coming. People will default to the cheap free phones instead.
I sincerely thank Mr Bush for his tort reform.
Oh, wait. That just prevented poor people from declaring bankruptcy, it didn’t slow down ridiculous, frivolous class-action crap that just lines the large law firms (aka “donors”) pockets at the expense of the buying public.
<<This is the stupidest thing I have ever seen.>>
Not as stupid as soldering in the battery. Don’t get me wrong- I luv my iPhone- It’s like holding the future. But Apple missed on the battery. It should have had a socket connection- just like my ipod and my wife’s iPod- which I replaced with a $39.00 kit. I’m not asking for a removable battery on the exterior- but at least a way for DIYers to do their own replacements- again- just like the iPod.
To be honest- If I knew about the soldered in battery- I still would have bought the thing- I just hate surprises.
Is there anyone else involved in this “class action” lawsuit, or is Trujillo like Enderle of the “Enderle Group”?
The judge should throw this case out of court and fine the plaintiff and his lawyer for tying up the judicial system with such nonsense.
I’d also recommend that this yahoo spend some of his lawyer’s fees to learn how to read English.
The best word to define this guy is ” schmuck “.
A class action lawsuit is filed by an individual (or a few people) who seek to be approved for class action status by the court based on the fact that many, many potential plaintiffs will or could file similar suits, and it would be best to settle the matter in one lawsuit rather than thousands. If class action status is awarded, anyone who bought an iPhone would, by default, be included in the lawsuit. An iPhone owner could opt out of the lawsuit, but only by responding to the class action notice which will be sent to him/her.
That being said, I find this fuss about the iPhone’s battery ridiculous. The 400 cycles refers to completely draining the battery 400 times and then charging it back. And after that, you still have 80% battery life/capacity.
Very few people will drain their battery fully every day. Most, like myself, use some of the battery, and recharge overnight so they can sync their iPhones as well.
LUL said, “If Apple expects people to turn over their iPhones every few years they got another thing coming. People will default to the cheap free phones instead.”
That statement’s just plain silly. People already do that with their laptops, iPods, and other consumer electronic devices. And once someone has an iPhone, they sure aren’t going back to the free phone from AT&T, Verizon, etc. They’ll upgrade to a new iPhone and pass the current one on to a family member who either doesn’t need the full battery life or will get a new battery for $90 and have an iPhone.
Finally, if I wanted an extra battery for, say, a Moto RAZR, AT&T charges between $17 and $50, depending upon the capacity. And I can’t charge it outside of the phone, so I have to constantly swap batteries.
Buy a charging phone for your car and stop worrying about your battery.
LUL,
If US$79 +tax + shipping is a “fortune” to you, then you have my deepest pity, you poor bastard.
One thing’s for certain: you have no business owning an iPhone.
ROFL!
If this goes to court then im a Mexican!
Apple have it covered.
The guy hasnt even had the iphone long enough to use the 400 charge cycles anyway, so any case is just an obvious scam to leach cash out of Apple.
But America being what it is, some greedy lawyer will try and get the case to court so that Apple settles out of court and gives the guy some cash.
The problem with Apple, and everyone knows this now, is that they always settle out of court because they dont want the bad publicity.
People like this guy makes me sick – people like him should be shot at birth.
Also, unless the guy has been on Mars for the last year, he would have known before buying the damn phone that it’s battery is built-in.
At least Apple didnt hide the facts, unlike Microsoft, and made them clear for anyone who can understand ‘basic’ english language.
This case is a joke, anyone who is spending $500 on anything tends to read up on the details before buying the product.
Maybe thats the problem, the guy has no comprehension of basic language or any ability to understand any form of communication.
“Dubious”? Come on, MDN, that’s way too lenient a term for what this is.
Frivolous? Check. Insane? Yup. Ridiculous? Certainly.
I’ll choose to frame this one on the wall, right next to the “Satisfaction Guaranteed” pants lawsuit. And get my darts out.
MDN – Looking forward to the article regarding how this lawsuit was thrown out of the court due to a lack of merit.
Peace.
LUL,
They don’t expect you to swap out the battery every few years. They expect you to upgrade. That’s been more the rule than the exception with iPods.
I have had a Palm Tungsten E and several Pocket PCs none of which had a user replaceable battery. Should I have filed suit? If you don’t like the iPhone and the fact that it doesn’t have a user replaceable battery then don’t buy it. I get tired of these complaints about the phone. Blah Blah Blah it doesn’t have 3G, Blah Blah Blah it cost so much, Blah Blah Blah it’s only on AT & T. If you don’t like it then don’t buy it, it’s very simple.
JUST return the friggin phone and get RAZR.
What lbuschjr said. Plus, if your battery has been discharged to just 50% when you plug back in for a charge, that only counts for a 1/2 charge cycle, not 1. There was really no reason for someone not to have known the battery situation before buying. Regardless of what one thinks of Apple’s design decisions, there is only so much that they can do make potential buyers aware of them. It is up to consumers to research the products that they buy; Apple hid nothing, and that is what needs to be proved for a case like this to have any merit.
MDN word = “really” As in: Yeah, really!
There would be a case if this idiot was misled by Apple. However all the specs were out before the phone was released. I can’t sue Ferrari because I can’t change the oil myself.
If Nosey Jose managed to open the iphone to remove the battery and found it soldered, he will have invalidated his warranty since nowhere on the packaging does it say,
“open the casing & remove the battery”.
If he was following instructions from that video on the website, then we all know how foolish he is since that was not an Apple video.
The lawyer who is handling this tort must be laughing! does he get paid in advance by Jose?
LUL…
You know what, I was going to bring up several points to refute you, but I just don’t have the energy. You’re an idiot.