“A California woman accused Apple last year of using an underhanded trick to force iPhone users to buy a newer model,” Jeff Roberts reports for paidContent. “This week she struck out in court after a federal judge concluded that Apple’s software upgrades are free and do not qualify as a sale.”
“Bianca Wofford of San Diego sued Apple last year after downloading the company’s iOS 4 operating system to her iPhone. She claimed that this software upgrade was actually a “downgrade” for her and others using the company’s older model 3G phone,” Roberts reports. “In a colorful complaint, she accused Apple of deliberately turning consumers’ 3G iPhones into slow-running ‘iBricks’ in order to induce them to buy the newer iPhone 4.”
“Steve Jobs himself promised to issue a fix that Apple released a few weeks later,” Roberts reports. “Not satisfied with this solution, Wofford went forward with a lawsuit seeking $5,000 for every iPhone 3G owner in California who had been affected by the upgrade.”
Read more in the full article here.