“Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant program built into the Apple iPhone 4S, is the target of yet another lawsuit,” Nathan Olivarez-Giles reports for The Los Angeles Times. “But unlike the March suit filed in New York, the latest lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles.”
“The new suit, filed in a U.S. District Court by a David Jones living in California, makes the same basic accusation that the previous complaint did — that Apple oversells Siri’s abilities in advertising and TV commercials,” Olivarez-Giles reports. “The suit alleges: ‘For example, in many of Apple’s television commercials, consumers are shown using Siri to make appointments, find restaurants, and even to learn the guitar chords to classic rock songs. In its advertisements, Apple depicts these tasks as easily accomplished ‘just by asking’ Siri.'”
MacDailyNews Take: This Davy is not a believer.
Olivarez-Giles reports, “However, Jones hasn’t found that using Siri is that easy, the suit said. For Jones, often ‘Siri would either not understand what Plaintiff asked, or, after a long wait, provided the wrong answer.’ The lawsuit seeks financial ‘relief and damages’ for not only for Jones, who purchased an iPhone 4S in December, but also for other iPhone 4S owners.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Beta. We know that. You likely do, too. However, as with many facts, your average U.S. citizen likely doesn’t (they don’t know the names of their U.S. Senators or Representative, but the ignoranti damn sure know exactly who the judges are on Dancing With The Stars).
Therefore, every Apple TV commercial featuring Siri should have made the fact that it is a beta known, at least via a disclaimer. Since they didn’t, we can only assume some lawyer paid by Apple has failed to properly do his/her job.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
iPhone user sues Apple over Siri voice assistant – March 12, 2012
Apple wins Siri Advertising Standards Agency case – March 4, 2012
And what ‘damages’ did the people filing these lawsuits suffer? Certainly not monetary damages. The new model they purchased didn’t cost more than the previous model, but added the Siri feature, along with a host of other improvements. Good luck splitting out the ‘value’ of Siri on top of all the other features and components.
Did this guy ask Siri a question, get a wrong answer, and then go ahead and act on that answer? Can he document the financial damage he suffered from his acting on that answer? Lots of apps cost money and yet are found to be less than satisfactory by the users. Caveat Emptor for purchased apps, but damages for beta phone features. It is time for the courts to weigh in heavily against frivolous lawsuits.
I have been sent the wrong way or to the wrong destination on several occasions by online maps and GPS devices, but I am not suing.
If the guy wants to turn in his iPhone 4S for a refund from Apple, then I say let him do it and good riddance. Apple can refurbish and re-sell the device to offset the expense, and the guy can go buy an Android phone and save the rest of us from his overly-litigious BS.
That goes double for the lawyer slime that took on this class action suit. If I were an Apple lawyer, the first thing that I would check is if the lawyer uses an iPhone and, if so, what type(s) and for how long.
Sadly, it just doesn’t seem to matter these days with our judicial system.
Now there’s the problem — “intelligent” personal assistant … if only Apple could come up with one for stupid questions, David Jones might have gotten some help.
How effing stupid.
MacDailyNews Take: “This Davy is not a believer.”
I have to admit, I chuckled.
Too soon?
(Brought to you by Carl’s Jr.)
You sure David is his name? Maybe it’s Barry.
http://www.jacehallshow.com/blog/barry-kripke-from-big-bang-theory-puts-siri-to-the-test/
If you’re not satisfied ask for your money back.
So, Mr Jones, do u speak in a clear, gramatically correct dialect, or did mommy just forget to change your diaper! Friggin INGRATES claiming they were “harmed” by Apple! Return your phone for a refund and STFU if u don’t like it! Keep electing liberals, and u can expect this everybody’s a victim crap indefinitely! Unbelievable!
The only one playing the victim card is you. Those evil liberals victimize you poor conservatives at every turn it seems.
This is more than a little ridiculous. The only issue I have with Siri is that I think they’re doing maintenance or updates late at night when I typically want to say, “Wake me up at 5:00 AM.” The Siri system seems to be off line then.
I’ve found that the system is getting progressively better in terms of availability and accuracy.
My favorite thing to do with Siri is when I take a cab or bus, I hit the button on my headset. One touch brings up Siri. I say, “Remind me to wake up when I get home.” Siri acknowledges the reminder. It beeps in my ear when I get close to home. Love that. So freaking Sci Fi.
I never use the name “Siri,” I’ve found that confuses things. I just say what I want and it works, for the most part.
I love having it read me my text messages.
I find Siri to be highly addictive and without realizing it I simply started using it as opposed to the more conventional methods of accessing information.
The speech recognition component is extraordinarily accurate. Until recently I’ve never been a fan but now I speak text messages and emails all the time. (This works great on the new iPad as well).
Apple needs to be careful with those commercials though. Remember, there are people out there who believe in ghosts and gods and all sorts of crazy things. They are not capable of discerning marketing glitz from reality. People sophisticated enough to read this website intuitively know that that new systems and software inherently have bugs. I kinda think the commercials go overboard for the weak minded and and easily duped though.
If your recently purchased vacuum cleaner does not does what it says it does, you just return it to the vendor, and you don “Sue” hover or anybody else.
Second, you must be talking like “Kripki” (from the Big Bang Theory).
Third: In samsung galaxy’s Ads, people see real people in the street and they pretend touching those people and drag them in to their phone in a way that people on the street can be fit into the Samsung phone.. And I don’t see people suing Samsung because you can’t actually drag and drop a real person into your phone.
The Nissan Pathfinder Ad shows a Nissan FLYING in the off road, that’s right, it flies, not running, and I don’t see people suing Nissan because their cars don’t actually flies.
Coca cola don’t have thousand of little people inside my can and people don’t sue because of that…
Just to put a end to this, Who is paying all those jerks to sue Apple for such $tupid things? Google? Nokia? Sammy?
We really MUST enact tort reform in this country to make morons like “Dave” pay for the insipid and court-clogging suit he has filed. When the losing party must fork over the cash required to defend such a frivolous suit, this kind of crap will diminish, if not go away entirely. But in the United States of Bleeding Hearts I doubt this will ever come to pass.
You’ll modify your point of view on this if you watch an excellent documentary: “Hot Coffee”. The entire “Tort Reform” movement was created and is funded by several hundred corporations. Not sayin some changes aren’t necessary. ….
I’m going to sue McDonald’s because the burger they depict on tv doesn’t look exactly like what is served.
I was so upset, I called my lawyer.
“Your average U.S. citizen likely doesn’t (they don’t know the names of their U.S. Senators or Representative, but the ignoranti damn sure know exactly who the judges are on Dancing With The Stars.”
Sad, but oh-so-true. How embarrassing!
Beta or not, ignorant people expect voice recognition to operate like it does on a Star Trek episode. We have lost all common sense on this planet.
Siri is a joke at this point. I know its beta and am not suing anyone over it. But their ads are a tad misleading. I wanted info on Orange Crush soda and asked Siri. She gave me the name of a bar named Crush in Orange County. I am American and speak w/o accent. If it’s not ready for prime time, some disclaimer would have been smart, as MDN noted. I get better results from EVI. Setting reminders is usually OK, but asking questions is really hit or miss.
The average American doesn’t even know what the hell beta means. Over the years I have repeatedly gotten blanks stares when referring to beta versions of software. The Siri commercials are simply misleading for many people, unfortunately.
PATIENT EDUCATOR,
With a personal assistant you can assign all of your outgoing phone calls, get your research done, make reservations to go out to dinner with friends or have your blog posts uploaded to your website