Woman Sues Apple Over 3G iPhone Reception Issues

I am tempted to make all sorts of witty, snarky comments about this, but I'll try to stick to the facts. An Alabama woman has sued Apple, stating that the 3G iPhone -- which she can't use in her home because of the 3G reception issues -- doesn't live up to Apple's claims of "twice as fast". The lawsuit could go class action.

Apple will ever be a target for lawsuits. In fact, it has been quiet on the Apple lawsuit front lately, so the news of this new lawsuit feels like it is overdue.

The details are these: Jessica Smith, a woman living in Birmingham, Alabama, believed in Apple's "twice as fast, half the price" marketing claims. According to her, she has solid AT&T (NYSE: T) coverage in her home, yet she can only connect to AT&T's 3G network about 25% of the time. She also said that she has had a large number of dropped calls. The lawsuit specifically says that Apple is not living up to its warranty that the phone will "perform adequately" on AT&T's 3G network.

So what does Jessica Smith want? She wants Apple to "repair or replace all 'defective iPhone 3G' units, plus damages, interest on 'monetary relief' and attorney's fees." She estimates that tens of thousands of users are affected by the 3G iPhone's reception problems, which could push the lawsuit to class action status.

Um. Yeah.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has copped to the 3G iPhone's reception problems. Firmware updates 2.0.1 and 2.0.2 did not fix the issues, and el-Steve-o has promised that another update, timed for September, will resolve everything. Sorry, Steve, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Apple 3g Iphone Hit With Lawsuit

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.

"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.

Apple does not comment on pending litigation, a company spokeswoman said.

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.

The company has been tight-lipped, at least to reporters, about complaints of spotty service and potential hardware flaws on the new smart phone.

Apple Promises 3G iPhone Problems Will Be Fixed In September

Apple Promises 3G iPhone Problems Will Be Fixed In September

Posted by Eric Zeman, Aug 20, 2008 11:10 AM


Apple CEO Steve Jobs responded to a perturbed iPhone owner via e-mail recently. In the e-mail, he said that Apple is aware of the 3G iPhone's problems, and will fix them with the next software update, due in September.

So far, Apple has issued two firmware updates to make corrections to the device's many bugs. The most recent update didn't do anything for my iPhone. It didn't fix others' iPhone's, either, and actually broke some iPhones. Users reported that after updating to 2.0.2, they couldn't make or receive phone calls at all. Eek.

According to an AppleInsider reader, a real fix is on the way. Steve Jobs sent a one-line e-mail to the reader that said, "This is a known iPhone bug that is being fixed in the next software update in September." That's all. Jobs isn't known to be a prolific e-mail writer. What the bug is, and when exactly in September the fix will be provided, he didn't elaborate.

I have seen no increase in the performance of my iPhone, but at least it wasn't broken by this week's update. AppleInsider reports, "Many report the iPhone 2.0 firmware suddenly failing to load nondefault apps regardless of their nature, briefly loading them before abruptly jumping back to the home screen."

Jobs, please get these issues resolved ASAP!

Dont Buy 3g Iphone

These shenanigans have gone on long enough, and I think it's time for Apple to admit that the 3G iPhone was (and still is) not ready for public consumption.

3G network connections are still reportedly abysmal, MobileMe is in such a state of disarray that Apple has already offered a second free extension to subscribers, and now Steve Jobs himself has apparently acknowledged that there's a known bug that causes some downloaded apps to simply stop working.

By all accounts, the 2.0.2 update was a crapshoot, with some users reporting minor improvements, but other 3G iPhone users reporting that they can now no longer make calls at all.

The bottom line is that the 3G iPhone is, at this point, simply too unstable to recommend to anyone.

If yours is working flawlessly, hey, that's great. You played Russian roulette and won.

But the mountain of bugs and glitches is simply becoming too huge to ignore.

I'm guessing this situation will be ironed out in a month or so (assuming a full recall isn't necessary) with a collection of patches.

But until then, I'd suggest staying away from the iPhone until Apple gets this train wreck back on the rails.

UPDATE ON FIRMWARE 2.0.2 UPDATE

Apple didn’t issue any official statement about the problem of connectivity, but instead has released this update. It is considered that the problem affects around 60,000 users.

But apparently event the update failed to completely solve the hiccups. There are various reports from media and users, saying that an unidentified number of users are still reporting problems even after updating their iPhones.

Though, AppleInsider noted that the 2.0.2 update brigs other features as well, such as faster browsing and typing lag reduction.

Firmware 2.0.2 Released for Apple 3g Iphone

Apple has released a firmware update for the iPhone, 2.0.2, and there’s some suggestion that it may include a fix to the 3G coverage issues.

MG Seigler at VentureBeat reports that post update he’s getting better 3G coverage in San Francisco, but there appears to be no official word yet as to whether the upgrade included a patch for the problem.

Obviously if they can fix it via software update, everyone wins, however I sort of can’t upgrade it yet. I couldn’t resist running Pwnage on my 3G iPhone so I could install Flixwagon for live video streaming. A test video below on the subject. I’ll add Qik to the mix as well later in the week to see if there’s any noticeable difference.

Infineon Chip Blamed for 3G iPhone Complaints

A chip known as Infineon is the source for recent complaints on the Apple 3G iPhone. Mobile cell phone users are experiencing unpredictable disconnects with calls and Internet connections.

iPhone smartphone consumers are experiencing inconsistent calls and Internet connections to the Web. Apple said they are aware of the problem. The iPhone maker plans to release updates for the mobile device in an effort to correct the problem.