Legal

It’s Wednesday and I bet you’re a little bored. Not enough of the week left to start a new project and not quite enough time left to feel pressured to meet a Friday deadline. So what should you do? Suggestion: Sue Apple over the iPhone. Why not? Everyone else seems to do it.

The lawsuit of the moment? One accusing Apple of slower than advertised browsing speed and cracking cases. From the complaint:

“Although Apple was and is aware that the handsets were and are defective, and that consumers have experienced repeated instances of cracked housings, Apple has nevertheless allowed the defectively designed iPhones to be sold to the public”

Cracking cases? Just how much cracking? Research indicated that some people are reporting hairline cracks but I couldn’t find any reports of a suddenly disintegrating housing rendering the iPhone inoperable. Not to say hair line cracks aren’t annoying but functionality should trump looks. I suspect if you have an iPhone with serious cracks and take it back to the Apple store you’ll get a replacement. In fact I’ve got a single case of exactly that happening. I dropped my iPhone… more...

Cell phones are a confusing business in the United States. You can get something pretty cheaply if you’re willing to sign a contract but that and the fact you’re going to end paying for stuff you don’t use or don’t want are the only certain things. If you find yourself in that hazy area between the time you want a new iPhone but before your old contract is history getting an iPhone can be a b**** because AT&T might just refuse to sell you one… At any price. To the average person that seems like the brink of lunacy. You have money, you want an iPhone and AT&T says: Sorry, we’re not here to sell things for money.

Once AT&T says “no” are you hopelessly screwed? Nope, thanks to the efforts of Mike Elgan at Computerworld. It turns out AT&T will sell you an iPhone. You just have to be prepared to jump through some hoops. The chances are that your local AT&T doesn’t know the entire skinny about getting an iPhone so you may have to resort to more drastic measures. If this is you, read what Mike wen through to… more...

It’s understandable that some may be dissapointed with the current performance of the iPhone 3G, but it’s probably fair to say that most of us aren’t about to sue Apple for something they may well fix in the near future.

William Gillis is now another, and is following suit and trying to get compensation for what they think is sub-average performance. User William Gillis is filing claims against both Apple and AT&T, claiming that because of their pushing the device, the influx of new customers caused a strain on AT&T’s network that both companies anticipated and could have avoided.

Gillis notes that AT&T claimed that the iPhone 3G is “performing great” on their network, despite 3G speeds being lower than advertised.

“I just want Apple to simply disclose complete and accurate information about the product”

We’ll see how things go with this lawsuit…

Via: Apple Insider

Nate True has recently released a semi working Jailbreak for iPhone running 1.1.3 but we are issuing a word of caution for those thinking of running this: don’t.

There are a lot of issues most of which can cause a lot of problems. iPhone Atlas reports most of them below.

The Google Maps “Locate Me” function will not work as well after applying this jailbreak. That’s because this method doesn’t upgrade the iPhone’s cell phone radio, meaning only Wi-Fi data will be used to estimate your current position.

iTunes Store previews don’t work with this method.

A variety of issues can cause you to have to restore your iPhone — over and over in some cases — in order to get this jailbreak to take.

Your iPhone may take a while (up to 4 minutes) to boot after applying the jailbreak.

The jailbreak currently doesn’t work on PowerPC-based Macs.

Developer Jonathan Zdziarski reports of another serious problem with the Jailbreaking method.

“It looks like Nate’s update causes Nikita to break (Nikita is the component on… more...

As if a screenshot and video tidbit weren’t enough to appease the ravage appetites of the iPhone community and conspiracy theorists, a new video has been released of the Firmware in action via Gearlive. Oddly enough, Apple hasn’t whipped out the legal hammer just yet.

The reason being seems odd, normally the Cupertino based company employs such precision in these matters that even James Bond tips his hat off but besides that is a new 8 minute video showing all of the awesome features in 1.1.3 including:

-Multi recipient Messaging
-Google Maps Locate Me
-Safari Bookmarks on the home screen
-Rearrange home screen icons

In addition, the wireless carrier is listed as Nate which prompts suspicion as to whether or not this is a genuine demonstration but the change comes from Erica Sadun’s Make It Mine App. MIM changes the wireless carrier name and can survive Firmware upgrades as the user data resides in an area on the iPhone not touched by the updater.

Video Below

Via: more...

We all know visual voicemail. Most of us use it quite often, and of those that do not a big percentage have unlocked phones. Could visual voicemail be an idea from someone else other than Apple or ATT? Klausner Technologies seems to think so, because they are suing both companies for a total of $360 million for copyright infringement. Klausner Technologies holds patents for retrieving messages from a menu which displays the caller, their number, and other such info. Sound familiar? What is worse is that they have successfully sued both AOL and Vonage over the same patents.

Basically, it looks as if Klausner Technologies will get a pretty large settlement. How this will affect both Apple and ATT has yet to be determined.

What are your thoughts on the suit?

[via Gizmodo]

Earlier yesterday Chuck Norris informed prolific members of the press that he, not Apple, was the sole inventor of the iPhone and is seeking revenge against the Cupertino based company. However, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has nominated Chuck Norris for inventing the iPhone and not Apple Inc.

CEO Steve Jobs was shocked over the news and has told Bloggers he intends to increase his Reality Distortion Field around him.

“It’s just not right, no one knew we took the iPhone from Chuck Norris, we were the ones who made it profitable and trendy.”

Details are scarce at the moment but it is believed Chuck Norris created the iPhone due to his herculean thumbs destroying button based QWERTY keyboards on every available Smart Phone.

He was quoted as saying “No other phone can survive a roundhouse kick, my awesomeness or any combination. The iPhone, my creation, can.” after which reporters were given a thorough beat down for possessing inferior phones.

Steve Jobs has been seen hanging around his office past closing time wearing a metallic mask. An amateur photographer who posed as the janitor got a picture.

more...

Even after multiple warnings from Apple themselves, even after iTunes warned you in big bold font and even after being warned once more from Bloggers and those who had the audacity to challenge Apple’s might, there were some who went through with in updating their iPhones to 1.1.1 and were shocked by the results.

Damian Fernández is one such person who despite multiple warnings, updated his unlocked iPhone to 1.1.1 and found that his device was bricked. Needless to say he’s seeking damages which have yet to be undetermined and is blasting Apple in the lawsuit over their strict control in how the iPhone is locked down to AT&T in the US.

However, as bad as this may be, you have to consider the warnings given before hand, I don’t have much pity for this man considering the progress made in restoring bricked phones.  At best he’d get his legal fees paid for and get his iPhone replaced. If he really wanted to take some action, he’d give the FCC or EFF a call as they’d have more power than filing a class action lawsuit.

Via:more...

An interesting post comes our way from Engadget, a rumor circulating around states that Apple may be interested in the 700 MHz spectrum bid which starts in January of next year.

While this isn’t confirmed yet it is very interesting yet plausible for Apple. Currently Apple is tied to AT&T as the network for its iPhone, if Apple were to win the 700 MHz spectrum which is being fought for heavily by companies much bigger than Apple it would allow a wireless service to be set in place and deliver data faster than current cellular technologies could.

Sidestepping the carrier altogether in order to provide the service for the iPhone would be in Apple’s view, Steve Jobs had been vocal of his distaste for cellular companies.

But even with the speculation in that Apple could cash in through iTunes to build this network, making it work in the way a normal cell phone would without any problems and rolling out the network across the country would be a monumental task, possibly too much for Apple which brings up the question of why Apple would even bother… more...

Let me ask you dear iPhone Matters readers, which I assume you know how to navigate a phone (preferably an iPhone). Can you read not only a cell phone contract but advertising as well? Good, now that we got that out of the way let me ask you one more thing, you know what roaming is, right?

Either this man, Herbert Kliegerman did not or is extremely brave to take on the savage legal authority of AT&T and Apple. Unfortunately a new class action lawsuit has cropped up on the basis that AT&T did not properly disclose that they will be the exclusive carrier for the iPhone. Right, and I didn’t know oxygen came from plants.

The basis is not so much of “hey, I didn’t want to read the print in front of me or take the little bit of time to do the research” but the man racked up over $2,000 in roaming charges by as he put it: traveling “overseas” to Mexico.

And here is the kicker, he continues on to say that had the iPhone been unlockable (part of the lawsuit… more...