14 DAY TRIAL // A U.S. judge has decided that Apple will have to face accusations from people affected by its iMessage curse that prevents regular text messages from being sent or received when the user switches away from iOS.
A lawsuit that seeks class-action status has been filed – and subsequently approved – in California, with plaintiff Adrienne Moore claiming that “the message blocking interfered with her contract with Verizon Wireless (VZ.N) for wireless service, which she kept after switching in April to a Samsung (005930.KS) Galaxy S5 from an iPhone 4.”
Apple has to face Judge Lucy Koh yet again
Presiding over the case (whenever it’s decided that it will go to trial) is none other than U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh. Apple is not at its first run-in with Koh in San Jose, California. However, this time things will be quite different.
Koh presided over the famous Apple-Samsung case that ended with the latter paying billions in damages to the former over copycat practices. This time around, Koh feels Apple is the one that has to compensate others.
Reuters reports that plaintiff Adrienne Moore is seeking class-action status and unspecified damages, claiming that “Apple failed to disclose how its iOS 5 software operating system would obstruct the delivery of ‘countless’ messages from other Apple device users if iPhone users switched to non-Apple devices.”
Koh herself writes, “Plaintiff does not have to allege an absolute right to receive every text message in order to allege that Apple's intentional acts have caused an actual breach or disruption of the contractual relationship.”
Apple claims it has done no wrong
Apple is of the opinion that people simply don’t understand how the iMessage system works and that the company shouldn’t be held accountable for issues arising from switching away from iOS.
“Apple takes customer satisfaction extremely seriously, but the law does not provide a remedy when, as here, technology simply does not function as plaintiff subjectively believes it should,” a representative for the California-based company says.
However, Apple has indirectly admitted that there’s an issue with its iMessage service by posting a web tool called “Deregister iMessage” which outlines the cumbersome steps one has to take to break off ties to the service. Moreover, the issue has remained unresolved for years.
To Apple’s credit, the company designed iMessage to be a cost-efficient text messaging service that bypasses carrier fees. In all fairness, iMessage has saved millions of dollars in SMS bills for customers worldwide. However, the product was (and still is) advertised as issue-free when, in reality, it isn’t.
