14 DAY TRIAL // The iPhone has been out for a month now and judging by what has happened so far with Apple's other similar products it was high time for the company to be slapped with a class lawsuit. While most such suits would be something a company would worry about, this latest one is absurd, even by the standards of other Apple class lawsuits.
Filed by Jose Trujillo in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, the suit claims that the iPhone's battery can only be charged for 300 cycles before needing to be replaced and that he wasn't made aware that the battery was soldered inside of the unit. Among the relief sought by Trujillo is certification of the class-action suit, and charges brought against Apple for violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, as well as "actual, compensatory, and punitive damages."
Anyone that has been keeping a breast of information about the iPhone would find the suit amusing. Apple clearly stated, before the launch of the iPhone that "a properly maintained iPhone battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 400 full charge and discharge cycles." Considering that the device has been out for only a month, there is simply no way that the 300 cycles claimed by the suit took place under normal circumstances. If you do the math, it comes down to 10 charge cycles per day and considering Apple's official numbers for the life of the battery and the duration of the recharge cycle, that simply isn't possible.
As for the matter of the soldered battery, Apple clearly disclosed before the iPhone release that the battery was not user-replaceable. It even launched a $86 battery replacement program for the iPhone, specifically because the battery could not be replaced by the user. The fact that the battery is soldered or not is of little importance, as the company clearly stated that the user would not be able to replace it.
So far Apple has not made any comment on the lawsuit, possibly because they are still laughing too hard.