14 DAY TRIAL // If there’s one thing that gets the entire world talking it’s an Apple blunder. Because the company has set its own bar so high even the tiniest mistake they make ends up looking like a crime after the media has had its say.
But when it comes to the iMessage flaw that prevents regular texts from going in and out of a phone, there’s not much you can say in Apple’s defense. The Cupertino giant took its first real steps to address the situation years after the first reports trickled in.
Apple to face Judge Lucyt Koh yet again
At least one customer, Adrienne Moore, has been so affected by the iMessage curse that she decided to take Apple to court and have the company answer for its actions. Or, in this case, lack of action.
Presiding over the case will be Judge Lucy Koh, who previously favored Apple in its epic legal spat with Samsung. This time around, Koh has sided with the plaintiff (so far) and is asking the iPhone maker to supply evidence that it has done no intentional harm.
Coincidentally or not, Apple recently released a web tool to allow people to fix the problem on their own. The move was regarded as an admission that the issue was still alive and kicking, perhaps even spawning the very lawsuit we’re discussing here.
In any case, the suit has the potential to reach class action status if more affected customers decide to jump in. Safe to say that Apple could be in serious trouble over this.
The media does its bit
Naturally, the suit got everyone talking. Almost every media outlet you’ve heard of, including non-tech publications, are taking aim at the company for failing to address an issue that had been known by everyone for years.
Here are some takes from random publications:
PatentlyApple: “In context, it's interesting to note that over the weekend Apple ‘quietly released’ a web tool to deregister phone numbers from iMessage. Perhaps that was too little too late.”
FindLaw.com: “Unfortunately for Apple, the tool came a bit too late to satisfy Adrienne Moore, the plaintiff who switched from an iPhone 4 to a Samsung Galaxy S5, allegedly losing an unspecified number of messages in the process.”
iDownloadBlog: “Judge Koh’s decision comes, coincidentally, two days after Apple released a new tool to allow ex-iPhone users to deregister their numbers from iMessage. Prior to the launch, the company had offered very little public on what was a widely known and well documented issue.”
PCWorld: “On Monday evening, Judge Lucy Koh said she was convinced that by failing to deliver text messages, Apple might have deprived her of a service she had paid Verizon Wireless to receive. Koh dismissed two of Moore’s claims under competition law, but said the third could go ahead.”
Wired: “It’s a problem that goes beyond inconvenience—the perception of unresponsiveness has cost some former iOS users time, money, and respect professionally.”
The Verge: “The legal charges come days after Apple finally released a web tool to deregister phone numbers from iMessage, easing the transition from iOS to rival devices.”
Not all that glitters is gold
It’s hard not to notice that most media reports see the situation in about the same way: basically, Apple was lazy to act. In its defending statement, the company did say something about the technicalities behind the situation, but that doesn’t mean affected users are somehow obligated to resign themselves and face reality. After all, Apple did promise convenience and actually caused inconvenience.
But few see things as bad as The Register does. A publication whose reputation precedes it, The Reg decided to go with a headline that states “SO LONELY: Woman DARED to get rid of her iPHONE - Apple DUMPED all her TXTS.”
It then reported (emphasis ours), “Apple now faces a lawsuit after burying text messages sent to people who had the Audacity to swap their iPhones for handsets from other makers than the fruity firm. The problem - now fixed - related to the company's iMessage app.”
With its wording, The Reg seems to imply that Apple makes a habit of intentionally punishing users who decide to switch to another brand. Almost every paragraph in the article has a similar ring to it, making the report sound anti-Apple, to say the least. It isn’t clear why since, in reality, all the company has done was neglect a situation at best. In typical fashion, as some would say.
As for the third part we emphasized, the problem is actually not fixed at all. A fix is when the issue doesn’t occur anymore. As it stands, it still does, and users have to address the matter on their own.
There are other publications with similar takes on the iMessage bug, making the Cupertino giant look like it intentionally kept the issue unresolved to trap people inside its ecosystem. While it’s certainly a possibility (as offset as finding life on Neptune), it’s hard to imagine Apple risking its reputation by engaging in such cheap practices. Considering this scenario before anything else doesn’t sound like the type of reporting you’d expect from high-profile media outlets.
Here’s the gist of it
All you really need to know about Apple’s problem, as it stands, is this:
“According to Plaintiff, Apple knew about the undelivered messages problem, her contractual right to send and receive text messages, and still knowingly failed to alert her,” Judge Koh said in court papers. “Accepting these allegations as true and ‘constru[ing] the pleadings in the light most favourable’ to Plaintiff, the Court concludes Plaintiff has sufficiently pled that Apple intentionally acted to disrupt or breach Plaintiff’s contract with Verizon Wireless.”
That last part is questionable, but apparently it was “sufficiently pled” to go to trial. And Apple will get to defend itself. Fair enough.
So, this is what Koh agreed Apple did bad and this is why it is getting sued. Not because it wants to lock people inside iMessage in some evil scheme devised to thwart switching to non-Apple hardware.
That’s like saying Yahoo Mail rejected incoming messages from Gmail. Never was, never will be. Companies as big as these don’t stoop so low.
