Gadget & Tech News

Apple, AT&T served with class action suit over iPhone locking practices

October 10th, 2007 | Category: Mobile Technology

It goes without saying that if you sell enough of pretty much anything, you’re going to eventually get someone riled up over a missing feature, a broken feature, or in this case, an unwanted feature — and that someone might just happen to know a lawyer (or worse yet, be one). The latest class action suit against Apple and AT&T over the iPhone, filed in California, reads like a what’s-what of complaints we’ve heard since before the phone was even released: the carrier shouldn’t be charging an early termination fee for a phone that isn’t subsidized, its international roaming plan is a total ripoff compared to a prepaid SIM that you’d normally buy to use with an unlocked handset, and most notably, that neither AT&T nor Apple have the right to purposefully damage (via firmware update) or void the warranty of a “lawfully” unlocked iPhone. All told, the suit rocks the two companies with a grand total of six counts — alleging violations of a garden variety of state and federal laws — each asking for between $200 and $600 million in cold, hard cash. Anyone who’s bought an iPhone and “sustained damages” from it is entitled to participate, so put on your lawyerin’ pants and enjoy the courtroom action.