Judge tosses "iBrick" lawsuit over iOS 4 slowing iPhone 3G

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
A California woman seeking a class action lawsuit against Apple after being dissatisfied with her iPhone 3G following an update to iOS 4 has had her case thrown out by the judge evaluating the complaint.



Bianca Wofford of San Diego had sued Apple in October 2010, seeking $5,000 in damages for each affected user, claiming that the company had made false statements regarding the benefits of iOS 4 and complaining that the update had instead "rendered the iPhone 3G devices virtually unusable, constantly slowed, crashed or frozen."



Wofford's lawsuit contended that Apple prevented iPhone 3G users upgrading to iOS 4 from downgrading back to iOS 3, purportedly to force them into purchasing the newer iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4. According to the suit, the plaintiff's iPhone has gone from 99 percent reliability to "about 20 percent functionality" because of the iOS 4 upgrade.



However, Judge Anthony J. Battaglia ruled this week that because iOS 4 was free update, it did not amount to a "sale or lease" regulated under California's Consumer Legal Remedy Act.



The judge noted, "the Plaintiffs’ original purchase of the iPhone is a separate transaction from their free upgrade of the iPhone’s operating system, which occurred about a year later. The iPhone’s software upgrade was not intended to result in a 'sale or lease' because it was provided free of charge."



The judge also ruled that the update did not quality as a "good or service" and therefore dismissed Wafford's related claims alleging false advertising and deceptive business practices.



Three months before Wofford's claim was filed, Apple told the Wall Street Journal it was investigating performance issues with iPhone 3G running iOS 4, and just over a month later, Steve Jobs announced an iOS 4.1 update designed to address, among other things, iPhone 3G performance issues.







Apple's iPhone 3G, first released in July 2008, currently runs iOS 4.2.1, an update released nearly two and a half years after the phone first went on sale. Apple's latest iOS 5 runs only on the iPhone 3GS or newer models. Few alternative mobile platforms release updates for their devices for more than a year.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 59
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    I love it when stories include pictures of Steve.
  • Reply 2 of 59
    The iOS update is not a "good or service?" This passes for sound legal reasoning these days?
  • Reply 3 of 59
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Good. Now disbar the scumbag attorney for wasting everyone's time and money on a frivolous lawsuit.
  • Reply 4 of 59
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Wofford's lawsuit contended that Apple prevented iPhone 3G users upgrading to iOS 4 from downgrading back to iOS 3, purportedly to force them into purchasing the newer iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4.



    If Apple really wanted to stick it to the 3G users all they had to do was not offer an update instead of doing some Doctor Claw evil villian crap by rendering a certain percentage of 3G device unusable. MWHAHAhahahahaha? Sometimes I wish they would just let their old products languish so people can have something real yo bitch and moan amount over this invented crap.
  • Reply 5 of 59
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Maybe why Siri is not available on i4. Just barely enough power to run it but marginally close to unacceptable performance. It is better to err on the side of cautiousness rather than to risk having a bunch of dissatisfied users.
  • Reply 6 of 59
    I would hope Congress takes a look at tort reform. It's these frivolous lawsuits, in part, that drag our economy down. IMO, this woman should have to pay for all court and lawyer fees involved in her junk lawsuit. Tort reform doesn't mean stopping a real grievance but making sure penalties are enforced in cases like these.
  • Reply 7 of 59
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    Maybe why Siri is not available on i4. Just barely enough power to run it but marginally close to unacceptable performance. It is better to err on the side of cautiousness rather than to risk having a bunch of dissatisfied users.



    I think there is some potential truth to that scenario as Siri does work differently as a part of the OS than as a standalone app, and the HW is clearly different between the 3GS and 4 from the 4S, but I think the most likely reason is their back-end's ability to handle the load.



    Also, while I think it's unlikely at this point they will port Siri to older devices when their sales are likely to grow fast enough to keep Apple's Siri back-end team busy, I also wouldn't be surprised as there is a lot of dat mining to be had, especially in countries outside the US where having older phones in a much smaller country could definitely help with their ability to make the service more accurate and useful.
  • Reply 8 of 59
    5k damages? Lol



    For a 200$ device...
  • Reply 9 of 59
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    Yup, it's a free update. Update at your own risk.



    But 4.0 (and the final 4.3) did make the 3G slow as mollasses.
  • Reply 10 of 59
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ljocampo View Post


    I would hope Congress takes a look at tort reform. It's these frivolous lawsuits, in part, that drag our economy down. IMO, this woman should have to pay for all court and lawyer fees involved in her junk lawsuit. Tort reform doesn't mean stopping a real grievance but making sure penalties are enforced in cases like these.



    Sorry, am I missing something here? The system worked just like it should. She filed a bs claim and it was dealt with accordingly.
  • Reply 11 of 59
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Andysol View Post


    Yup, it's a free update. Update at your own risk.



    But 4.0 (and the final 4.3) did make the 3G slow as mollasses.



    4.0 was nearly unusable. 4.1 was what 3G users should have got from the get-go... slower than 3.x but what you'd expect, given the hardware limitations. I think the last it got was 4.2.x though.
  • Reply 12 of 59
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Andysol View Post


    Yup, it's a free update. Update at your own risk.



    But 4.0 (and the final 4.3) did make the 3G slow as mollasses.



    Based on numerous reports I never did upgrade my old 3G to iOS 4.0+. The lawsuit was legit, IMHO. Especially since you couldn't downgrade your OS.



    Why is that? You can never downgrade? Seems nefarious to me...
  • Reply 13 of 59
    The only way I could see this having caught traction, is if once upgraded, you were unable to downgrade to make the device usable again. Theoretically, without downgrading, you'd be out a device or at least one that didn't work in the way it was advertised.



    Question though, can you downgrade an Apple iDevice?

    (Question answered, see above poster...)



    So seems the correct solution wasn't to support the 3G, but to allow a downgrade. Simple fix really.
  • Reply 14 of 59
    The simple fact is that the software usually runs poorly on minimum spec systems, and well, the iPhone 3G was minimum spec for iOS 4. It was her choice to upgrade. Why didn't she downgrade if iOS 4 performed poorly on her phone?
  • Reply 15 of 59
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    Good call.
  • Reply 16 of 59
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by camroidv27 View Post


    The only way I could see this having caught traction, is if once upgraded, you were unable to downgrade to make the device usable again. Theoretically, you'd be out a device, or at least one that didn't work in the way it was advertised.



    Question though, can you downgrade an Apple iDevice?

    (Question answered, see above poster...)



    Apple says no. In reality, with third party tools, you can but only the iOS. There's no way to downgrade the radio firmware, which means that at some release, you could find that downgrading iOS breaks the phone functionality. (because of the mis-matched versions)
  • Reply 17 of 59
    So this means that anyone can do anything to your hardware via software, and as long as they don't charge you for it, they are not responsible for loss of functionality.



    By that same reasoning, no one can sue anybody that makes a virus or Trojan house, because



    A. They didn't charge you for it, and

    B. You chose to download it, even though you may have done so unwittingly, or had been enticed to by the claimed benefits.



    Nice⸮
  • Reply 18 of 59
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post


    Good. Now disbar the scumbag attorney for wasting everyone's time and money on a frivolous lawsuit.



    I had a 3G and iOS4 did make it pretty much unusable so this wasn't really a frivolous lawsuit. There was no easy way to downgrade and the result was I bought a new phone earlier than I would otherwise have done. iOS4 should never have been offered on the 3G.



    $5000 is way too much and is simply greed; but I do think Apple has a case to answer.
  • Reply 19 of 59
    paul94544paul94544 Posts: 1,027member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Negafox View Post


    The simple fact is that the software usually runs poorly on minimum spec systems, and well, the iPhone 3G was minimum spec for iOS 4. It was her choice to upgrade. Why didn't she downgrade if iOS 4 performed poorly on her phone?



    Yes the software ran poorly but Apple said that the older phones could run it, which turned out to be false. I was caught by this and it severley affected my phone and I could NOT go back.



    So although apple won the lawsuit I think they lost the moral argument. Personally I haven't upgraded my iPad to iOS5 yet because of my distrust of Apple. I probably will soon though.



    I wish my Mac would stop prompting me to upgrade to iOS 5 every time I connect my iPad. The fact that it does this reduces Apples argument that it is voluntary, though technically correct the constant reminder sort of infers it isn't really at all
  • Reply 20 of 59
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Flash_beezy View Post


    5k damages? Lol



    For a 200$ device...



    For pain and suffering. But mostly lawyers fees.
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