Apple is still under the whip for slowing its phones down as their batteries degraded. It is not the act that is the problem but how Apple was not transparent about it. Business Day reports lawyers have a different take on this, and ‘Apple faces a slew of lawsuits’.
How Apple is Under the Whip from Lawyers
Eight separate lawsuits claim Apple ‘defrauded iPhone users by slowing devices without warning to compensate for poor battery performance’ according to Business Day. While we are unable to confirm this, we thought the discussion was sufficiently interesting to justify a separate post.
We decline to take sides of this, and believe Apple has a right to respond. However we note attorney Jeffrey Fazio is leading the charge. He represented plaintiffs in the 2013 $53m settlement over iPhone warranty claims. The nub of the argument appears to be that Apple should have ‘replaced the battery instead’.
Far from an Open and Shut Case for Plaintiffs
Apple is under the whip in eight court cases for sure, but this one will need a strong argument to settle. Chris Hoofnagle, faculty director for law and technology at Berkley Center has a different take.
He believes Apple may not have done wrong because, “We still haven’t come to consumer protection norms around aging products.” Citing a device with a security flaw he adds, “The ethical approach could include degrading or even disabling functionality.”
We move in interesting times indeed. Did slowing phones down convince consumers to purchase a new phone when a battery could have cost a small portion of the price? Apple is under the whip indeed, but we don’t believe the plaintiffs proved their case yet.
The courts must decide whether ‘Apple defrauded iPhone users by slowing devices without warning to compensate for poor battery performance,’ as some plaintiffs claim. We will keep an open mind on this and keep you up to date..
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