December 3rd, 2008
Apple: Don't believe the iPhone 3G truth
Don’t believe what Apple says in its iPhone 3G advertisements, even though the company claims it’s not lying.
In a nutshell, that’s Apple’s legal response to a lawsuit alleging misleading advertising for the iPhone 3G.
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The corporation’s nine-page legal document (.pdf) is a response to a complaint filed by William Gillis, a 70-year-old San Diego resident who alleges that Apple falsely advertised the iPhone 3G by calling it “twice as fast for half the price” compared with the original handset.
Some of the 32 points that Apple makes in the rebuttal say that the company was being truthful — but one paragraph says, in effect, that anyone who believes what the company says in its ads is what Wired Gadget Lab’s Brian X. Chen calls “a fool.”
“Plaintiff’s claims, and those of the purported class, are barred by the fact that the alleged deceptive statements were such that no reasonable person in Plaintiff’s position could have reasonably relied on or misunderstood Apple’s statements as claims of fact.”
First, some background: Gillis was one of several dissatisfied iPhone 3G customers who filed lawsuits alleging Apple falsely advertised the handset’s performance. The lawsuits address a wide range of complaints; complaints allege frequently dropped calls, sluggish broadband speeds and the inability to stay on 3G before getting kicked to the slower EDGE network.
Apple has already moved to dismiss some of the suits, but Gillis’ remains a thorn in its side.
Apple has acknowledged the iPhone 3G’s network issues in the past and promised the problems would be addressed with future software updates. The most recent firmware version, iPhone 2.2, seems to be helping the issue of frequent dropped calls. Reception, on the other hand, is another story.
Apple hasn’t been so lucky in U.K. courtrooms, though. The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority banned two iPhone 3G advertisements, deeming them misleading for exaggerating the speeds and internet capabilities of the handset.
Think Gillis’ complaint has legs? Tell us your iPhone 3G woes in TalkBack.
Andrew J. Nusca is an associate editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet.
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