Business
Apple hit with $1+ billion lawsuit over iPhone bricking
The controversy over iPhone rages on, as it is now facing a class action lawsuit over its proprietary and forceful relationship with AT&T.
Lawyers filed the suit asking for $1.2 billion in damages because the phone is specifically locked to only allow one service provider. It is brought against Apple on behalf of Washington resident Paul Holman and Lucy Rivello, from California.
At the heart of the debate is Apple’s recent firmware update, which users are required to download. According to the suit, the iPhone works fine when an AT&T SIM card is in it, but if it is replaced by a SIM card from another wireless carrier, it will not work. A SIM card stores all the data about a customer, and is a universal medium used by AT&T, T-Mobile, and other carriers.
Last month, users began figuring out how to alter their phones to allow other SIM cards to work. Apple quashed that, though, my making users download an update to the phone’s software. It made all modified iPhones unusable.
“Apple expressly designed its software release 1.1.1 expressly to disable Third Party Apps and to disable any unlocked SIM cards, and to create technical barriers to install new Third Party Apps or to unlock the SIM cards,” allege the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Apple claimed that these “hacking” adjustments made to the phone would harm it, but the lawsuit claims that this is not true. It states Apple had no proof of any actual damage that could be done to the iPhone as a result of unlocking it to other carriers.
Holman and Rivello both claim they purchased iPhones and wanted to be able to switch service providers.
