Apple, AT&T face yet another iPhone MMS lawsuit
(Credit:
Apple)
For at least the third time this month, Apple and AT&T are being sued by a consumer complaining of being duped into believing that multimedia messaging, or MMS, was already available on the iPhone.
Filed in the Northern District of Ohio on Wednesday (PDF hosted by Wired), plaintiff Deborah Carr says Apple and AT&T misled the public into believing that the iPhone 3GS was capable of sending and receiving MMS messages on the device. The lawsuit claims that Apple's "print and video advertisements...on television, the Internet, the radio, newspapers, and direct mailers" all mention the availability of MMS on the device.
Two similar cases--one in Illinois and another in Louisiana--were also filed against the companies in August.
According to the latest lawsuit, first reported by InformationWeek, customers were told that MMS would be enabled on June 17, 2009, when iPhone OS 3.0 was released.
That seems rather strange, considering that Apple and AT&T announced on June 8, during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote that MMS would not be available until later in the summer. AT&T confirmed that time frame to Wired on Friday.
"We absolutely will offer MMS on iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G with 3.0 upgrades in late summer, once we complete some system upgrades that will ensure our customers have the best experience with MMS," an AT&T representative said in a statement cited by Wired.
Carr's lawsuit does admit that Apple has a notice on its Web site explaining that support for MMS would be available from AT&T in late summer. However, the suit characterizes the note as a "mouseprint disclaimer," referring to the small print.
Technically, Apple has enabled MMS in iPhone OS 3.0. The proof is that 29 carriers around the world activated MMS on the iPhone when the new operating system was released on June 17. It's not available in the United States because AT&T isn't ready to activate it yet, which was disclosed on June 8.
Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to record music using a Macintosh. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. He currently runs The Loop. You can follow him on Twitter @jdalrymple. 
You apparently missed the sentence "... 29 carriers around the world activated MMS on the iPhone when the new operating system was released on June 17."
This has nothing to do with Apple. The lack of MMS on U.S. iPhones is entirely AT&T's fault.
I don't mean to ***** and moan, but these links with randomly generated username/password that is a pain in the ass to copy/paste get on my damn nerves. It's embarrassing to have such a cool ass phone that can't even do the simplest of tasks that other phones do.
www.rif.org
funny ha ha. : /
These lottery ticket lawsuits are ridiculous. We need to institute the system where loser pays the other guy's court costs for frivolous crap like this.
"Getting a law suite filed against you and actually getting sued are two different things".
A lawsuit filed against you is the 1st step to being sued. The lawsuit notice clearly says "You have been sued". When the lawsuit is served, you are sued.
This would be true....except Apple clearly stated in their public announcement (which was covered by a variety of news sources) that MMS would NOT be available at the launch....so there was no false advertising.
Frankly I like this issue, crap like this will start to unravel AT$T's exclusive contract if they **** Apple off.
Its terms of use (which you agreed to when signing up to post) also specifically prohibit complaints, rants, speculation on unreleased products and Apple business policy.
"So much for free discussion on an Apple moderated board."
Free speech does not apply. The forum is entirely owned and run by Apple. They make the rules on what is acceptable or not. Just like every other forum out there. Just as you would not permit visitors to your home to behave in an insulting way towards yourself or other family members.
I love my iPhone. It has, for the most part, been a great phone. I took AT&T because it was my ONLY choice. I have thought about unlocking the phone and changing carriers but them I am using an unsupported phone for business and I won't do that. I like my iPhone enough that I am willing to put up with the poor customer service and lower grade of cell reception that AT&T provides in Chicago. Just because I make that choice does not mean I have to shut up and pretend like all is great. As a paying customer who spends a minimum of $159 a month and sometimes more than $500 when on international trips I have paid for my right to say I am not happy with the service and the quality I receive.
Just wait and see what he'll do to help the opressive Chinese government censor apps just to make a quick buck.
MMS is a extremely popular service.
You couldn't come up with something better than monsterlame?
It is a quicker form of communication than email because it usually takes time before someone checks their email inbox but SMS is usually seen immediately.
It is cheaper than a phone call and often very convenient. It has become a standard means of communication with my staff all of whom have a mobile but not all of them have a computer or a phone that supports email.
It is romantic for messages with lover/wife. Quite a lot of flirty messages are very appropriate via SMS, perfect for simple question like "free for a coffee now?".
It is discrete. An entire conversation can occur when in a meeting or at a concert without disturbing surrounding people.
MMS is great if you are in a shop and unsure of what exactly your wife wants. As example there is a choice of shape or color. MMS a photo with a question mark and get an instant reply. A photo is always easier than a phone description for someone to understand.
There are lots of reasons why people around the world have, since the late 1990's considered both SMS and MMS as being an important standard feature for a phone. It seems remarkable to non-Americans that the country that invented the mobile phone is struggling with such basic technology this late in the game and AT&T needs to hang its head in shame. There is no excuse for them to have been unable to provide iPhone MMS from the day the 3G S was available like it was in other developed countries.
what the hell are you talking about? that is called marketing strategy, and MS does, it, Intel does it, IBM does it, AMD does it, Nvidia does it, hell, every tech company under the sun does it. If they offer the best model, who is going to buy the crappy one? How are they going to shaft consumers by selling them almost similar products again and again? It is not just Apple, all of them do it. I remember Nvidia selling the exact same graphics card with different names and different driver cd, twice!! one for 200 bucks, one for 1500!!! Intel adds hardware and/or software limitations to their same model cpu's and sell them as different models. Hell, cars have electronic speed and rev limitations.
And everything aside, Apple DID ENABLE mms on all iphones, it's AT&T that needs to send iPhones the settings thru their network and enable the feature.
Frankly, I couldn't care less about the mms feature, seriously guys, almost all phones now have email features, use it!
I WANT MY FRIKIN' TETHERING FOR **** SAKE!!! there is only one more day to go until august is over and we are still waiting for the dipshits in ATT to enable these features.. it has been almost 3 months now, and the fat **** in ATT still have to get off their ***** and get their "network" ready
I am getting off ATT as soon as verizon gets the deal, i don't care if i have to pay ETF or anything, i'll be just happy not to use ATT anymore.
ps. 3gs also has an improved hspda chip that allows 7.2 mbps downloads, yet ATT barely supports 1.8 mbps, are you guys gonna sue apple because of that too? lame
This is late summer, in one sense it ends on Labor day, other's consider Sept 22nd end of summer. Either way the clock is ticking.
I think these suits should go forward and that AT&T gets slapped big fines. They are selectively punishing iPhone customers with bogus statements.
Apple really needs to wake up and negotiate contracts with other major cell carriers, before their reputation is completely destroyed by this Microsoft based company named AT&T.
ITS NOT ALL ABOUT YOU
They need to give us an explanation AND a a date when it will be available. They OWE us that much.
- by renegade600 August 30, 2009 1:19 AM PDT
- In addition to this lawsuit maybe there should be one about forcing users who mostly use wifi to purchase the data package. Maybe user who does not live near any 3g network should sue because they are not getting the advantages of a 3g network.
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