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Media (Apple) Businesses Media Apple

Attorneys Prepare iPod Class Action Lawsuit 175

Posted by pudge from the nothing-better-to-do dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Well, it was bound to happen. It looks like some lawyers are preparing to file a class action lawsuit against apple computer due to the iPod's battery problem (previously discussed here, here, and here)."
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Attorneys Prepare iPod Class Action Lawsuit More

Attorneys Prepare iPod Class Action Lawsuit

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  • Sounds like BS to me. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ITR81 ( 727140 ) on Monday December 22, 2003 @07:38PM (#7790990)
    Sounds like someone is just trying to make a quick buck off of Apple.

    What I don't understand is how do you make a class action lawsuit out of any issue where the company it's self already has something in place for consumers that have battery issue problems.

    Just sounds like a scam to me for someone looking to make a quick buck.

    • Re:Sounds like BS to me. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by TylerL82 ( 617087 ) on Monday December 22, 2003 @08:16PM (#7791276) Homepage
      What I don't understand is how do you make a class action lawsuit out of any issue where the company it's self already has something in place for consumers that have battery issue problems.

      Apple ran into the same problem with their 1st gen slot-load iMacs that had "choppy DVD playback". It was fixed in software within a few months, but still, a class-action lawsuit over a year later was filed. I guess providing a fix to the consumers isn't in the best interests of the lawyers.

      • *sigh* (Score:5, Insightful)

        by psxndc ( 105904 ) on Tuesday December 23, 2003 @02:44AM (#7792942) Journal
        Q: What do you call a lawyer without a client?

        A: Unemployed

        Lay the blame where appropriate. Lawyers are part of the problem, but not the only part. Blame the clients that hire them.

        psxndc

        • Re:*sigh* - old saying (Score:4, Funny)

          by borkus ( 179118 ) on Tuesday December 23, 2003 @12:46PM (#7795751) Homepage
          One lawyer in a small town can starve to death.

          Two lawyers in a small town can make a pretty good living.
        • It's not uncommon for law firms to start class action suits on their own. Wonder why? Law firms get something like a third of the total settlement value, and any part of the settlement unclaimed by members of the class.

          For more information, see http://www.power-of-attorneys.com/classaction_laws uit_update.htm [power-of-attorneys.com].
          • <sarcasm>
            Wow. I had no idea. It looks like a website dedicated to a completely even and unbiased look at lawyers and the rest of the legal profession. Thanks!
            </sarcasm>

            psxndc

          • A 1/3 stake of the recovery is not all that uncommon. Is it fair? Well at first blush, no, obviously not. It seems ludicrous. But think about this: if nothing is recovered, the lawyer makes nothing. You take either a contingency OR an hourly fee. Now not recovering wouldn't seem like a big deal if a lawyer had 4 cases going at once and the cases only took 2 or 3 weeks to litigate. The truth is, cases can take years to litigate with several attorneys working on them full time. The lead attorney may not look

    • Re:Sounds like BS to me. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 23, 2003 @12:04AM (#7792365)
      My original 5 gig got went from 11 hours to 45 mins over three years of constant use. Based on a tip from a friend, I just popped the back cover off, unplugged the battery, waited 5 mins and then plugged it back in. Now I am back to about 7 hours and I did not even need to re-sync any data.

      That wasn't so hard!

  • Yes, because batteries last forever..... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Dark Nexus ( 172808 ) on Monday December 22, 2003 @07:40PM (#7791022)
    Alright, so maybe they didn't use the BEST batteries. Maybe they made them proprietary so you couldn't just go replace it with a $10 or $20 one... Typical Apple. Anybody who didn't think they'd use their own format is NUTS.

    I really doubt this lawsuit will go very far. At least I hope it won't.
    • If I recall correctly, weren't the polymer batteries in the iPod first to market cutting edge technology? i.e. ounce for ounce more powerful than anything being produced at the time in consumer quantities

  • 12 months from now... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 22, 2003 @07:44PM (#7791044)
    $51.2 million for the lawyers, anyone who had the ipod battery problem gets $20 off a select ipod accessory. Way to go.

    • Re:12 months from now... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Kris_J ( 10111 ) *

      $51.2 million for the lawyers, anyone who had the ipod battery problem gets $20 off a select ipod accessory. Way to go.

      Which accessory?

      Seriously though, anyone who's ever bought a laptop knows that batteries like this have a life that's rough one half to one third of the life of the device and cost anywhere from $50 to $150 to replace. If you're going to sue anyone sue someone like Nintendo who discontinued their Gameboy Printer and the paper it prints on on the same day.

  • typical (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TomSawyer ( 100674 ) on Monday December 22, 2003 @07:45PM (#7791054) Homepage
    It seems Apple is periodically on the losing end of class action lawsuits over product standards other companies appear to get a pass on. The court remedy is usally lame for the affected consumers and at least in one case where I received an offer to join, the original problem no longer existed. I wonder how much tougher being in California makes it for them.

  • This should be interesting (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Unregistered ( 584479 ) on Monday December 22, 2003 @07:46PM (#7791061)
    So they're gonna create a class action lawsuit on the basis that batteries die and cost money to replace? This is gonna be a hard sell. And i wouldn't be supprised if apple doesn't settle.
    • There's absolutely no reason there can't be standard battery sizes that are user-servicable.

      Yes, Lithium Ion batteries can be dangerous if charged improperly, that's why you make them a different (standardized) size so they only fit Lithium Ion chargers, and you have standards for construction as far as inherent short circuit protection.

      There are plenty of other consumer items that can be dangerous if misused or abused, so the safety argument doesn't go far.

      Companies that use proprietary sizes, or much w
      • apple lets you change your own. They will also do it for you for $99. And if it used standard batteries, it would be really big. The ability to shape to fit is a big advantage (in asddition to densty) of a Li-Poly battery. And if it used AAs (the only standard ones), the battery life would suck.
      • There's absolutely no reason there can't be standard battery sizes that are user-servicable.

        Great. Go design an iPod with a foolproof user-servicable battery, maintaining the same size and weight as the current line. I'm sure Apple will be interested to see how you manage it.

        • It isn't just about apple. It's about standards for batteries.

          IEEE.... WAKE UP!

          BTW- a little door and two metal contacts would be trivial to add. You make it sounds like some impossible feat of engineering. Tiny digital cameras manage user-servicable batteries all the time.

          • Re:This should be interesting (Score:5, Insightful)

            by valmont ( 3573 ) on Monday December 22, 2003 @11:17PM (#7792164) Homepage Journal

            i call bullshit. for one, my guess is you are not an industrial designer. secondly, just because "standards" are there or emerging, or you'd wish there was a standard, has every chance, moral, and legal right to be irrelevant to Apple: if standards don't fit the bill, then fuck the standards, inferior devices can adhere to those standards and lose marketshare all they want to the sleeker iPod.

            have you even looked at the shape of the battery we're talking about? [l-f-l.com]. What trap door would accomodate that? you'd basically have to replace screws with ugly-protruding latches. change form factor? then the battery becomes bulgy and the iPod is no-longer slick and thin. i'm sure i'm barely scraping the surface. let's scrape some more though:

            Part of the appeal of the whole Apple look is that it is one solid block of metal, no rugged edges, nothing to protrude, and yes that includes NO easy-to-open little battery door. Tiny digital cameras are NOT ipods. what you call tiny is actually way fucking bigger a form factor than an iPod. But again, beyond mere technical challenges, this whole issue is also about DESIGN. read my lips. D E S I G N. Nothing, absolutely nothing about the way Apple industrially designs its products is a result of a coincidence. Users like the iPod because it is simple. There isn't a lot of shit on it that catches the eye, things to fuck with that may confuse you, make you needlessly use your brain, and/or otherwise hurt the eye.

            i've have litterally seen high-school chicks use the back of their fucking iPod as a make-up mirror. silly huh? guess what all their friends want for x-mas? Now. you wanna stick an ugly-ass trap-door to further mingle a pimple-ridden teenage chick's face? What about personalized engraved notes in the back of the iPod? If you want such note to live in an esthetically pleasing environment, while retaining all the attention, you can't have lines, holes, trap doors on the same surface. imagine a blank sheet of paper on your bed with a message in blue ink right at the center that says "thanks for last night". Now, imagine the same message written on the back of a shrivelled croissant-wrapper with the bakery's logo on it. not quite the same impact is it? it is that silly type of detailed attention to DESIGN, among many other features, that makes the iPod a truly unique consumer item. i'm sure Apple pays people to sit around all fucking day and think of the impact of silly shit like that. silly, but it works.

            now. i understand people's frustration about their battery issues but hey, from a moral standpoint, that's the kinda shit they should have thought of before buying the iPod. $100 to change a battery is NOT the end of the world. I'll gladly pay $50 to some techie on top of the cost of the battery to ensure he successfully upgrades my battery without fuckin' it up. otherwise ill just do it myself. it ain't impossible to do [l-f-l.com]. Even $100 is not a bad deal, Sony charges $100 for the rechargeable battery that fits their DSC P50 digital camera, and you don't really know you gotta buy the battery until after you buy the camera and realize that 2 AA batteries only let you take a few pictures. Unless you are like me and always read reviews [earthlink.net] of consumer products on amazon before buying. I'm not exactly seeing Sony being sued over this right now. legal foot to stand on? my ass. which brings me to my next point ...

            from a legal standpoint, Apple never said their battery would last a lifetime. in fact Apple doesn't even advertise iPod as being a lifetime device. In fact what piece of consumer electronics ever makes such claims? NONE. NOT ONE. this is why Best Buy, Good Guys, Fry's

      • Re:This should be interesting (Score:5, Insightful)

        by MalleusEBHC ( 597600 ) on Monday December 22, 2003 @09:56PM (#7791810)
        Companies that use proprietary sizes, or much worse, don't even let the user change their own battery, are asking to be sued.

        How is Apple asking to be sued? Did they advertise that the iPods had replaceable batteries? No. Did they claim that the batteries would last forever? No. Apple made a design choice to have a non-user accessible battery in order to have a smaller, sleeker design. If you don't like this design, DON'T BUY THE DAMN THING. And if you do buy it, don't bitch later like you were mislead or lied to.
        • About time someone said that. I'd mod you up if I had any points.
        • How are you supposed to know about the shortcomings in the design if you haven't purchased the product already, and if it hasn't been on the market long enough for you to hear stories from other users?

          There's a reason that trials by jury are done with a jury of one's peers. It's because not everyone in the world is as smart as you and I. People are idiots. That doesn't mean that companies have the right to take advantage of them. I'm hardly going to say I blame Apple (stupidity is the largest profit po

  • Is it really a problem? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SoCalChris ( 573049 ) on Monday December 22, 2003 @07:55PM (#7791125) Journal
    Don't ALL batteries eventually lose their ability to hold a charge? I agree that Apple should have designed the iPod so it is easier to replace them, but consumers also should have thought about things like replacing the batteries before buying an MP3 player that costs that much.

    As with almost all class action suits, the lawyers will more than likely end up being the only "winners".
    • the reason you can't just buy another batter is that the iPod's battery is a custom form-factor, this makes it more expensive, but also allows for the sleek, small size.

      The batter they use is 1) known to degrade(as all batteries are, this type esspecially) and 2) custom to make the iPod a smaller size...
      • I realize the batteries are custom for a reason, but why couldn't you buy a replacement battery that just snaps in, similar to a cell phone battery? Those are custom, and easily replacable.

        That would make sense for iPod users, unless Apple was trying to make the device disposable.
        • a clipon battery would negate the cool slick silver back of the iPod. That might sound lame, but these things look and feel very cool, and that is part of the price, to be honest. Second, the engineering may make it hard to have the battery be a clipon, for all i know. I haven't seen the guts of an iPod, but it may not easily allow for the battery to be a clipon type.

  • THANK YOU GOD! (Score:5, Funny)

    by otterpop378 ( 254386 ) on Monday December 22, 2003 @08:14PM (#7791267)
    now i can sue ford because every car my family has bought from them has broken down eventually. I'll be a millionaire!

  • Two Words (Score:5, Informative)

    by Llywelyn ( 531070 ) on Monday December 22, 2003 @08:32PM (#7791374) Homepage
    Caveat Emptor.

    They made no guarantees on battery life that I remember, its clearly stated that they use Lithium-Ion batteries, which are known to degrade, and its obvious there is no way to change that battery without extra equipment.

    I don't see the case here.

  • Yes, a lawsuit is certainly warranted... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 22, 2003 @09:06PM (#7791583)
    ...because as we all know, the iPod user manual plainly says "The battery will never, EVER die!"

    Oh, wait.

    This lawsuit needs to be thrown out of court. No settlement, no nothing. Pay to get the battery replaced, only use the iPod while it's connected to AC power, or STFU and go buy some piece of shit Rio and a pallet of AAs.

  • Once again, my response... (Score:5, Informative)

    by daveschroeder ( 516195 ) * on Monday December 22, 2003 @09:57PM (#7791813)
    ...posted to their solicitation page:

    -----

    Here are some pieces of relevant information:

    1. It is well known ALL lithium ion family batteries die after a period of time. ALL have a finite lifetime. Apple used the best battery technology available in the manufacture of the iPod.

    2. Apple provides an official method for iPod owners to obtain replacement batteries for $99, as well as extended warranty and service plans for new iPod purchases. This is available to all owners of all iPods. (This is in addition to numerous practical third party battery replacement plans and extended service plans.)

    3. The iPod was not engineered to have batteries fail prematurely, nor is there any fundamential engineering defect or deficiency with the iPod. Lithium ion batteries fail after a finite period of time, plain and simple. No specific disclosures are required for any other lithium ion product, and none should be expected of Apple. (Yes, before Apple offered a battery replacement plan, there was a big hole in their service offerings. That hole is now filled, and this whole thing is now, therefore, a non-issue. Why not start a class action investigation into lithium ion batteries in general, since that's what this is fundamentally about?)

    4. As to user-replaceability: if the iPod were designed with user-replaceable batteries, it would need to be engineered with access panels and mechanisms which would add, at a minimum, likely up to several millimeters to the thickness to the unit, as well as potentially opening up the unit to greater numbers of issues than even out-of-warranty battery failures cause. Additionally, the unit would likely be not as small and sleek as it currently is, thus making the unit much less desirable.

    5. Other best-of-breed products, such as Dell's DJ portable music player, also use non-user-replaceable lithium ion batteries. Dell has no plan or program to replace failed batteries outside of warranty at this time. Better get a class action investigation ready for Dell, too, because they'll have the same exact problems as Apple, in the same exact proportion. Lithium ion is lithium ion.

    6. The vast majority of first generation iPods, many over two years old, continue to function without issue.

    I hope you find this information valuable in your investigation, and take the time to consider the facts.

  • Laptop batteries (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Zelet ( 515452 ) on Monday December 22, 2003 @11:55PM (#7792321) Journal
    Where the hell is my class action lawsuit for my 2 dell laptop batteries that died after 13 months? Sure there is a replacement plan but it is more than $100 dollars for each battery and I have to change it myself.

    I would say that Apple $100 and they change it is a better deal.
    • You have to change your own laptop batteries?

      FOR HEAVENS SAKE MAN! SUE!

    • As the proud owner of a Dell laptop, I can assure the entire Slashdot readership that it requires a degree in mechanical engineering and computer science to slide that ergonomic, triangular-shaped "release" level 3mm to the right in order to remove the battery. It requires the strength of ten people to insert the new one into the slot that became available from the process akin to brain surgery by which the first under-performing battery was removed.

      Go easy on the guy.

  • How were they wronged? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gumbi west ( 610122 ) on Tuesday December 23, 2003 @12:42AM (#7792513) Journal
    Can someone please explain to me how owners of the iPods wronged? They bought the iPod, they used it, if it had problems while in warrenty they were fixed, then after the warenty ended, the battery died and costs a lot to replace. I can see why they were upset, but I just don't see how Apple is oging to be in legal trouble for this. How was the customer wronged?

    What jurry is going to award these whiners any money what so ever?

    • Okay.. warranty issues aside.. forget it, warranty is key here.

      A warranty is a guarantee from a manufacturer that their product will function properly for a certain period of time, and if it does not, it will be replaced (repaired, etc) free of charge.

      If the warranty expires and things start to go wrong, that's a sign that the company didn't produce a decent product. That's not a consideration here.

      The problem lies in the understanding that when you purchase a product, it's supposed to work. If a compa

  • blah (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 23, 2003 @12:59AM (#7792596)
    How is an ipod any different from a watch? I need a special tool to open one of those too.
    • Yes, but the battery for the watch is $.99, not $99.
  • pansy-ass whiners. Same with the Powerbook G3 owners that whined about X running slow until they got partial refunds.

    Do some research, buy what you want, and know that you can get battery replacements from 3rd party houses. Enough raping of Apple.

  • Apple does need a kick in the butt for batteries (Score:4, Informative)

    by Drakino ( 10965 ) on Tuesday December 23, 2003 @01:47AM (#7792772) Journal
    The new iPod is the exact opposite thing you want in engineering. A device that lasts less time on battery power. But this seems to be the general trend at Apple lately. With heavy use, I doubt the 3G iPods will have more then 4 hours battery life in two years. For an MP3 device, this is horrible.

    The Rio Karma team had a goal of getting the same battery life that the first Rio MP3 player had. And they did it, the Karma lasts around 16 hours on a charge.

    Back to Apple. I spent a decent amount of money on the new Powerbook 15 inch, only to discover it's horrible battery life. Checking the specifications, it ships with the lowest capacity battery out of their entire lineup, including the 12 inch Powerbook and iBook. See a problem with this? A bigger screen, faster processor, possibility for a second DIMM, and less battery power? With the move from the old Ti Powerbooks to the new, the battery lost 21 watt hours of power. But yet the laptop is slightly bigger and heavier.

    Hopefully a class action lawsuit about the iPod battery issue will kick them into gear about improving batteries in all their products.
    • The new iPod is the exact opposite thing you want in engineering. A device that lasts less time on battery power. But this seems to be the general trend at Apple lately.

      You seem to assume that engineer has different priorities than the customer (engineers often call "customer" something like "mindless drone" or "Joe Sixpack" etc.). On the short term, it could be true indeed, but on the long term - it's not. An engineer working for a company that does not satisfy its customers will soon be an unemployed e

  • A different angle on the matter (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Zhe Mappel ( 607548 ) on Tuesday December 23, 2003 @02:06AM (#7792841)
    Allow me to venture something other than the "Lawsuit? Bullshit!" response so prevalent here.

    From one point of view, Apple's problem is failing to be forthright about its intention to discourage battery replacement. As the Neistats' film indisputably revealed, only until a few weeks ago Apple tech support actively encouraged owners with dead batteries to buy new iPods rather than replacing the battery in their post-warranty units. Belatedly introducing a new battery replacement policy won't absolve Apple of any prior misleading marketing or other commercial behavior, if such is found by the courts to exist.

    More interesting to me is whether legal action -- or just media coverage -- spurs better iPod design. Everyone would benefit if Apple simply put the battery in a better place than under the hdd and made the case easier to open without voiding the warranty. I hear there's this guy named Ives who might be able to finagle that.

  • Sounds dumb, but... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Undercover Pillow ( 730300 ) on Tuesday December 23, 2003 @02:50AM (#7792952)
    I could definitely see some compensation for people that were forced to replace their batteries (or iPods) prior to Apple's $99 replacement policy. And that doesn't seem totally unreasonable.

  • Worth looking at similarities to the Palm V? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Angostura ( 703910 ) on Tuesday December 23, 2003 @06:29AM (#7793455)
    The iPod case reminds me a lot the similar questions and arguments when Palm bought out the original Palm V. Until, then of course, Palms had used good old AAA batteries, and there were all kinds of concerns voiced over the fact that the V's LiON batteries would 1. eventually degrade in performance 2. The only way to get into a Palm V involved using a hair dryer to melt the case's glue. Palm, of course gave no up-front warnings abou tthis when you bought the device. Now I know that the parallels are not exact, however it would be interesting to go back and see if there were any similar class action suits levelled against Palm, and to see how they fared. For what it's worth, my Palm V; bought in 1999 is still bhaving fine, with daily use and no noticeable reduction in battery life.

    • Don't rechargeable electric razors have the same problem?

      SoniCare toothbrushes definitely do, check out their policy [sonicare.com]. They use NiCd batteries, and their page on battery replacement says that when the batteries die, break the toothbrush base in half and remove the batteries for proper recycling before throwing the rest away! It's a good thing you can't make movies with a toothbrush or the Neistat brothers [ipodsdirtysecret.com] would be all over this.

  • imagine the iPod wasn't an apple product (Score:4, Interesting)

    by misterpies ( 632880 ) on Tuesday December 23, 2003 @06:44AM (#7793488)
    I love Apple products in general but please...there is no way that most consumers would ever regard having to pay $99 to replace a battery in a $400 gizmo after 18 months as being reasonable.

    How many of those defending Apple would be defening, say, Archos if there was a similar problem with one of its players? How many slashdotters would be supporting Microsoft if a fault in the Xbox meant it needed even a $20 repair after 18 months?

    And there's no question that it would be possible to design an iPod-sized player with an easily removable battery. Hell, you can now buy a combined phone-radio-mp3 player about the same size as an iPod, with a removable battery. OK, so you might have to say goodbye to the hermetically-sealed look - but call me old fashioned for believing form should follow function.

    Anyway, I predict that within 2 years, unless Apple moves into the phone market, the iPod will be dead. It won't be long until Nokia or Sony brings out a phone with gigabyte MP3 storage, and since the number of mobile phone users massively outnumbers the number of uers of portable MP3 players, it will only take a small proportion of the former to upgrade to the new phones for them to form the dominant market.
    • Anyway, I predict that within 2 years, unless Apple moves into the phone market, the iPod will be dead. It won't be long until Nokia or Sony brings out a phone with gigabyte MP3 storage...

      Jesus Christ, let it fucking go. Just because you have a hard-on for the all-in-one uber-gadget doesn't mean the rest of us do. I *like* having my cellphone separate from my PDA, MP3 player, Gameboy Advance SP, etc. Why? Because I can leave it at home and not have the ass-clowns from the office calling me while I'm o

  • the fine print (Score:2, Interesting)

    by CameronWolf ( 676326 )
    the fine print at the bottom of the page reads "this web site and its contents might be considered advertising under your state's laws" that about somes it up I'd say

  • Its not a three year battery (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bdsesq ( 515351 ) on Tuesday December 23, 2003 @08:37AM (#7793800)
    Batteries are not designed to have a life in YEARS. Their life is measured in RECHARGE CYCLES. Once the engineers know how the device is supposed to be used someone then figures out how often it is expected to be recharded and converts that into days/months/years.

    I believe the battery in question is rated for 500 charge cycles. If you charge it twice a day then it will only last about eight months. If you charge it every two days then it will last just about three years.

    If you drain the battery 20% and then recharge it you have used one of the battery's recharge cycles.

    This is the main reason why normal batteries last longer for some people that for others.

  • Consumerism.. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by phelix_da_kat ( 714601 )
    The way i understnd it is that most manufacturers build products that just about outlast their designated warranties. (For example, it does feel like I buy a new MD player every year).. At the same time, one of the reasons I bought a Apple PB and a pod was their generous warranty provisons. I gather you can totally abuse your hardware and they happily fix/replace it for you while it is in warranty. So if your pod fails after the warranty then you just buy a replacement battery for $50-100. I know this i

  • Industrial Design vs. Customer Expectation (Score:3, Interesting)

    by automandc ( 196618 ) * on Tuesday December 23, 2003 @10:33AM (#7794582)
    I don't own an iPod, and haven't examined all the details of the case, but here is a point that I haven't seen made yet.

    Why did Apple choose to design the iPod without a user accessible battery compartment?

    Obviously, Apple is a company that spends a lot of time and money on industrial design - it is one of their selling points, and one of the reasons they are so well liked. However, in achieving the particular design of the iPod, they had to make certain design choices relating to the package. A decision was made at some point to eliminate a user-accessible battery compartment. We can't say for sure why this decision was made, but it is a fair speculation (at this point), that it was part of a comprimise for size and weight (and perhaps durability). Other companies have chosen differently (see, e.g., Creative's Nomad Zen players which are slightly larger than the iPod, not as elegant, but have an easily accessible battery).

    When companies make design choices that compromise one feature for another, they run the risk that they will later be found to have been unreasonable, or made the wrong choice. However the criteria that they are judged by is not purely public opinion. Apple had a right to choose size and weight over battery replaceability - the only problem would be if they fraudulently masked that decision (or the implications of it) from the public. An extreme example would be the Ford Pinto: Ford chose to put the gas tank outside the frame for cost/size/weight reasons with the specific knowledge that it would comprimise safety. Ford was found liable in the Pinto case not because they designed a bad car, but because they knowingly compromised safety for cost/size/weight on the premise that the lawsuits would be cheaper than changing the design - a premise that proved untrue when the jury (a facsimile of "the public") found that to have been an unreasonable choice.

    At the end of the day, the Apple case should turn on what decisions and compromises Apple made, and whether they were entitled to make them. Since safety isn't really an issue here, I would think that there is almost unlimited freedom on Apple's part in the design as long as they didn't misrepresent the product.

    Unfortunately, the problem with class actions today is that they are essentially sanctioned blackmail. The attorneys bring these suits for their own sake - these firms do nothing but bring class actions, many of dubious merit - with the knowledge that it will be ultimately cheaper for Apple to settle the case than to litigate it. The lawyers walk away with $millions and the consumers (the supposed victims) will get some token (like one free download from iTunes). It is a sad fact that the class action system is broken.

    • The problem is one of human greed. I've thrown class action invitations against my phone company, my mortgage broker, my insurance company and several others, into the trash, and I've had people tell me I'm nuts for passing up on "free money."

      The truth is, joining the suits would have meant maybe another $20 - $50 in my pocket, but the only way you can bring a class action is if you get enough "plaintiffs" to join in. I would prefer that these suits not happen, because they will ultimately mean I'll be pa

  • Witness the powers of the stupid and ignorant.

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