Class-Action Suit Filed Against Apple 125
AC writes "A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Apple. The plaintiffs allege that Apple failed to fully honor service contracts and warranties, didn't get repair and service businesses properly licensed, stole trade secrets from its own resellers, and sold used computer equipment as new."
Wait... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wait... (Score:5, Informative)
The lawyers are also already representing several aggrieved current and former Apple-authorized resellers who have sued the company in separate actions.
Re:Wait... (Score:1)
Re:Wait... (Score:3, Interesting)
A few days ago, she spilled coffee on it, and some of the keys stopped working. I told her to run it through the dishwasher and let it dry for a day or two, which she did, and while most of the keys came back, not all did.
She called the Apple store, explained what happened, and asked if the Genius Bar could
Re:Wait... (Score:1)
A few years back I worked for an Apple Reseller. One of my customers had a 17" display that was going to go soon. He told me what it was doing, and occasionally the video would wobble. If he cycled the power it would be fine again. I advised him that NOW was the time to get the Applecare Extended warranty. He agreed and purchased
Re:Wait... (Score:2)
Re:Wait... (Score:4, Interesting)
Not only did they repair it for me, but when there were problems with the repair which caused the iBook to go back and forth between here and Cupertino one time too many, they decided (without me even asking) that enough was enough, and simply exchanged it for the G4 iBook which I'm typing this on right now.
Best. Warranty. Service. Ever.
Re:Wait... (Score:2, Informative)
I too have a similar experience to share. I had bought on of the original TiBooks (the 400MHz ones), and for some reason or another, had frequent problems with it. Well, I didn't buy the warranty at first which I thought was going to bite me in the ass whenever I did have another problem with it (Most of my problems were related to the optical drive going out).
Well, they ended up still treating it still as a warranty repair even though it was out of warranty, but instead of repairing it yet again since I
Re:Wait... (Score:1)
1. Electronic components, especially those which are transistor-based, often cost less than the skilled labor costs of repairing them.
2. It's often cheaper to offer the latest tech as replacement parts than it is to keep an inventory of older components around in a warehouse.
As happy I am with Apple for handling things this way, I gotta give credit where credit is due: The many companies over the
Question on Tell on apple (Score:5, Interesting)
TellOnApple.org suggests Apple shareholders demand Apple Computer answer these questions at its upcoming shareholders meeting on April 22, 2004 in Cupertino, California:
1. Is Apple Computer the subject of any governmental probes or criminal investigations?
2. Do the company owned retail stores pay the same price for Apple products as independent Apple resellers when purchasing the same products directly from Apple?
3. Do the uncovered invoices show what the company owned retail stores actually pay for Apple products? Do the company owned retail stores actually pay $2.70 for Apple Care Extended Warranties while most resellers pay approximately $118 to $244 for the same product?
4. Are the company owned retail stores actually profitable if they paid the same price for Apple products as independent Apple resellers?
5. Is Apple misleading shareholders as to the company owned retail stores profitability?
6. Apple has always stated that there was a level playing field between the company owned retail stores and the independent Apple resellers. How does Apple explain the pricing, promotions, and allocation discrepancies between the two?
7. Have Apple sales at the independent Apple resellers increased or decreased year over year? If they have decreased, is Apple simply moving sales from the independent Apple resellers to Apple direct?
8. Five down, 95 to go was Apple's main reason for opening the company owned retail stores. "Apple has about 5 percent market share," Jobs said in 2001. He noted that most of the other 95 percent of computer buyers "don't even consider us." Why has Apple's marketshare decreased instead of growing? And what benefit is there to Apple to eliminate the independent Apple resellers?
9. Has Apple ever intended to put the independent Apple resellers out of business? Would this bring any benefit to Apple or Apple's customers? Is there a future for independent Apple resellers?
10. When Apple first opened its retail stores, it publicly recognized that working with its existing lineup of independent resellers would be a priority. Why has this changed?
11. In Apple's ethics document posted on their website, Apple states, "In some cases, the law may also view our resellers as our competitors when we are actually competing for the same types of customers in the marketplace." Why is Apple competing against their independent resellers? Why is Apple offering special prices to consumers, which can be lower than the independent resellers cost?
Re:Question on Tell on apple (Score:5, Insightful)
This question is idiotic. By definition, a store is competing with all other stores that try to sell the same things to the same people. A legitimate question would be "Why does Apple run its own retail stores?" to which the obvious answer is: because they make money. Somehow, I'm having difficulty envisioning the shareholder outrage.
Re:Question on Tell on apple (Score:2)
Re:Question on Tell on apple (Score:2)
Guess this means it's time to take the wraps off the iTimeMachine...
Re:Question on Tell on apple (Score:2)
No. All the lawyers would need to do is read Apple's public filings with the SEC in order to learn about this issue.
8. Five down, 95 to go was Apple's main reason for opening the company owned retail stores. "Apple has about 5 percent market
Re:Question on Tell on apple (Score:4, Insightful)
5. Is Apple misleading shareholders as to the company owned retail stores profitability?
I didn't even catch this the first time:
So my question is this, where the heck do the complainants think all of Apple's profits are coming from? The online stores? Their online sales are not that big a portion of sales. Education sales? They deal with huge orders, but the margins are razor thin. I think if the Apple stores were run at a loss, this would show up somewhere.
Now they do write off part of the cost of running the big "flag ship" stores as a company-wide marketing expense, and without that the few biggest stores might show losses. This is legitimate in that those stores are used heavily as PR, and subject to legitimate differences of opinion over how much of the cost should be so attributed, and could possibly be abused. But it doesn't change the fundamental question: if resellers are being driven out of business and the Apple Stores are being run at a loss, where is all that profit coming from???
Re:Wait... (Score:2)
An actual question... (Score:4, Insightful)
How is this different, from, say, Mattel making small doll stores pay more for Barbies than Wal-Mart or Target, resulting in the big chains being able to sell the dolls for less than the independent doll stores are paying Mattel? I mean, neither practice seems particularly nice, but if one is legal shouldn't the other be?
Re:An actual question... (Score:5, Interesting)
Truth be told, if the "apple zealot" level on Slashdot is any indcator, Apple didn't have any users before the iMac G5 (-;
Re:An actual question... (Score:2)
The only new greivence I read in this article is they are now saying Apple sold used computers as new. This would be realllly sleezy, but I'd have to see some proof. The Tell on Apple [tellonapple.org] guys were wronged, but they are also pretty vengeful about it.
It's kind of sad to see these old Mac shops close, but I don't think Apple has done anything wrong with respect to their customers.
Re:An actual question... (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:An actual question... (Score:2, Insightful)
Now most of the 'low' prices for the iPod result from storewide rebates and coupons. But there's a reason there are never 'sales' on Apple merchandise.
Re:An actual question... (Score:2, Insightful)
Since Apple is in competition with resellers, setting a fixed price would constitute price fixing.
Re:An actual question... (Score:1)
Re:An actual question... (Score:2)
Somehow, Amazon gets away with ignoring it.
They also have a very high wholesale price that they charge most dealers, so most dealers are not able to give any discounts below the minimum advertised price.
And n
Re:An actual question... (Score:2)
Companies can often find way around it. Limiting advertising dollars given to a retailer for instance, etc.
It also means a company with decent lawyers can find enough wriggle room to advertisze, and sell items at whatever price they want.
The little guy without the lawyers tends to get screwed, and can least afford to lose advertising dollars.
Re:An actual question... (Score:2, Interesting)
This isn't what Apple does...it just sells its products at such high wholesale costs that resellers can't possibly sell below "Suggested" retail price and make a profit.
I don't know how it works in the USA, but in Denmark where I live, that practice is considered anti competitive and is illegal. Not that that is stopping companies like B&O from doing it anyway since it is so hard to prove them guilty of it.
Re:An actual question... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:An actual question... (Score:2)
Truthfully, I have been shopping in Indi apple stores for over 10 years in N. America and in Europe and they have been, on the whole, crap. I was in one in the Beltway about 5 years ago that was ok. My experience with apple retail has been
Our mac Indie store was great (Score:2)
But the Apple stores don't fix broken macs (they ship them out) and we did. And we did substantial onsite work including network and crossplatform stuff that I'm fairly sure they didn't do. And we were a lot bigger than any of the local Apple stores. And I believe we were t
Too bad . . . . (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Too bad . . . . (Score:2)
However, criticizing them for not growing Mac Market Share is an non-starter, because 90% of the problem is/was Apple's product lineup and positioning. Apple made the Mac a boutique computer and these guys
Re:Too bad . . . . (Score:2, Interesting)
I have never been in an Apple Store where the machines weren't in perfect working order and set up for demos. The employees can actually answer questions correctly. The stores are bright and inviting and well-stocked with a variety of Mac software and accessories.
Contrast that with CompUSA, who even after their 'store within a store' agreement with Apple, keep the Apple section in t
Re:Too bad . . . . (Score:1)
I think a lot of iPods were being sold, but many computers seemed to be sold as well.
Re:Too bad . . . . (Score:1)
As for marketshare increase, the numbers haven't shown it. However with a more retail oriented lineup like iPods and Mac Mini, I have no doubt that Apple Stores are moving a lot product.
Re:Too bad . . . . (Score:1)
Re:Too bad . . . . (Score:2)
Re:Too bad . . . . (Score:1)
They often try and sell outdates stuff to unsuspecting customers. For example apparently apart from the cosmetic differences there is no difference between a 4g and a 3g iPod. Who needs those extra MHz
I now recommend friends purchase stuff off of Apples web site. Personally I don't care if most of the resellers die, th
FTFA (Score:3, Insightful)
There are two suits, one brought on behalf of customers, the other on the behalf of the resellers. Although the two cases are related since the consumers case is based around products bought from resellers.
These are big issues, especially for all the apple zealots out there who think apple is a "kinder gentler company."
Re:FTFA (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:FTFA (Score:1)
Mind you these are names you know: Magnavox, Philips, Sony, RCA, Zenith , Speaker
Evidence? (Score:2)
Is there any evidence to support these claims?
Munney Gubbing (Score:5, Funny)
"The plaintiffs allege that Apple failed to fully honor service contracts and warranties, didn't get repair and service businesses properly licensed, stole trade secrets from its own resellers, and sold used computer equipment as new."
I other words some lawyer's trophy wife wants a new yacht.
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:2, Insightful)
In other words, It's Apple and they can do no wrong.
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:3, Insightful)
No, in other words, no one wins class action lawsuits except the lawyers involved.
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:1, Flamebait)
Exactly. Consumers are never helped by these kinds of lawsuits.
At best those who bother to take the time to write a letter will get a $25 coupon to the Apple Online Store or something equally as inane, and the lawyers on both sides will make millions.
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:2)
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:3, Interesting)
If that is the case, it is a perversion of English common law.
A tort results in a remedy, with an award pf damages to the plaintiff. It has been throughout the history of English law intended to right a civil wrong. Only in extreme cases are punative damages awarded.
Unfortunately class action law suits are generally rigged to reward lawyers, not the victims. It is gross.
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:2)
I think most people don't realize how much they need tort to stay the way it is until they are offended.
Put it this way, in order to get the money out of the company, the company needs to have wronged people for at least that amount of money. Would you rater have the nasty company have the
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:2)
Not in the slightest. In filing the suit, the lawyers take all of the risks while the members take none. As in if the case isn't won, they don't get paid. The defendant gets punished and you get some compensation, without having to do any work. You get something for nothing, and you complain because someone else got more? Just who is really being greedy here?
It's been said that the greatest tric
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:4, Interesting)
Everything you said about civil suits is bullshit. I've been sent letters inviting me into dozens of them, and while I have not signed on, I have watched what happened. In every single case, ALL OF THEM, the following was true:
1. The case was frivolous. The company in question had crappy service, but didn't do anything that was actually illegal. In many cases (such as my problem with Qwest), they had already offered partial refunds and discounts to partially make up for said screw-over.
2. The case was resolved with a settlement without going to trial.
3. Each person who signed on for the suit got some pittance (free rentals from Blockbuster, two free months of phone service from Qwest, a $50 gift certificate, etc.)
4. The lawyers pressing the case got enormous piles of money.
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:2)
5. The product or service the company who was sued now offers costs more without any improvement in quality or service, because they need to recoup their legal costs.
Class action suits hurt consumers as well as companies, and line the pockets of asshole lawyers. When you get a class action invitation letter, please, for all of our sakes, throw it in the trash.
If you really were harmed by the company in any way that really matters, sue them yourself as an individual.
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:2)
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:2)
How is that any different than a car company making cruise control a "standard" feature?
Sounds like another frivolous lawsuit to me. I mean, obviously you were not damaged by them. You willingly paid them that money for that fully loaded service, at the price they asked, even though you wanted to pay less for a more stripped-down service. Then you turned around
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:2)
It is about the same as the only mattress service in town only selling the top of the line mattress and saying that it is the base model
Look, what you may not realize is that a jurry of your peers has to agree with you for you to win a lawsuit.
Furthermore, if you really want tort reform, what you also want is big government and the big government regulation that goes with it. Tort is a very effi
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:1)
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:4, Insightful)
since when is every class action suit a BAD thing?
if people like you had your way, and with this President, you will, we would be living in asbestos houses.
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:4, Interesting)
My parents were part of a class action lawsuit for some faulty pipes in the housing development. They got about $300. Lawyers got a HELL of a lot more. Of course the lawyers had to prepare and argue the case and whatnot, but it really doesn't FEEL right when a multi-million dollar settlement makes a lawyer a million, but the leftovers distributed among thousands are barely pocket change to the actual victims.
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:2)
Secondly, it's irrelevant how much the lawyer got in total ; what's relevant is how much he got as a percentage of the total award. If the award was $1000 per person and lawyers took $700, then it's pretty unfair. If the award was $350 per person and the lawyer took $50, then it's not so unreasonable. A stockholder doesn't whine that a CEO is paid far more
uh. (Score:2)
Is the $300 better than nothing? Is the millions of dollars that the housing developers had to pay a good deterrant not to do shoddy work again? What would you rather have? No legal system? No possibilty for disputes?
law firm stuff... (Score:2)
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:2)
God if only we could. Asbestos is wonderful stuff, unbelievably useful. When recently doing some repairs on some water pipes, I happened to be lucky enough to use a small asbestos heat shield (basicaly something like a piece of cloth, not unlike a pot holder). The pipe I needed to do some welding on was less than an inch from the wood of house. Using the asbestos shield, I finished all the welding and there wasn't even a mark on teh wood that would have indicated s
Re:Munney Gubbing (Score:3, Insightful)
And what the hell does this have to do with the President?! Yeah, we all know he's pro-business, but saying he'll make you live in an abestos house? A tad much, wouldn't you say? Considering we found out abestos was bad about, oh, 20 years before he bacame President.
Reason enough... (Score:5, Interesting)
There's probably enough reason for a class action for the iBook logic board issues alone. My first iBook's logic board died before the extension pogram was introduced and Apple refused to fix it without $750 ,so I had to get rid of it. My second iBook, which I still have but don't use often, craps out every six months or so, and my third iBook (and yet I learn nothing) died four times in the first six months I had it. I called them on the third time and told them I wanted a new machine that was outside the defective serial number range, and they said I had to wait for it to die one more time. I figured I could wait a few weeks, and sure enough, two weeks after they fixed it yet again, the logic board failed. I got a brand new g4 model out of it, but that was after a total of three years, as many machines, and a total of 8 logic boards.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a total fanboy, and I want to go down on Steve Jobs just as much as any other fanboy, but after the way Apple has treated large portions of their customer base recently, they deserve whatever it is they've got coming.
This claim is patently false. (Score:2, Informative)
The standard out of warranty repair cost for an iBook is ~$300. the only way they'd charge more is if they saw signs of a spill or abuse or drop (cracked case or internal components for example).
Before you go badmouthing a company, make sure you're giving all the facts and not just trying to garner pity.
Re:This claim is patently false. (Score:2)
This was on the second time I had video problems, and before we figured out it was the Logic Board Issue. Once we did, we brought it back to the Genius Bar and told them we think it's the Logic Board Issue, and they took it with no complaints-- but the iBook recently came back without repa
Re:This claim is patently false. (Score:1, Informative)
Also, you should never accept the answer that they couldn't "replicate the problem." The video problem on that logic board is always intermittant, and very well known about. If you already took it back, fine. Next time the video gets fouled up, close the lid (without powering down) and go straight to the Apple Store and show it to them in its not-working state, then insist that it get repaired
Re:This claim is patently false. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:This claim is patently false. (Score:1)
Sometimes you get the opposite behaviour, and the thermal expansion keeps the circuit closed, and it fails when it cools off. This is the one that takes out servers that "ran for months until that power failure".
The iBook logic problem (I'm on my 3rd logic board now) is a fairly classic thermal fault; when it
Re:This claim is patently false. (Score:1)
Ok, I exaggerated, it was really $749.
Apple had (and may still have) a tiered system for repairing out-of-warranty machines.The standard out of warranty repair for an iBook was only $300 (though it's actually $349) if the repair is for the monitor only. For anything pertaining to the logic board, it was $749.
Before you go calling people liars, make sure you're not a raging dumbass.
Re:This claim is patently false. (Score:2)
Now, with the repair extension, it makes more sense to send it back to Apple yourself, because the dealers can't get the logic boards for the iBooks covered by the repair extension.
But for the iBook G4, take it to your local dealer - and buy the AppleCare. $249 is cheaper than most iBook repairs.
Re:Reason enough... (Score:4, Interesting)
As it worked out, I feel like I was made whole. But Apple has never fully acknowledged the issues with that series of computers, and to continue selling computers with the same logic boards after so many problems was just irresponsible.
Oh FUCK NO (Score:3, Funny)
I didn't need that mental image!
Re:Oh FUCK NO (Score:2)
I want to go down on Steve Jobs just as any other fatboy
Re:I've got to know.... (Score:2)
Your own what? iBook? Or PC notebook?
Re:I've got to know.... (Score:1)
Between my second and third machine, I decided I'd had enough Apple bullshit and built a PC. I threw Linux on there, and it was great, but the main software I use wasn't available on Linux and there were no viable alternatives, so I had to install Windows
After four days of constantly battling viruses, broken update link on MS's site, automatic shutdowns and the inability to get my soundcard to make a peep, I decided that this was not what I wanted in a computing experience and switched back to Apple. At le
Not sure which is worse... (Score:3, Insightful)
"If someone is more successful than me, it is their fault and I will sue them"
In fact
Of course Apple isn't perfect like I say, but I have a hard time believing in this basis of this issue.
Re:Not sure which is worse... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Not sure which is worse... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Not sure which is worse... (Score:2)
Re:Not sure which is worse... (Score:2, Insightful)
That's the problem with any attepts at "tort reform": it is simply impossible to block frivilous lawsuits, which are usually a red herring in the first place, without also blocking legitimate ones as well. The legislation in question has forced some cases to be brought to federal court rather than state court. What that really means is that cases will take longer to process, since federal courts are usuall
Re:Not sure which is worse... (Score:1)
I've been invited into many completely frivolous lawsuits over the years (including this one, which I could sign up for, if I was interested in helping lawyers get rich at the expense of a company I buy stuff from.)
When I am invited into, or even hear about, a legitimate class-action, I'll let you know.
This is for customers? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:This is for customers? (Score:5, Insightful)
Indeed. The fact that they're not involved may well be the answer in and of itself.
Even when you consider the plaintiffs (claimaints? whatever) alone, it's rather telling what's probably going on: MACAdam is almost universally known for how much they sucked, so it's no big surprise Apple "ran them out of business."
I also like the bit from TFA claiming Apple Stores were selling product to consumers at 8% under retail price. I don't know what alternate planet the owner of the also-infamous Elite Computers was shopping on, but I've been shopping at my local Apple Store since it opened in 2001 and they've always charged full price (unless you count the one day a year they offer a pittance of a discount on iPods).
Heck, I generally don't shop at the Apple Store for non-Apple goods simply because their prices aren't (and never have been) competitive. When I want something Apple makes, though, it's always a nice place to go play with it first without any pressure, and just shoot the breeze with the sales staff.
I don't shop at my local Mac reseller because my experiences with them have not been pleasant. They're either clueless or aloof or trying to cram products down your thoat. Assuming they even have what I want in stock. Therefore the Apple Store gets my business. If the local resellers would bother competing, I could be bothered to shop there. But as many people have mentioned repeatedly through the TellOnApple fiasco, there are a ton of awful independent resellers.
Imagine, the gall of Apple for opening their own retail stores and charging full price when a network of inept third parties were doing nothing positive for Apple's bottom line or brand.
Re:This is for customers? (Score:2)
Breaking News! (Score:5, Informative)
The named plaintiff in the suit was an attorney with one of the firms.
Re:8 Dollars? (Score:2)
Now consider that consumers in other jurisdictions/countries will be out of luck but might end up feeling any negative effects caused by them.
Class action lawsuits are nothing but a boondoggle for fat and greedy lawyers.
Consumers who have legitimate claims should deal with Apple on an individual basis and if necessar
Commodore (Score:1)
Never thought about a class action suit tho.
Nipok Nek
Not about customers, it's about the resellers (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't see why there is all the fuss about some tiny resellers closing shop because of Apple's opening of its own retail stores. Apple is a publicly traded company, for God's sake, they have much more of an obligation towards their stockholders than towards their whiny resellers. You tend to make more money for your shareholders when there are fewer people taking a cut.
I understand that it's something of a tragedy for those directly involved, but for customers it is more or less irrelevant. Apple is far to insignificant (market-share wise) to warrant all this attention. Go and buy a Windows PC if you don't like their practices. A company with low single-digit market-share should be legally free to open shops and undercut their resellers as much as they want, all those resellers are free to sell a myriad of other hardware and software products.
Morally, it's questionable of course, but these lawsuits? Please
Re:Not about customers, it's about the resellers (Score:1)
Oh, for Christ's sake! (Score:5, Insightful)
Some dealers did a good job and they're still in business today. Others, like MacAdam and Elite Computers, were dingy, slipshod operations with a very poor record of customer satisfaction.
Why apple was forced to open their own stores. (Score:1)
Apple Eliteism? (Score:4, Interesting)
Since the death of CP/M, I've been a diehard PC user, and not always a happy one. The absence of an assembler and linker in the OS was a harbinger of dark times for those of us who were assembler programmers when windows finally rolled out in a (questionably) useable form.
Late in '94 I found the Internet, or maybe it found me. Within a month I had wiped windows from my box and replaced it with linux (slackware on a 0.98 kernel if you're interested).
As of one year and eight days ago I became the owner of a refurb dual proc 1.25GHz G4.
I can tell you that I am in love with this machine, and I can tell you that while the design of the hardware certainly plays into it, cosmetics are not my first requirement; it's all because of OS/X. This OS is what linux wants to grow up to be. And the spit and polish represented by Aqua/Cocoa/Carbon are at the core of the benefits of OS/X.
As a result of my experiences with OS/X I have made the switch from linux to FreeBSD on my server; and I have to say, as I work FreeBSD on an old wintel box and OS/X on the Mac, the differences are quite apparent; FreeBSD ala Apple and FreeBSD ala carte are very different beasts, the Mac being far simpler and easier both to use and to administer.
The reason I've gone through all this preamble is to qualify my next statement: until about the time of the advent of Panther, which I consider to be first release of OS/X refined enough for general use, Apple simply had it mostly wrong. The insistence on a price point that alone made them a nich market product, the insistence on hardware and operating system software that were not only proprietary but closed, is so backward that were it not for all the substance of it, it would be not unlike the emporor's new clothes.
Sometime recently though Big Steve drank the right cup of electric coolaid. The iPod is a device of sheer genius. Not in its design, its implementation or its pricepoint; these features had all been clearly defined by the market place well in advance of Apple's offering. No, the real power of the iPod for Apple is as a marketing device, where it has introduced literally millions of PC users who would never have considered buying an Apple product to the company, just in time to push the Mac Mini under their noses. This has the potential to be a one-two punch for the WinTel world that should have them all shaking in their boots.
If I haven't made myself clear, I'm really impressed with Apple these days, their products are solid, their support is solid, and they seem to have finally gotten the company on track to become the major force in the market that it should have been all along.
Maybe it has something to do with Big Steve returning home to roost.
Anyway, given the success to date since the advent of OS/X, and the consistently right moves made since with the iPod, iTunes, and potentially the Mac Mini, its a no-brainer that the litigious in the world will spare no opportunity to haul them into court for whatever they can get for it.
All I can say is, go Apple, go Steve, keep up the good work, and don't leave us in the lurch this time.
Peace
ReallyTweakin
kind of pointless now . . . (Score:2)
Deja-vu all over again (Score:2)
these certainly are not the same thing... what makes them worthy of a suit ? I've had apple repair all my stuff that breaks.. I'm not quite sure what their problem is.
.Mac account (Score:1)
http://homepage.mac.com/macadamservice/iMovieTh
And moreover, the video is absolutely ridiculous
could it be a faulty business model? (Score:1)
If Apple is truly engaging in unlawful (or unfair) business practices, or broken a contract, such as underpricing their product sales to their stores, then the the resellers may have a claim.
But is that really the only problem?
There was previously an Apple-authorized reseller near my home. The store went out of business three or four years ago. Prior to that, I shopped there on occasion but generally found that there prices were much higher th
can't pass this one up. (Score:1)
2) screw your long-time resellers
3) ???
4) LAWSUIT
No Loss for Consumer (Score:2)
Pick your battles (Score:2, Insightful)
Apple's resellers need to stop wasting time in the court room and start selling some fruit. Apple's got less than 5% market share, and I can't hardly wave at people with PC's.