Lawsuit gets filed in Chicago over iPhone battery

CHICAGO: Apple, which may have sold as many as 450,000 iPhones in its first two days of sales, is being sued by a consumer who says it did not immediately disclose the limited life of its batteries or their $86 replacement cost.

The suit, filed last week in Illinois state court, accuses Apple of consumer fraud and seeks class-action status. The plaintiff, Jose Trujillo of Chicago, also wants money damages. On Tuesday, Apple shares in New York fell $9.67, or 6.8 percent, to $131.76, Apple's biggest drop in share price since April 2005.

Some investors are speculating that Apple is reducing production of either its popular iPod music players or the iPhone, perhaps by as much as 50 percent, said Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray Companies in Minneapolis. The batteries can only be recharged about 300 times before needing replacement, according to the lawsuit. The Apple Web site says the iPhone battery keeps 80 percent of its original capacity through 400 full charges.

Apple requires an iPhone user to pay $79 plus shipping to send the phone to it for battery replacement and $29 more if the user wants the company to provide a temporary phone during the three days needed for the procedure. Also named as a defendant is AT&T, the largest U.S. telephone company. It is the exclusive iPhone service provider. Walt Sharp, an AT&T spokesman, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The New York State Consumer Protection Board has sent a letter to Apple suggesting that the battery be redesigned so that consumers do not have to pay as much to replace it, according to a report Wednesday by Newsday, a New York newspaper. The publisher of music by the rapper Eminem has filed a U.S. lawsuit against Apple for selling downloads of his songs without permission, The Associated Press reported Wednesday from Detroit.

Apple has an agreement with Universal Music Group, the company that owns the recordings, but does not deal directly with publishers, who own the rights to scores and lyrics. In the suit filed Monday in in Detroit, Eminem's music publisher, Eight Mile Style, and its copyright manager, Martin Affiliated, seek more than $75,000 for copyright infringement, unfair competition and a violation of the Michigan consumer protection act. The suit also asks for damages of up to $150,000 per infringement - or each time a song is downloaded.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/...ess/iphone.php

[mrkeeboard]

I heard you couldn't take the battery out. Looks like the rumors were true. I guess this is why you have to send it in. This sucks tho if its really a limited time use battery.

Shame on them. Shame, shame.

[imported_ghengis]

Cant take the battery out and on top the battery should start messing up after 400 charges , meaning 400 days . Ita a nice phone but no that nice to be expensive like this.

[keanwoo]

Originally Posted by mrkeeboard

I heard you couldn't take the battery out. Looks like the rumors were true. I guess this is why you have to send it in. This sucks tho if its really a limited time use battery.

Shame on them. Shame, shame.

Yeah!! I agree with you. Shame too.