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The furore over cracked Apple iPhones made useless when users try to download applications from the company’s website is set to continue in the American courts.
Consumers who have paid BD359 for the phones in Bahrain – twice the price you would pay in the US – have ended up with them locked and unusable.
A civil lawsuit filed in California accuses Apple of creating an unlawful iPhone monopoly and vindictively releasing a software update that turns hacked devices into “iBricks.”
The lawsuit, filed by attorney Damian Fernandez on behalf of a California man, accuses Apple of creating a monopoly by barring customers from choosing a cellphone service provider other than US telecom giant AT&T.
The lawsuit also says Apple released a software update that disables iPhones that have been unlocked to allow another carrier to provide the service.
Fernandez, who filed the lawsuit on October 5, is seeking “class action” status to expand the litigation to cover all iPhone buyers.
In court documents, Fernandez estimates that Apple has sold 1.28 million iPhones since they went on sale in the United States on June 29.
Several hundred thousand of those phones were hacked to enable them to connect to service providers other than AT&T, which has a five-year deal to be the exclusive US telephone service for the device and many have been sold on at a profit to countries like Bahrain and Dubai.
The lawsuit says Apple has created a monopoly by forcing iPhone buyers to use AT&T and not “unlocking” the devices to allow service by rival carriers.
An update released on September 27 for iPhone software disables hacked devices, turning the phones into “iBricks,” the suit alleged.
“Apple punished consumers for exercising their rights to unlock their iPhones,” Fernandez says in court documents.
“Apple issued a software update that ‘bricked’ or otherwise caused iPhone malfunctions for consumers who unlocked their phones and installed the update.”
The suit demands a jury trial and asks the court to order Apple to unlock iPhones and provide warranty service to hacked devices.
It also demands Apple be forced to pay unspecified cash damages.
“Apple’s unlawful trust with AT&T substantially lessens competition and tends to create a monopoly in trade and commerce throughout the entire United States,” Fernandez claims in the suit.
Apple declined to comment.
More than 100 cracked Apple iPhones were snapped up from the Geant superstore in Sanabis within days of them going on sale. A spokesman told GulfWeekly last week that any customer finding their phone locked would have them replaced under its one-year guarantee.
Apple will not honour its warranty on cracked phones.
Apple plans to officially release iPhones in Bahrain in March next year and industry insiders say it will go into an exclusive partnership in the kingdom with either Zain or rivals Mena Telecom.
