Two frustrated iPhone 4 owners in Maryland have joined forces to file a class action lawsuit against Apple and AT&T over the widely reported iPhone 4 antenna issue. Filed Wednesday in Maryland, the lawsuit takes Apple and AT&T to task not only for the antenna problem itself but also for breach of warranty, deceptive trade practices, misrepresentation, and fraud by concealment.
Not to be left out, a New Jersey resident and a Massachusetts resident both filed similar independent lawsuits in California.
The complaints about the iPhone 4 antenna first came to light shortly after the devices appeared. To increase reception over previous iPhone models, Apple incorporated a stainless steel bezel around the entire device. The bezel not only acts as a reinforcing frame, but different segments also act as external antennas for the iPhone 4's multiple radios. Testing has so far shown that the new design and associated radio hardware do in fact improve reception over previous iPhone models.
However, the design can cause problems for people who primarily hold their iPhones in their left hand. By touching the small gap between the left and bottom segments of the bezel with their palm, users can effectively bridge the two antennas, weakening the signal received. Though most mobile phones experience some attenuation caused by gripping the phone naturally, testing has shown the problem to be more severe for the iPhone 4.
While we haven't been affected by the antenna issue in our own regular use of the phone, we have been able to reliably reproduce the problem.
Perhaps unfortunately for Apple, its CEO has been somewhat dismissive of customer complaints, telling users to "just avoid holding it in this way." An internal support document leaked to Boy Genius Report also revealed that Apple support staff have been instructed not to offer warranty service for complaints about reception issues. These actions led to the claim of "intentional misrepresentation" in the Maryland case.
Using a protective case that insulates the antenna from direct contact, such as Apple's own Bumper, can mitigate the issue. This led Christopher Dydyk of Cambridge, Massachusetts to demand in his complaint that Apple provide iPhone 4 users with a free Bumper.
Purported e-mails from Steve Jobs continue to deny the existence of any problem at all, calling media coverage of the issue "a few days of rumors," while at the same time suggesting that Apple is "working on it."
Speculation suggests that the iPhone 4 may use programmable capacitors that could be adjusted in real-time to account for the detuning problem caused by the antenna short. So far, though, a rumored iOS update to fix the problem has not materialized.
UPDATE: Attorney Jason Scofield wrote in to alert us that his firm has filed a class action suit in the state of Texas. According to the filing date, June 29, this suit is actually the first of four similar suits known to have been filed in the last three days.
UPDATE 2: Attorney John R Paker Jr wrote in to mention that his firm had also filed a class action complaint on June 29, bringing the total number of complaints filed so far to five. "I am fairly confident that more cases are coming," he told Ars, though there's no telling if Apple's recent explanation of the problem will deflect the lawsuits.
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