It's time for iPhone owners to get themselves a tasty treat, fifteen awesome prizes from the dollar store, or a brand-new case for their now-antiquated iPhone 4 smartphones. The class-action lawsuit has been settled! Wait, class-action lawsuit? As is often the case with these, a person might not know that he or she is part of a class until the fabled letter or email arrives. If that's you, you're in good (and extensive) company – more than 25 million owners of iPhone 4 smartphones allegedly make up the class in the recently settled "Antennagate" lawsuit.
| The settlement combined 18 different individual lawsuits into one big legal chunk, all united by the claim that Apple misrepresented itself in some fashion by, "concealing material information in the marketing, advertising, sale, and servicing of its iPhone 4—particularly as it relates to the quality of the mobile phone antenna and reception and related software." In other words, consumers got upset when they found that their signal quality dropped when they held their iPhones in particular ways. Namely, when the palms of their hands bridged together two parts of the iPhone 4's metal casing/antenna, which could cause enough signal degradation to ruin a person's call. Hence, "Antennagate." While the official website for the class hasn't gone live yet, iPhone 4 owners will eventually be able to find it at www.iPhone4Settlement.com. Emails will also eventually go out to all purchasers of the iPhone 4 prior to this past Friday, and those looking to pick up their $15 or iPhone bumper (valued at $30) will have up to 120 days to file an official claim. According to Ira Rothken, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the settlement is scheduled for a final approval hearing on July 13. Previous purchasers of the iPhone 4 should be able to start making claims starting on April 30, however. Apple had previously attempted to address "Antennagate" by holding a press conference to show that the company's iPhone 4 wasn't the only device on the market at the time that suffered connection loss when owners gripped the phone in particular ways. The company ultimately allowed iPhone 4 purchasers to return their smartphones for a full refund (within the standard 30 days of purchase), receive a refund for iPhone 4 cases they had previously purchased, or receive a free case from Apple itself. The class-action lawsuit settlement will only apply to those who did not accept apple's offer for a free case at the time. And, obviously, those who didn't elect to return their iPhones. |
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