Apple to Pay $18 Million to Settle California Lawsuit Claiming Apple 'Broke' FaceTime on Older iPhones to Save Costs

[UK-MacAddict]

Paying off usually means an admission of guilt. If it wasn't intentional they would have issued a software update to fix the problem.

 

[kevine]

[deleted]

 

[MacAwesome88]

HAA... according to Mac Daily News... the members of the Class Action get a Whopping $3-$5 a piece... yet a Whopper at Burger King with Fries and Coke costs more. Wahhh, wahhh, wahhh! (with that Old Western trumpet sound)

 

[ScreenSavers]

Paying off usually means an admission of guilt. If it wasn't intentional they would have issued a software update to fix the problem.

Um they did. iOS 6.1.5 and 6.1.6 for the iPod touch 4th generation, the only iOS 6- stuck device to support the FaceTime feature. The rest of the lineup got iOS 7.

People being stubborn and not upgrading is a different issue. The fix was there.

 

[Krizoitz]

Paying off usually means an admission of guilt. If it wasn't intentional they would have issued a software update to fix the problem.

First: No it doesn’t, especially in cases like this. Companies often settle when it’s much cheaper to do so than continue fighting the lawsuit.

Second: Group FaceTime was no longer going to work on older phones due to business and technical decisions. The issue wasn’t wether they COULD change that, it’s whether they did it for the purpose of forcing people to upgrade. There wasn’t a simple patch to change that, it would require re-implementing the previously used system which they didn’t want to do.

 

[UK-MacAddict]

First: No it doesn’t, especially in cases like this. Companies often settle when it’s much cheaper to do so than continue fighting the lawsuit.

Second: Group FaceTime was no longer going to work on older phones due to business and technical decisions. The issue wasn’t wether they COULD change that, it’s whether they did it for the purpose of forcing people to upgrade. There wasn’t a simple patch to change that, it would require re-implementing the previously used system which they didn’t want to do.

I would continue to fight on a matter of principal.

Exactly in order to make it work they’d have to re licence the old system which they did not want to do. So they did force people to upgrade in order to get their functionality back.
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Um they did. iOS 6.1.5 and 6.1.6 for the iPod touch 4th generation, the only iOS 6- stuck device to support the FaceTime feature. The rest of the lineup got iOS 7.

People being stubborn and not upgrading is a different issue. The fix was there.

They broke people’s devices in the first instance and took away functionality because they no longer wanted to re licence some software.

Not wanting to waste money and re-licence software if you have your own solution is fair enough. But they should have been more upfront about it.

I myself don’t understand why people don’t want to upgrade to the latest software.

How long did it take them to release a software update though? Did it cover all devices running iOS 6 to give back facetime access? Not just the iPod.

 

[FlyingDutch]

As usually, class action’s money are only going to lawyers.
This system is rotten.
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Apologies, but none of that context came through in the two sentences of your original quote. The subcontext (why not more widespread) you've created is even less clear. Class actions are almost always local. It's rare to find one that goes national or even regional. Besides, I don't think anyone classified this as a big problem... because it wasn't imo. Remember, Apple's sales numbers on the 4 and 4S at that time weren't stratospheric like today's iPhone sales.

I personally think it only gained real interest because of the apparent smoking gun email trail that allegedly supported the idea that Apple crippled iOS6 to avoid paying large sums of money to Akamai. That email trail is one of the primary reasons I think Apple settled. Going to trial could have led to more damaging discovery.
Patently Apple had a nice detailing. I used the link to the Florida case since it contained the same info. Excerpt:
"Hey, guys. I'm looking at the Akamai contract for next year. I understand we did something in April around iOS 6 to reduce relay utilization," Apple engineering manager Patrick Gates said in an email to employees. The message was met with a response from engineer Gokul Thirumalai, who said, "It was a big user of relay bandwidth. We broke iOS 6, and the only way to get FaceTime working again is to upgrade to iOS 7."

Your assumptions about iPhone 4S sales are wrong. Apple sold 5 millions in three days, literally, and a little less than 15 millions in the first quarter. Not exactly today’s numbers, but still a lot (and they sold the 4S for years after launch).