Payout potential in Apple class action
A class-action lawsuit against technology giant Apple in the United States could see Kiwis get a share of the payout.
Multiple lawsuits were filed in the US following the tech giant’s admission that software updates for iphones slowed the performance of older models.
Australian law firm Shine Lawyers’ class action expert Jan Saddler is looking at a separate lawsuit against Apple for ‘‘strict product liability, negligence, breach of warranty and a violation of consumer trust’’.
Saddler said that Apple, by its own admission, misled millions of consumers globally into believing that their iphones were malfunctioning, causing them to upgrade to newer costly devices.
She said New Zealanders would probably have to organise a separate action but she could work with the firm’s New Zealand arm on this.
The law firm’s New Zealand branch could not be reached for comment.
Tech commentator Peter Griffin said there were legitimate reasons for Apple’s upgrade but the reason for a lawsuit was the the lack of transparency.
Griffin said there was a lot of mistrust about ‘‘built-in obsolescence’’, where companies make a phone or computer to last a certain amount of time.
Apple did make it attractive to constantly be upgrading, he said.
‘‘They make it very difficult for you to change out the battery in the iphone: It’s a steel unit so you basically have to go to a third-party agent. And they don’t even endorse those – doing that would void your warranty.’’
Griffin said requiring tech companies to be more transparent under the law was ‘‘a bit of a grey area’’ and Apple was probably covered from the class-action lawsuit in a clause found in the fine print of a customer agreement.
However, if the lawsuit was successful, New Zealanders could get in on a potential payment either by default or by shouldering some of the cost of litigation.
He said the payout wouldn’t be much but it would be a wake-up call for Apple and other tech companies.
Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin said the idea that Apple was slowing the battery lives of its older models to get people to upgrade was a ‘‘conspiracy theory’’.
‘‘Even though they’ve been very secretive about it they’re trying to prevent phones from spontaneously shutting down … there’s probably no grounds for a case under the Fair Trading Act.’’
She said that although Apple has welldesigned phones the company seemed ‘‘strangely ignorant’’ when it comes to dealing with customers.