The iPhone’s in Court Over MMS Delay
By David Worthington | Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 5:02 pm
A class action filed in a Louisiana district court is alleging that Apple and AT&T are improperly advertising MMS (multimedia messaging service) for the iPhone without having provided it, according to reports published today. Ultimately, a judge will decide whether the case is credible enough to move forward.
When Apple released iPhone OS 3.0 in mid June, it said that its MMS capability would be enabled on AT&T’s network this summer. I was as disappointed as the next person to hear it wouldn’t happen immediately, but am even more disappointed by how quickly frivolous lawsuits are filed.
It is beginning to get dark a little earlier now, but it is still summer. The class is seeking 10,000 participants. If 10,000 people are so distraught over their inability to send multimedia messages that they sign onto this nonsensical lawsuit, those people need to go outside and enjoy their lives a bit more .
The basis of the class is that Apple and AT&T “advertised heavily that the new version of iPhone, the 3G, as well as the even newer version the 3G-S would allow MMS. Apple’s print and video advertisements in and on television, the internet, the radio, newspapers and direct mailers all touted the availability of MMS,” court filings allege.
The filings claim that AT&T’s towers do not support MMS, yet the iPhone is only available on that carrier. If that was indeed the case, why was I able to send and receive MMS messages on other AT&T devices that I have owned in years past?
The action was filed under the Louisiana Unfair Trade Practices Act in addition to other State civil codes. It has been filed, and so going forward, a hearing will be scheduled, and then a judge will decide whether the case has enough merit to move on.
Apple is already plugging away at the iPhone 3.1 update. Would it kill people to wait for it? What harm is being done by this delay that should be remedied by a court? If the commercials jumped the gun, Apple and AT&T should pull them, and maybe pay a fine, and that’s it.
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August 13th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Well, Apple has until September 20th to keep good on their word. So until then, if I was the judge, I’ll throw that suit out.
August 13th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
frivilous law suite the apple conference said that att will deliver later this summer and it’s still summer time. no basis for the law suite.
August 13th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
my $100 a month says that i should be able to make USE out of what ALL my iphone can do…. this even goes for the whole “TETHERING” thing… my phone can tether…. i pay for UNLIMITED data. there is a delay on that as well! even when it does come out it will cost extra…. so i guess UNLIMITED isnt really UNLIMITED.
August 14th, 2009 at 7:25 am
If you look at it from the point of view of promising a service and not delivering then the lawsuit may be valid. Imagine buying a car with cupholders but the manufacturer has yet to install them. You believed you were getting a car with cupholders and paid for it but now have to wait who knows how long to get them. It would irritate me.
Thankfully I’m jailbroken and can take advantage of all the features the iPhone has to offer. 🙂
August 14th, 2009 at 7:41 am
Yeah, the lawsuit is pretty bogus, since Apple does have a few more weeks to switch the service on, but it’s incredibly lame that it’s taken so long.
The feature is supported by Apple’s software. AT&T’s network has supported MMS on every other phone for the last 5 years or so, at least. The iPhone is AT&T’s flagship device, and it’s the only device that doesn’t have MMS on At&T. What the heck is taking so long?
August 15th, 2009 at 2:48 am
The thing that baffles me here is that MMS still doesn’t seem to work while the network and the device clearly are capable of doing so. The only explanation I see is that AT&T has done some seriously crippling on their network, probably using a white-list, to prevent any device they didn’t sell with MMS-plans from sending and receiving MMS. And apparently they are now having problems adding the iPhone to the white-list for some reason… Or they are just lazy.