Apple and AT&T targeted by iPhone MMS lawsuit
Apple and AT&T are the target of a consumer lawsuit filed in Louisiana over the lack of MMS on the iPhone.
A new class-action lawsuit has been filed in a Louisiana district court against Apple and AT&T under the Unfair Trade Practices Act and other laws in that state.
The lawsuit accuses both companies of misrepresenting the availability of MMS on the iPhone. According to a report by TG Daily, the suit points out that both companies aggressively promoted the MMS features of iPhone OS 3.0 and the iPhone 3GS using advertising on TV, radio, newspapers, direct mailers, and on the Internet. The suit is expected to represent at least 10,000 people for the class action.
The lawsuit was filed because the plaintiffs complained that MMS wasn't available immediately at the launch of the new OS and iPhone 3GS this past June. (iPhone OS 3.0 enabled the use of MMS on the iPhone.) The complaint continues by declaring that AT&T is not a carrier that offers MMS, and that the company's cell towers don't support it. It is pointed out that Apple probably admitted as much during the WWDC 2009 keynote, where the slide showing vendors supporting MMS did not include the AT&T logo.
Finally, the complaint points out that the fact that AT&T doesn't support MMS is relayed to customers in small, barely readable print on a Web site saying that "MMS support from AT&T is coming by late summer. "
Was this lawsuit filed prematurely? Summer doesn't end officially until September 22 (although most people consider it over after Labor Day). We've even heard possible evidence that MMS is here. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.