Apple Faces Lawsuit Over 'Vanished' Text Messages

 

Apple is currently facing a U.S. federal lawsuit over “text messages that never appeared.” The company filed a motion over the summer to dismiss the claim, which stated Apple failed to inform customers that using its Messages app and iMessages service could result in undelivered texts. This occurred to users switching from iPhones to Android-based phones.

The motion to dismiss the claim was denied, with U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California announcing Apple must face plaintiff Adrienne Moore's claim that message blocking disrupted her Verizon Wireless contract for wireless service, which she kept after switching in April 2014 to a Samsung Galaxy S5 from an iPhone 4. Moore’s class-action lawsuit, filed this past May, seeks unspecified damages.

Moore claims Apple did not inform her that using its iOS 5 software operating system would interfere with the delivery of "countless" messages from other Apple device users “if iPhone users switched to non-Apple devices.” She says the company is aware of issues users have receiving texts after switching to a rival smartphone, but doesn’t make customers aware of the problem. Moore also notes visiting Apple’s Help Page on their official website, but found it misleading in regards to undelivered message issues, and that calling the company and speaking to a representative was no help.

Judge Koh believes Moore deserves to show the technology giant the problems it created and that by blocking messages, Apple violated a California unfair competition law.

"Plaintiff does not have to allege an absolute right to receive every text message in order to allege that Apple's intentional acts have caused an actual breach or disruption of the contractual relationship," the judge wrote.

 I put it to you that cellphones haven't even been invented yet.

Neither Apple nor Moore have responded to requests for comment at this time. Apple maintained in court papers that never it claimed this iOS 5 service and application would recognize when iPhone users switched to rival devices.

"Apple takes customer satisfaction extremely seriously, but the law does not provide a remedy when, as here, technology simply does not function as plaintiff subjectively believes it should," the company said in a statement.

Apple now has an online tool for helping customers retrieve messages after switching to a non-iOS device.

The case is named Moore et al v. Apple Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 14-02269. Apple reported 169.2 million in iPhone sales for the fiscal year, which ended September 27.