By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
It’s been nearly two weeks since the last Apple iPhone battery lawsuit. How time flies when lawyers are preparing briefs. 
On Wednesday, attorneys for plaintiffs Zoltan Stiener and Ynez Stiener filed a class action complaint against Apple and AT&T in federal court in Oakland, Calif.
The lawsuit alleges breach of contract, fraud, and violations of California law. It charges the two companies with failing to inform iPhone purchasers that fees totaling more than $100 are required to replace iPhone batteries and to maintain service during battery replacement. Source: Information Week
Interestingly, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs is Oakland-based lawyer H. Tim Hoffman. He also represents Sydney Leung, who filed the second lawsuit against Apple and AT&T nearly two weeks ago.
Let’s not forget the first lawsuit, filed in Illinois in July, by Jose Trujillo. Although it was public knowledge long before the iPhone was launched that the battery was not user-replaceable, the replacement plan was not revealed until after the device went on sale – and this is the crux of the lawsuits.
We Say: I’m still not convinced of the validity of these suits, although some experts say there is some legitimacy to them, at least if the purchases took place before the replacement plan was revealed. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up the same way the iPod battery lawsuit did, with Apple settling out of court.
The way I see it, what’s important to note about this case is that Apple and AT&T “allegedly” were obfuscative about the batteries not being user replaceable. If I were ever interested in buying an iPhone (and I’m not and haven’t been) this would convince me not to get one.
The cat is out of the bag, in other words.
i like iPhone but the fact that the battery is not user replaceable is a big drawback, i think that might stop many users from buying because most of the fans of high tech toys use it a lot! i have an old Qtek S200 and mostly i use to read mail over wifi, navigate internet and other stuff and well that high discharge rates makes batteries last less than they say. and that’s not a very good thing!
The iphone price was insane to start with – Add $100 bucks per year – I wouldn’t buy it before – now I will advise others not to buy it and or the $100 dollar yearly payment.