Another day, another lawsuit. Apple is being sued by denying warranty service to its iPod and iPhone customers based on data supplied by allegedly inaccurate liquid sensors, reports “InformationWeek” (“http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/app-security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224400647&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All).
Apple began including liquid contact indicators (LCI) in its iPods and iPhones in 2007 and also added them to its MacBook and MacBook Pro computers in 2008. The company uses these sensors to determine the eligibility of devices for repair under warranty.
Devices brought in for service that have been damaged by water or some other liquid are not covered by Apple’s one-year limited warranty or the company’s AppleCare Protection Plan. The lawsuit filed last week alleges that Apple “uses [the LCIs’] false-positive readings to avoid its [warranty] obligations…”
The plaintiff in the case, Charlene Gallion of San Francisco, had two iPhones cease functioning in the space of six months, neither of which, according to her complaint, had been damaged by any liquid. Apple says that its LCIs “are designed not to be triggered by humidity and temperature changes that are within the product’s environmental requirements described by Apple,” but Gallion disagrees.
The complaint says that Gallion brought an iPhone in to an Apple store for repair and was denied warranty coverage because the Apple representative determined the device had been damaged by liquid, says “InformationWeek.”