The voice-activated Siri assistant on the iPhone 4S doesn’t work as advertised, and is just a ploy to lure customers to buy a more expensive iPhone, a man claims in a federal class action, as reported by the “Courthouse News Service” (http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/03/07/44470.htm).
Frank Fazio has sued Apple on behalf of consumers who bought the iPhone 4S because commercials made the voice-activated Siri feature seem easy to use for a variety of tasks. Siri on iPhone 4S lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. Apple says that you can ask Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk. I haven’t tried it, but Apple says Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back.
However, the new class action says claims about the Siri feature are fundamentally false and misleading. “Notwithstanding Apple’s extensive multimillion-dollar advertising campaign showcasing the Siri feature, and the fact that the iPhone 4S is more expensive than the iPhone 4, the iPhone 4S’s Siri function does not perform as advertised, rendering the iPhone 4S merely a more expensive version of iPhone 4,” it says.
Fazio seeks restitution, statutory and compensatory damages for intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, breach of warranty, unfair competition and violations of California consumer law, according to the “Courthouse News Service.”