[NewsPoster]

A new lawsuit, filed in a federal court in California on Tuesday, accuses Apple of failing to inform people how much space iOS 8 will consume on a device, while simultaneously prompting them to buy online storage via iCloud. Specifically the suit claims that iOS 8 can occupy as much as 23.1 percent of device memory, but that not many people realize this when making a purchase. The plaintiffs are seeking damages, as well as changes by Apple to comply with state law. The case is being pursued as a class action.

The complaint notes that if a person runs out of local storage, iOS 8 prompts them to sign up for an iCloud subscription. This is offering to "sell that capacity in a desperate moment, e.g., when a consumer is trying to record or take photos at a child or grandchild's recital, basketball game or wedding," a court filing alleges.

Apple has had to deal with similar cases in the past, such as a 2012 Canadian lawsuit involving iPods. iOS' footprint has gradually increased since 2007, but for some time now the base storage capacity of iPhones, iPods, and iPads hasn't grown past 16GB. This year, the company doubled its middle- and upper-tier capacities to 64 and 128GB.

[elroth]

Just what we need - another $5-for-consumers-who-weren't-harmed, $20-million-for-scam-lawyers lawsuit.

[thinkman]

For those who remember computers in the '80s, the Commodore 64 (for 64kb of RAM) used more than ½ of that memory (39kb) for the operating system alone, and yet they were able to do some really amazing (for that time period) things. Back then, the legal shyster community was not yet in full swing, so no one even considered complaining let along suing! If you don't know by now, it is the lawyers (one of the ugliest, greediest group of whores on the planet) that promote the perpetual civil suits. Hell, criminals even sue families they are robbing if they should stub a toe during the commission of the crime — AND they might just win. Lawyers are the terrorists in this country - only they wear expensive suits instead of rags on their heads!

[jdonahoe]

Why is there no filter for stupid lawsuits? People go cheap on purchasing an iPhone thinking 16 gigs is all they'll ever need. Anyone who would be using their phone to take pictures at an important event like a wedding should have cleared out all the old pictures in preparation. You don't sue a company for your own bad decisions. This one is definitely frivolous.

[sibeale1]

jdonahoe asks "Why is there no filter for stupid lawsuits?" Actually, there is. The lawyers who spend their time and effort filing these suits never win them and they eventually change careers to something more lucrative, like flipping burgers or mugging old ladies.

[qazwart]

If you don't download too many apps or take a lot of pictures and videos, 16Gb is plenty, and that still probably describes a good chunk of the iPhone market. A lot of people use the iPhone mainly as a phone. They might do some web browsing and maybe read their email on the phone. The iPhone 4S came in an 8Gb version, so even if the OS now takes up 23% of the device, that leaves more free memory than the 8Gb iPhone 4S had in total.

I wonder if they'll also have problems finding plaintiffs?

[Inkling]

In related news, the Apple Growers of America (AGOA) announced that they were suing Apple for trademark dilution, claiming that many consumers were no longer buying apples as a fruit. Lawyers for AGOA allege that the several hundred to several thousand dollar cost of Apple Inc. products were leaving consumers with the impression that apples (the fruit) had sudden grown extraordinarily expensive.

I think this will just get thrown out of court. The space that iOS 8 uses is so dependent on one's own personal data and settings, and users have voluntary options to sync these or otherwise.

[climacs]

@thinkman: you'll be glad there is such a thing as attorneys, should you ever be charged with a crime or have need to sue someone who has damaged you or your property or flat-out ripped you off.

[thinkman]

@climacs: I'm 70. I've gone my whole life without needing a lawyer, because that's the kind of life I lead. Recently I thought it best to update my will, so I asked a dear friend - a retired judge, who he'd recommend. The 2 he recommended end up doing the WORST work (both in my and my friend's opinion) and still charged me over $3,000. $3,000, for mostly boilerplate language + some specifics I wanted in the will. My friend, unbeknownst to me, called one of the shysters just to set things up - strictly as a friend might do, and not something I asked him to do. The shyster charged me $70 for the judges phone call!!! When I called him on it, he adjusted the invoice, without any sense of guilt. Then he sent me a second invoice (first was for $1,600.) for an additional $700. I wrote him that he will need to itemize in VERY SPECIFIC DETAIL every charge on both invoices. I ran the letter and the "work product" past my judge friend, and a cousin who has spent 40 years doing estate planning and Wills. Both were appalled by both the Will and the bill! They said the Will did nothing to address what I'd requested (but because of incomprehensible legalize jargon, I was deceived by their rhetoric assuring me that it did). They told me I was well within my rights to send the letter off as written. I never heard from the shyster again. The shyster was also the president of one of the "most prestigious" law firms in town. HAH! Climax, if I need a lawyer, I now know a couple of completely reliable and honest ones in town, so don't worry about me. I'm guessing you may be a shyster yourself - com'on-......tell me I'm wrong. If you're not, you'd better be ready to swim with the sharks should a legal battle ever beset you! It's a very different world out there, and trustworthiness - is a rare commodity indeed.

[Steve Wilkinson]

While I understand all the critiques above, I have to wonder about a 16 GB version any more, (or things like selling the original iPad mini, etc.). These devices are nearly obsolete out of the box considering how fast these technologies are moving. (Heck, given my iPad 2 experience on iOS 8, I'd say the latter is quite obsolete out of the box.) I guess for a phone for a customer who mostly only wants the phone aspect, 16 GB is OK.... they can add a few apps, etc. But, next time they want to upgrade the OS, they might have to toss all their purchases out and clean their user data. While I'm really against frivolous lawsuits, I think there is a kernel of truth behind this one. Caveat emptor I guess.... maybe I just secretly hope Apple is better than that.

[Grendelmon]

What perplexes me, and I agree with Steve Wilkinson, is why Apple continues to even sell a 16GB iPhone. The cost of FLASH memory in these devices has become so cheap; it appears to me that they are just milking extra dollars for an obsolete amount of storage.

2015... iPhone 6 with only 16GB of space? Seriously?

[Spheric Harlot]

Nothing is "cheap" when you're making a hundred million of them.

[Grendelmon]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

Nothing is "cheap" when you're making a hundred million of them.

And neither is a hundred million pounds of fertilizer manure. What's your point?

[Spheric Harlot]

Are you so hell-bent on smart-assery that you can't stop to think about what you're replying to? "Manure", indeed.

The price difference between 16 GB and 32 GB may seem negligible, but once you're talking about hundreds of PETAbytes of Flash storage, it probably becomes a bottom-line-affecting number.

[unicast reversepath]

Bottom line is that filing a lawsuit is not a remedy for your own stupidity.






-U

[Grendelmon]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

Are you so hell-bent on smart-assery that you can't stop to think about what you're replying to? "Manure", indeed.

The price difference between 16 GB and 32 GB may seem negligible, but once you're talking about hundreds of PETAbytes of Flash storage, it probably becomes a bottom-line-affecting number.

Hell bent? Hell no.

But back to the subject, Apple's differential costs of flash affecting the "bottom line" on a product with a gross margin near 65% is laughable. Honestly, the only reason I can fathom them offering a 16gb phone today is to captilalize on iCloud adoption.

[Spheric Harlot]

The "near 65%" is on the total product line. And you can be absolutely certain that a big part of the reason for that is BECAUSE Apple stifles the lower-end iPhones for storage, pushing people towards the significantly higher-margin upsell model: an additional 16 GB of storage certainly never cost Apple anything NEAR the $100 they charged extra.

Upping base storage would cost SIGNIFICANT money, but even more so, it would significantly cut into higher-margin sales.

Maybe their numbers math is a little simpler than you give them credit for?

[Steve Wilkinson]

Saving a few bucks per unit @ 10 M units.... possibly hundreds of millions of dollars.
Creating a bad user experience for tens of millions of users... priceless.