Trouble ahead for Apple in Europe, at the start of class action
The European consumer association Euroconsumer announced a 60 million euro class action action against Apple, accused of planned obsolescence of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus and 6S Plus
Combined class action in Europe for Apple.
Last Monday Altroconsumo notified the Cupertino colossus the summons with which it started the class action before the Milan Court.
The consumer association is thus asking for compensation of 60 million euros, "for all Italian consumers deceived by the practices of planned obsolescence also recognized by the Italian authorities".
So again the question of planned obsolescence for the iPhone manufacturer. This is the commercial practice of slowing down older iPhone models to induce owners to buy new models or replacement batteries.
Just a few weeks ago, Apple agreed to pay $ 113 million to put an end to the accusations of 33 American states and the District of Columbia, for acting deceptively, damaging iPhone 6 models and inducing users to buy. new devices.
In the wake of the US result, the European consumer association Euroconsumers has decided to launch a class action to obtain the right compensation also in Italy, Belgium, Spain and Portugal.
Euroconsumers represents the largest consumer organization (1.5 million) in the world of which Altroconsumo is part.
The Altroconsumo lawsuit thus joins the two already initiated in December 2020, by members of Euroconsumers Test-Achats in Belgium and OCU in Spain, which will also be followed by Deco in Portugal.
All the details.
THE CLASS ACTION STARTED IN ITALY AGAINST APPLE
The class action will affect the owners of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S and 6S Plus. Products that correspond to over 1 million units sold in Italy between 2014 and 2020.
THE COMPENSATION REQUIRED FROM THE COLOSSUS OF CUPERTINO
The compensation claimed is the amount paid by consumers for replacing the device's battery. This ranges between 29 and 89 euros (with an average of around 60 euros per consumer). It also depends on whether or not they benefited from the promotional price offered during the battery replacement campaign carried out by the company.
A LONG BATTLE
Altroconsumo's battle against Apple began in 2014. The organization collected numerous cases of consumers experiencing problems in the performance of their smartphones after agreeing to the mandatory software update.
THE FINE IN 2018
At the end of 2018, the Guarantor for competition and the market imposed fines of 5 million euros and 10 million respectively on both Samsung and Apple for the crime of planned obsolescence.
APPLE'S (LOST) APPEAL TO THE LAZIO TAR
Last May, the Lazio TAR rejected the appeal made by Apple.
The Court therefore confirmed that the Cupertino giant has released the iOS 10 and 10.1.2 firmware updates for the iPhone 6 / 6Plus / 6s / 6sPlus, without offering consumers adequate and complete information on the incisive reduction in the performance of devices.
HOW MUCH APPLE PAID IN THE UNITED STATES
To limit the damage, Apple has launched a reduced-price battery replacement campaign. However, according to Altroconsumo, this intervention does not correspond to fair compensation for damaged Italian consumers.
"Thanks to the class action launched in the United States – points out Altroconsumo – American consumers have managed to get 500 million dollars from the big tech of Silicon Valley".
Last March, Apple agreed to pay up to $ 500 million to settle the class action lawsuit filed for the obsolescence of iPhone batteries. That is around $ 25 to each iPhone owner.
BUT THE IPHONE MANUFACTURER HAS LITTLE TO FEAR
In Italy, the consumer association is asking for 60 million dollars, well below the 500 million and 113 million dollars accepted to pay in the US. But for the Cupertino giant they will sound like pennies.
In fact, analysts all seem to agree on one point: today Apple will present its first quarterly in which it will exceed 100 billion dollars.
To push the accounts of the company led by Tim Cook will be above all the sales of the iPhone 12, the first smartphone of the Apple based on 5G technology. According to analysts, Apple will present a quarterly report with revenues of approximately $ 103 billion, up from $ 91 billion last year.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/guai-in-vista-per-apple-in-europa-al-via-class-action/ on Wed, 27 Jan 2021 09:17:14 +0000.