Apple is being sued in class actions because its Siri software does not work as well as shown on tv, according to the plaintiffs’ complaints. The defense ? So far they include hat the users complaints are unique, and the purchasers did not return the phones within 30 days. The latter seems a loser defense. That’s about the same as saying you can’t sue over a defect in a car if you kept the car after finding the defect. Or, imagine if you received a defective medical device – apparently it has to be pulled out immediately or you lose the right to sue. Odds on that defense succeeding?
One of these days, suits of this sort seem likely to gain traction. When devices were new, beta perhaps made sense. Today it sometimes seems it’s an excuse for selling lousy software that no one bothered to test. Certainly manufacturers of physical devices have paid dearly when they failed to test – why should software be different when its operating in the static environment of Apple products? It’s one thing to be lenient when the software fails when interacting with products made by others that the OEM cannot control, but Apple controls the physical device and the software. If it fails to work, it’s Apple’s fault.