Let the iPhone class-action lawsuits begin

Most of the class action law suits are stupid, including some of the ones that were won!
That apart, its sheer arrogance and stupidity on Apple part to release a phone with a battery that cant be replaced by the owner of the phone. Even if I am a big fan of Apple(which I am not; just for the record I hate MS as much!)I would not have bought iphone on a matter of principal. When I pay in excess of $500 for a gadget, I would expect basic control over it. If that is my only phone, how does Apple expect me to live without a phone for a few days till it replaces it. These big monopolistic companies take the customers for fools and we are!

Maybe I should sue Palm or Motorola. My Treo 650 has a battery that's good for the same # of charges and I may have to replace it in year 2 of my Cingualr contract? Or Motorola who uses the same batteries? Or Apple who has the same types of batteries in my Powerbook?

Not to mention in year 1, no matter what happens - you have a warranty - in month 11.5 you could send it back for battery related issues and get a new one. Then you'd be set for year 2. Sheesh.

So much ado about NOTHING!

Obviously we don't see the entire lawsuit. I have a feeling it is more to the fact that the batter isn't user replacable without voiding the warranty. The fact they you need Apple to replace something, that more than likely will need to be replaced while you are expected to use the device is the problem.

You shouldn't be expected to send your device in for service during its expected life. If the batter is to last 3 or 4 years under normal use that is fine. But if before 2 years is up it needs replacing more often than not, and you can't do it yourself, that is a problem.

Someone used the example of filling up the gas tank on a car. The difference is, you can fill your gas up yourself without voiding the cars warranty. Would you be happy if you bought a $20,000 and before you paid the car off you almost always needed to spend more than 10% to replace say the engine seals? No, you would be pissed. Yes, when you buy a car the tires, hoses, belts, brakes all are expected to be replaced before you finish paying your car off. The difference is, you could do all those yourself (if you are capable) without voiding the warranty. If I change my brakes tomorrow, and then my transmission starts slipping I am covered, but if my iPhone batter stops holding a carge and I replace it, and my LCD stops working, I am SOL. Apple will tell me too bad.

The battery's not user-replaceable because it has a hefty impact upon the design of the casing, not to mention increases the size, means Apple needs a distribution channel (etc, etc) for the batteries.

Given that third-parties have been performing and selling iPod battery replacements forever, does anybody really believe the same won't happen with the iPhone?

In any case, what proportion of iPod users (which has a similar battery) have had to replace their battery after using it every day for a couple of years? A tiny fraction, that's how many. The majority of the iPod-battery-replacement consumers are people who've bought second-hand iPods,
which means that if you've bought a brand new iPhone this is a complete and total non-issue.

On the iSuppli front, Gruber's thoroughly debunked the validity of pretty much all of that.

The SideKick II was an amazingly popular phone for it's time and it didn't have a removable battery... Why didn't they get sued? Apple's stuff is always under scrutiny for not being perfect but, what is?

$80 to change a freaking battery? I hope he hits a home run.
Hardwiring the battery was a dumb move ... especially in a $600 phone. My $5 calculator does that.

@ Louis Duran: "2-3% share of the market", very poor estimation, as you have grossly underestimated the number of cellphone users who aren't corporate users. Apple is making huge profits with their current bill of materials, and they will soon offer to replace the battery for small fees -it's obvious.

Over at AppleInsider there is this:

A discussion thread on Apple's support website contains a large number of reports of the stand-alone power unit permanently losing its ability to recharge the phone. Plugging the iPhone directly into a USB port charges the device without problems, according to the anecdotes. Other testers have tried replacing the dock-to-USB cable and different wall outlets, ruling out other factors that could prevent a steady power supply.

Let me be the first to say, as a rabid-docile member of the Faithful, that $t. $teve would never ever in a million years try to tether buyers of any Apple Products to a charging system that doesn't work!

I AM OUTRAGED that some people think this so!
My iPhone's iBrick is working just fine!

[Note to anyone out there who remembers anything from 10 years ago: Remember the jokes about having to put MicroSoft gas in a Microsoft Car! How soon we forget...]

Forget about lawsuits... the non-user replaceable battery, the associated costs and the $499 entry price, and the lack of corporate e-mail is going to relegate the iPhone to being a niche player cell-phone. Compared with some of the better designed Blackberries and Windows Mobile 6 PCs, the nifty, eye-candy GUI and iPod compatibility won't be enough to make the iPhone more than 2-3% share of the market. I'd consider an iPhone at a price point closer to $350. If you look at the iSuppli BOM breakdown cost of the iPhone (and accept it) Apple still makes decent money at that price.

I'm going to sue car manufacturers because after driving a new car off a forecourt a driver will only get so far before they will have to refill their petrol tank!
And they'll have to keep doing it!
Why don't car manufacturers tell you this???

Oh, wait...