Class Action Madness: Applying Common Sense to the iPod
Battery and Volume Level Cases

Dan Knight - 2006.03.31

It's time to stop the insanity of class-action lawsuits that make lawyers rich, reshape next generation products, and scarcely benefit the members of the class at all.

iPod Batteries

One example is the iPod Battery Settlement. As you probably know, rechargeable batteries don't last forever, and to top it off, it's not self-evident that the iPod can be taken apart so the battery can be replaced.

After about two years, most rechargeables are a shadow of their former selves, and Apple charges US$99 to replace an iPod's battery. Well, more precisely, to take your iPod and probably exchange it for the same model with a fresh battery - and the replacement won't have your songs, your data, or the same amount of wear as the one you sent in.

So someone decides to create a class-action lawsuit against Apple covering the millions of G1 to G3 iPod owners in the class - many of whom have already paid for a new battery by this time or simply bought a newer, more feature-laden iPod that also includes a new battery.

In the end, it looks like millions of dollars to the law firm behind the suit and $50 in Apple Store credit for iPod owners who actually kept all of their receipts and filed all of their paperwork properly.

Objections

My first objection is a common characteristic of suits like this, such as the one over Kodak's instant cameras. Rather than giving members of the class cash for their inconvenience, they end up with discount coupons or rebate vouchers. (In the Kodak case, coupons for non-instant Kodak film. But what if the former Kodak instant shooter has switched to Polaroid? The settlement would do them no good at all.)

In the iPod Battery Settlement, the $50 store credit could be used to buy iTunes or applied to anything else sold by the Apple Store. As with the Kodak case and myriad others, the settlement requires that the class members remain loyal customers to benefit. (In the case of 1G and 2G iPods, there's also the option of a $25 check.)

For the record, Apple makes a good profit on their $99 iPod battery replacement program. Third-party batteries are available for US$25-40 with greater capacity than Apple's batteries, and iPodResQ (as just one example) charged US$54 to replace the battery in a 1G/2G iPod.

In cases where users paid Apple for a new battery, the company probably breaks even and possibly turns a bit of a profit even after the $50 credit is issued. And that store credit doesn't cost Apple $50, since there is a profit built into every transaction.

Because some users may have bought third-party batteries and others may have switched to non-Apple MP3 players, the settlement should benefit them even if they never purchase another Apple product in their lives. Allowing a company to get away with offering credit at the company store is a sham.

Full article here.



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