Apple coughs up G4 refunds to dissatisfied Danes
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Still denies sudden ibook death syndrome Apple will admit no wrongdoing, but has agreed to return money to Danish customers with allegedly defective iBook G4s.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - Apple has admitted that a manufacturing defect caused power failures in an iBook G4 laptop sold in Denmark and refunded the customer's money, said the country's Consumer Complaints Board. The case is justÂ one of many concerning the iBook G4Â that the board has heard about, Frederik Navne Boesgaard, the complaints board's legal adviser, said Wednesday. Apple also faces a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California concerning a similar problem with the iBook G4. In a complaint filed on Nov. 7, plaintiff Alan Vitt said the computers' motherboards fail at an abnormally high rate. Apple is seeking to have the complaint dismissed -- its filing on that motion is due Thursday -- with the next hearing in the case set for Oct. 4. The Danish complaints board, part of the government-funded National Consumer Agency, published a technical report on faulty iBooks in May. The study found solder joints around a voltage regulator were flawed in such a way as to deteriorate each time the computers were turned on or off, until they would no longer start up. However, using a clamp to apply pressure to the computers' casing, next to the trackpad, closed up the broken joints and allowed the computer to start -- a clear sign of an original design flaw, the study concluded. In response, Apple submitted its own technical report saying that the flaw was not due to cycling the power on and off, but this was not enough to sway the board's decision. Two weeks ago, the board challenged Apple to concede the point and refund the customer's money, or take their customer to court. Apple paid up, said Navne Boesgaard. The complaints board is handling four such cases, and owners of faulty iBook G4s continue to come forward: 15 more have called him in recent days, he said. The faulty iBooks were among the first notebooks using the G4 processor that Apple produced, and had an opaque white casing like their G3 predecessors. The machines examined, the 800MHz Model 9164LL/A and the 1GHz Model 9426LL/A, were introduced in April 2004 and discontinued in October of that year. The board received the complaints between April and November 2006. A spokeswoman for Apple in the U.K. said she believed the case had been settled, but was unable to comment further. Â
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p2pnet.net News:- Britain&#39;s Consumers&#39; Association wants to know why Apple charges its UK users 17% more for downloads that those in the rest of Europe.
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Apple computer is facing an inquiry by the Office of Fair Trading after it was criticised for selling music downloads to UK customers at higher prices than in other European countries.
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El Reg demands an apology Much to our surprise, Apple mavens have revolted against Steve Jobs. And he's trying to appease them.â¦
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Apple has responded to a midnight Wednesday deadline in relation to antitrust concerns over the pricing of songs on its iTunes online music store across different European countries. The European Commission has expressed concerns about Apple setting unfair iTunes pricing prohibiting users in one country from downloading music from a website intended to serve another. A European commission spokesperson said: "They answered yesterday and we are studying [the response] carefully at this point."
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(InfoWorld) - Apple CEO Steve Jobs Thursday afternoon responded to a flood of complaints from existing iPhone owners over Wednesday's $200 price cut by promising the company would issue a $100 credit to anyone who bought an iPhone before the change. "I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale," Jobs said in a statement posted to the Apple Web site. In the open letter addressed to "all iPhone customers," Jobs defended the price cut, saying "now is the right time to do it. iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to 'go for it' this holiday season." He also echoed -- albeit in more circumspect language -- comments made Wednesday in an interview with reporters from USA Today in which he told disgruntled owners "that's what happens in technology." "There is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever," Jobs said Thursday. "This is life in the technology lane." But he tacitly acknowledged that Apple had stumbled. "We need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price," Jobs said in the letter. "Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these." All current iPhone owners with the exception of those eligible for other rebates -- people who purchased an iPhone in the last 14 days, for example, can return it for a refund, minus a 10 percent restocking fee -- will be issued a $100 credit good either at Apple's own retail stores or its online shop, said Jobs. Details were not available, but he promised they would be posted to the Apple site next week. "We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers," he concluded. "We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple." Apple's change of heart was in reaction to the overwhelmingly negative comments that iPhone owners posted to the company's own message forums -- and forums at other Web sites --Â  starting just minutes after the price change announcement Wednesday.
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May return it No, Apple didn't send us an iPhone. Newsweek got one. And The Wall Street Journal. And The New York Times. But Jobs and Co. have a very different attitude towards El Reg. We weren't likely to get an official review unit even before our very own Ashlee Vance publicly questioned the sanity of the company's PR staff. We had to wait in line like everyone else.â¦
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Blog: If you were one of those in line on iPhone Day, Friday is the last day to return the phone to Apple or AT&#38;T for a full refund.
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As Apple puts the finishing touches to its new London store for Saturday&#39;s grand opening, it appears that punters eager to lay their hands on the firm&#39;s iconic iPod music player when the doors open could be disappointed.
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Both the CPSC and Apple advised G4 customers affected by the fault to contact Apple immediately. Apple said it has made provision to supply replacement batteries free of charge by arrangement with the battery&#39;s South Korean manufacturer, ...
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Apple offers compensation to customers who have already bought an iPhone after the firm cut $200 off the price.
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Apple compensates people who have already bought an iPhone - after the firm cut $200 (Â£100) off the price.
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A consumer's group said Wednesday it has complained to government regulators about the cost of downloading music from Apple's iTunes system.
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The Consumer Association has today complained to the UKâs Office of Fair Trading that downloading tracks from Appleâs iTunes costs UK consumers more than their counterparts in France and Germany.
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Apple has asked anyone who has a certain 15in PowerBook G4 models to return the battery, which could be faulty. The recall follows four complaints made to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission regarding batteries that have overheated.
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A&#160;class-action suit filed against Apple&#160;alleges the company unfairly uses technological restrictions with its iPod line and iTunes Music Store to beat out competitors.