Apple, AT&T sued in the US

Tech giant Apple and telco AT&T are being sued in the US for allegedly violating laws against deceptive trade practices for claiming the new iPhone 3GS model offers MMS messaging.

“Millions of customers, as a result of the false and deceptive representations and concealments of Apple and AT&T, purchased the 3G and 3GS, waiting for the wonderful day in June 2009 when the new application would be available which would allow MMS,” the court filing states. “Unfortunately, after downloading the new 3.0 Software Update application, MMS still did not work on both the 3G and 3GS.”

“The only excuse offered by AT&T and Apple is a mouse print disclaimer on the website, in barely readable type, which reads: ‘MMS Support from AT&T coming in late summer,'” the complaint says.

The Autumn season officially begins on 22 September in the US, which gives both companies a few weeks to meet the deadline. But the lawsuit says the disclaimer given by both companies saying MMS messaging will come “later this summer” is in an almost-unreadable font.

AT&T is currently the only carrier in the US offering iPhone support, so US customers have no option for using the MMS feature of the new 3GS model.