64,000 S.Korean iPhone users file class action suit for damages against Apple

SEOUL, March 30  — About 64,000 South Korean iPhone users lodged the country’s biggest-ever class action lawsuit against Apple for damages worth tens of millions of U.S. dollars, Yonhap news agency reported Friday.
Hannuri, a local law firm which represents 63,767 iPhone users here, filed the class action lawsuit with the Seoul Central District Court against Apple and Apple Korea, the local unit of the U.S. iPhone manufacturer.
The iPhone customers demanded the damages of 200,000 won (188 U.S. dollars) per plaintiff, or 12.75 billion won (12 million U.S. dollars) in total.
It was the country’s biggest-ever class action suit in history. Around 400,000 iPhone customers originally sought to join the legal action, but the number fell in the course of verifying identification and offering necessary documents, according to the report.
Apple was accused of slowing down old iPhones through software tweak to make users buy new ones once a new model is released.
The iPhone maker claimed that its software intentionally slowed some models under certain circumstances to protect them from automatically shutting down.
The Hannuri was quoted as saying that though Apple recognized the underperformance of iPhones via iOS upgrade, it covered up the truth in offering the software to hide faulty battery, prevent customer secession and promote the sale of new models.
Civic group activists, which represent 122 and 401 iPhone users each, filed their respective class action suits against Apple and Apple Korea in mid-January and early March for damages worth 2.2 million won (2,070 U.S. dollars) per person.

XINHUA