Apple iPhone 4S “Siri” Class Action Lawsuit

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Are you unhappy with Siri? You’re not alone. A federal class action lawsuit claims the voice-activated Siri assistant on the Apple iPhone 4S doesn’t work as advertised, and is simply a ploy to lure customers into paying $100 more for the 4S.

The iPhone Siri class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of consumers who purchased the iPhone 4S because commercials made the voice-activated “Siri” feature seem easy to use and accurate. It claims consumers would not have purchased the more expensive iPhone 4S if they knew the Siri feature did not work as advertised.

The class action lawsuit says Apple began its “deceptive marketing campaign” in October 2011 with press releases touting the Siri feature as an “intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking.” Apple claimed in advertisements that Siri would understand spoken questions and commands, such as asking “Will I need an umbrella this weekend?” or asking it to remind the user of important appointments. In all the ads, Siri quickly gave the users relevant answers.

This is not the same performance users are experiencing in real life, however, the class action lawsuit says.

“[Apple’s] advertisements regarding the Siri feature are fundamentally and designedly false and misleading,” the iPhone 4S Siri class action lawsuit says. The fact that the iPhone 4S is $100 more than the iPhone 4, and that the iPhone 4S’s Siri feature does not perform as advertised, renders the iPhone 4S “merely a more expensive iPhone 4.”

The class action lawsuit says Apple “had actual or constructive knowledge of the iPhone 4S’s shortcomings prior to its distribution” but buried this fact in the Apple website with the vague sentence: “Siri is currently in beta and we’ll continue to improve it over time.”

The class action lawsuit claims Apple exploited the fact that consumers trusted Apple’s ads depicting Siri as reliable and worth paying the extra money to have. “If Plaintiff and Class had been aware of these suppressed facts, Plaintiff and Class would not have purchased the iPhone 4S at the price sold by Defendants,” the complaint states.

The iPhone 4S Siri class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of all persons in the United States who purchased, for use and not resale, an Apple iPhone 4S. It is seeking restitution, statutory and compensatory damages, and injunctive relief for intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, breach of warranty, unfair competition, and violations of California consumer law.

A copy of the Apple iPhone 4S “Siri” False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit can be read here.

The case is Frank M Fazio v. Apple, Inc., Case No. 12-cv-1127, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, San Jose Division.

UPDATE: On May 3, 2016, Apple urged the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals not to reconsider a determination that consumer complaints about Siri’s speech recognition capabilities were too vague to justify a class action lawsuit.

UPDATE 2: On May 26, 2016, reaffirming their previous dismissal order, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel voted to deny a Class request for rehearing of a putative class complaint against Apple that accuses the company of misrepresenting the speech capabilities of its iPhone 4S product.