Apple iPhone 4 antennagate lawsuit comes to close

Antennagate lawsuit is finally settled. Apple iPhone 4 users had been dogged with antenna problems that had hampered the connectivity of iPhone 4, even dampening much of their ecstasy over the launch of Siri. Since then, innumerable users had complained to no avail, with Apple coming out with strange but suggestions to users like holding their iPhones differently while making calls.

This was followed by lawsuits that turned into one of the many legal problems hounding the ‘Jobs-less’ Apple. The legal war over antenna has finally been settled and all the users who had been frustrated by the lame antenna excuses will now be reimbursed in the form of $15 by Apple. Some have already been reimbursed. So, calculating according to the popularity of iPhones in the world, Apple will lose in reimbursements to its loyal clients to the tune of over $400 million


.The settlement was confirmed by lawyer Ira Rothken who said that users can now choose between $15 and an Apple bumper case. The settlement is part of a deal that would settle more than a dozen different lawsuits, which was heard on Friday by Judge Ronald Whyte of the US District Court for the Northern District of California, in San Jose

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And all this began way back in 2010, when some new iPhone buyers complained of poor reception and a high number of dropped calls. The complaints included misleading and inaccurate signal strength display. When Apple’s suggestion of holding the phone differently was not taken by iPhone users as an advice for sane and respectable iPhone users, Apple offered as placating candies either a free bumper case or a full refund. But by then users had already been irked (perhaps by the advice of holding their phones like loony toons characters) of it and filed a lawsuit

.Apple was accused of ‘unfair competition, false and misleading advertising, breach of warranty and acting deceptively to sell a product, as well as violating an act compelling manufacturers to replace defective devices or refund customers’ money’.Each lawsuit claimed that Apple was “misrepresenting and concealing material information in the marketing, advertising, sale, and servicing of its iPhone 4 – particularly as it relates to the quality of the mobile phone antenna and reception and related software.”More than 21 million users had already been potentially affected by the reception issues. And since most iPhone users already owned a bumper, half of the offered became stale candy.Now that the case has been settled, Apple is in the process of setting uip a website where the complaints can be lodged to get the settlement amount or bumper.Tech website CNet claims that 18 separate lawsuits were consolidated into one relating to the ‘Antennagate’ handset signal performance issue.So, if you are one of the owners of iPhone 4, you just have to wait for iPhone4Settlement.com website to go live in a few weeks.