iPhone News Updated

Get Ready for June 11, iPhone and iPad Owners

This may be a minority viewpoint — in fact, I’m positive it’s a minority viewpoint — but I get far more excited about new versions of Apple’s iOS than I do about new iPhones and iPads. There’s only so much Apple can do to reinvent hardware that will always consist of thin slabs of glass and metal, but the potential to improve iOS is infinite.

So I’m excited about the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference, or WWDC for short. The company announced that it was holding the 2012 edition starting on June 11 in San Francisco this morning — presumably kicking off with a big keynote with lots of news — less than two hours later, the event sold out.

Read the rest of this entry »

iPhone Users Sue AT&T For ‘Aiding and Abetting’ Smartphone Thieves

On Monday, the FCC, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile announced a stunningly-obvious plan to combat smartphone theft: the creation of a national database to keep track of stolen phones and to deny service on any network to a phone that’s been reported stolen by its original owner. The hope is that thieves will be discouraged from stealing if inappropriately-acquired smartphones are rendered dumb. (Details on how it would work here.)

A class action lawsuit filed in California on Tuesday, though, alleges that AT&T is liable for not doing this within its own network earlier. Hilary White, Jeff Pello and Natalie Warren have all had their iPhones stolen, and they think AT&T didn’t do enough to get them back.

AT&T has “[made] millions of dollars in improper profits, by forcing legitimate customers, such as these Plaintiffs, to buy new cell phones, and buy new cell phone plans, while the criminals who stole the phone are able to simply walk into AT&T stories and ‘re-activate’ the devices, using different, cheap, readily-available ‘SIM’ cards,” states their complaint (PDF via Courthouse News Service) which alleges violations of California consumer and business laws, including conspiracy, fraud, breach of contract, accessory to theft, and unfair trade.

The plaintiffs claim that AT&T has willfully aided and abetted the thieves because the company knows that the deprived owners will simply buy new devices. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this complaint. When I was reporting on software to track and shame electronics-stealing thieves, I spoke with a San Francisco police officer, Marc Hinch, who runs Stolen911, a database for stolen goods. He made the point that many stolen devices, from phones to your Sony Playstation, by virtue of being connected to networks are trackable by the companies that provide them. “There’s no corporate incentive to track them or to ensure they’re returned to their owners, though,” said Hinch. “Because that person is just going to buy a new device, resulting in more sales.”

Read the rest of this entry »