Italian consumer association sues Apple for ‘planned obsolescence’ : Apple World Today

Another day, another lawsuit. The Italian consumer association, Altroconsumo,  has launched a class action lawsuit against Apple for planned obsolescence, according to Reuters.

In a statement Altroconsumo said it was asking for damages of 60 million euros (about US$73 million) on behalf of Italian consumers “tricked” by the practice which had also been recognized by Italian authorities, the article adds.

Two similar lawsuits against Apple have been filed in Belgium and Spain for the planned obsolescence of iPhones. Apple stated in an email to Reuters that it had never done anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades. The tech giant has argued this before.

Two years ago, it was announced that Apple and Samsung were under investigation by Italy’s antitrust organization for alleged “planned obsolescence” of their products. A statement by the Autorit Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) — as noted by AppleInsider — launching the investigation cites consumer complaints of slower devices such as iPhones after operating system updates. The antitrust group will determine if the tech companies are introducing the updates intentionally to cripple phones, and force Italian citizens to buy new ones.

Also, in January 2018, French prosecutor launched a preliminary investigation of Apple over alleged deception and planned obsolescence of its products following a complaint by a consumer organization. The investigation was led by French consumer fraud watchdog DGCCRF, part of the Economy Ministry