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Nano lawsuit to damage Apple's reputation?

updated 05:10 pm EDT, Mon October 24, 2005

Nano lawsuit harmful?

The recent lawsuit filed against Apple regarding iPod nano's allegedly fragile screen has some analysts questioning whether the by throwing it from a speeding vehicle at highway speeds, and some Apple fans believe that the latest court case is "a good example of another frivolous lawsuit in a society where many such lawsuits exist." The iPod is "still the name" in MP3 players according to an article from Motley Fool, but despite Apple's reputation for producing elegant products, the Apple brand could receive "a few scratches" as a result, according to the article.

by MacNN Staff

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dashiel
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2001

0

10/24, 06:44pm | report spam | close Reply |
more fool than motley

alyce lomax is a hack, she's the same "analyst" who predicted that the nano wouldn't be very successful. she's looking for holes where none exist; to what end i'm not sure, she doesn't own apple stock, but perhaps she owns dell or creative. regardless, apple stock has risen a good 3-4% over the last couple of days. imo, her behavior borders on the unethical.

jhorvatic
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Joined: Apr 2005

0

10/24, 07:11pm | report spam | close Reply |
Anything can scratch

Anything can scratch if you abuse it and don't protect it. This is a frivolous lawsuit that should be thrown out on its ear. Apple said that any screen defects would be replaced free of charge with a new nano. What the h*** more do people want. Just someone trying to get rich quick through wasting the courts time.

olePigeon
Clinically Insane

Joined: Dec 1999

0

10/24, 07:11pm | report spam | close Reply |
Oh noos!!!

Motley Fool's badmouthing Apple? I won't believe it! The thought is just... revolting.

pascalpp
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

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10/24, 07:16pm | report spam | close Reply |
my nano cracked

my nano cracked inexplicably, while in my front pocket with nothing other than my (soft) wallet. i pulled it out and there was a huge purple bruise covering the screen. no trauma had occurred to it that i could recall. it may have been under some small pressure, but my pants aren't that tight!

anyway, i called apple and initially the rep told me they wouldn't be able to help me with an LCD problem. i pushed a little and said i had read that this was a known problem, and he said hold on and he would do some research. a couple minutes later he came back and told me they would send me a replacement free of charge.

as is usual for apple repairs and replacements, they are sending me a box overnight. i only have to put my broken nano in the box and call DHL to come pick it up. once apple receives the broken unit, they'll ship my replacement. all at no charge to me, and overall in about 5 days time. not so bad.

jayparry
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Joined: Aug 2005

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10/24, 07:21pm | report spam | close Reply |
Thoughts

If anyone's reputation should get a few scratches it should be those who published this article. As for "throwing things from a speeding vehicle at highway speeds," we should try doing that to those who filed this lawsuit.

Then when they recover they will more than likely sue the automakers for making devices that "travel at highway speeds."

windsurfer_nyc
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Joined: Sep 2004

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10/24, 07:27pm | report spam | close Reply |
LOL

Is that why AAPL was up $1.10 today, setting a new 52-week (and all-time) record??

Eriamjh
Addicted to MacNN

Joined: Oct 2001

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10/24, 07:35pm | report spam | close Reply |
Everybody sues Apple...

It hasn't hurt their reputation one bit.

Feathers
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: Oct 1999

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10/24, 07:53pm | report spam | close Reply |
Funding the lawsuit?

Wonder who's funding the lawsuit, the same folks that are underwriting SCO's specious claims. I think the smell is coming from Redmond!

jpellino
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Joined: Oct 1999

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10/24, 10:02pm | report spam | close Reply |
well...

anyone with a claim and a lawyer willing to work on contingency can file a suit. if analysts are reacting to this on its face they're not being very analytical.

these guys and their lawyers are playing the odds. if they get a judge who's not willing to throw it out, the obscene damage request will simply serve to bring apple to the settlement table. the first litigant does seem to be acting like someone out of touch and bulletproof. i believe he'll remain the former and not the latter once he starts dancing with apple's legal eagles.

as for wear and tear, there's two things i'd never do with this thing - put it in a pants pocket and wipe it with a paper towel. you will not recall feeling the sort of force that can crack the guts of an LCD, and paper towels have small wood particles in them - this lecture you got when you bought your eyeglasses.

LouZer
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Joined: Nov 2000

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10/24, 11:06pm | report spam | close Reply |
What's new?

Apple's has produced a boatload of crappy and ill-performing/defective products, and people still think they've got this "Quality is Job One" type of mentality. Think I'm overblowing it, well just ask those people who own those defective iBooks, or defective iMacs, or defective eMacs, or defective G5 towers, or defective powerbooks. Hey, wait, I think that's their entire computer line! (Oh, sorry, I don't think the mini has been claimed as defective. Oh, my mistake, the video out didn't work with all VGA monitors correctly.)

lazarus001
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Joined: Aug 2005

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10/25, 12:00am | report spam | close Reply |
What a joke...

I threw a pair of Ars Technica Employees from a car at highway speeds and they were completely torn apart. How am I supposed to use them now? If they can't survive this simple test they must be worthless.

Dinoone
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Joined: Oct 2005

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10/25, 02:42am | report spam | close Reply |
Pumice powder in pockets

Have you ever considered that current jeans are often aged using pumice stones washes?
Most of the times when you put your hands in new jeans you find pumice powder in them, very abrasive.
So the fault with iPod Nanos is that they are really pocketable, and that pockets are filled with abrasive powder these days.
Ciao,
Dino.

blidd
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Joined: Sep 2003

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10/25, 03:21am | report spam | close Reply |
Louzer

your are one negative apple hating guy are you not. Apple does not suffer any more defect than any other well known brand selling comparible computers. I work for an reseller that sells IBM, HP Apple and Fujitsu Siemes computers They to has defects but the defects on all of these are small compared to the number of machines that goes through our system.

rtbarry
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Joined: Aug 2001

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10/25, 03:36am | report spam | close Reply |
LouZer...

phonetically, the name says it all. just pissed you haven't owned apple stock (or kickass products) over the laster several years? you'd be smiling like me if you had :-)

Drakino
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: Apr 2001

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10/25, 05:28am | report spam | close Reply |
Who owns a nano?

All the people who keep posting "well, things scratch" must not actually own a nano.

I have owned a RAZR phone now for 2 months, being pocketed daily. After that time, the plastic part on the outer LCD screen has exactly zero visible scratches. The surface under it is black, similar to the Nano, so a scratch would show up.

My Nano in the same pocket condition saw severe scratches on both the front and back sides after two days.

I personally don't care if Apple says the Nano is made from the same materials as the other iPods. It's a device that should be pocketable, and survive such an experience. I stopped carrying my Nano around, but if I hadn't, I'd estimate I'd only have about 1 or 2 more months before the screen would become unreadable. The device is not properly designed to be used outside of a carrying case. It also did not include such a device. To me, that justifies the lawsuit in a minor way, though I still thing the guy is insane for what he wants out of it.

Also, for the record, my 2 year old Rio Karma player has one noticeable scratch on it's plastic face, and some minor blemishes to the back. Nothing that impedes the operation, and this is after some pocket use, lots of travel in my laptop bag, and several motorcycle rides with it inside my motorcycle jacket. All without a carrying case. If normal iPods are truly built the same as the Nano, I think the Nano will be my last Apple music player.

eswinson
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Joined: Jul 2002

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10/25, 09:13am | report spam | close Reply |
cube

There was originally a molding defect with the original G4 Cubes. A few people made a big stink about it and some got units replaced, however I don't think it hurt apple's reputation one bit. Most people don't even remembr what they had for breakfast much less what class action lawsuites are going on.

LouZer
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Joined: Nov 2000

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10/25, 01:23pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Louzer

your are one negative apple hating guy are you not.

No, just pointing out that Apple already has a slew of issues, several of which they've had to cover in repair programs (their effort to avoid a recall). Of course, they also don't publicize some of their repair programs, but that's neither here nor there.

All I'm saying is that every line of Apple's computers have seen their share of serious quality issues. And as such, since that hasn't hurt their image, why should scratching nanos hurt it (although since Apple is now an iPod company first, computer company second, maybe it will).

Apple does not suffer any more defect than any other well known brand selling comparible computers. I work for an reseller that sells IBM, HP Apple and Fujitsu Siemes computers They to has defects but the defects on all of these are small compared to the number of machines that goes through our system.

I never said other manufacturers were better. Or that Apple had more defects. I was just pointing out that their track record isn't the pristine "oh, Apple is great, its the user's fault" image some like to pretend.

just pissed you haven't owned apple stock (or kickass products) over the laster several years? you'd be smiling like me if you had :-)

Well, I own Apple stock, have owned apple stock in the past, and probably will in the future. That's neither here nor there. Crappy products is crappy products (oh, besides being defective, Apple has, of late, really released some lame-a** updates as well, finally getting an update to the G5s long after it needed it). Dell has crappy products, and their stock is doing fine too. One doesn't equate to the other.

Oh, and I do own several macs, from an iBook G3 (yes, I'm on my third motherboard), and a 2.3GHz dual G5 (which was a computer I was waiting years for and finally gave up and bought, since who knew when Apple was ever going to improve its video or internal architectures (they've finally gotten around to adding a third USB port to the back of the computer! Wow, now I could actually plug in a keyboard, UPS, AND printer. Sure, no scanner, no cable for my camera or USB hard drives. But that's OK, no one really uses USB anyway, right).

kentuckyfried
Senior User

Joined: Jan 2002

0

10/25, 08:47pm | report spam | close Reply |
asdf

iPods scratch easily in general. Under normal movement in pocket, that's enough abrasion to scratch the silvery surface of the iPod already.

So I'm not at all surprised that the nano scratches like that as well. The stupid thing is that the nano was rolled out without a casing.

From the very start, I had the nano in a glad sandwich bag, and *even* that applied scratches to the nano. So any prospective nano owner should consider putting it in a very soft cloth bag or sock.

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Nano lawsuit to damage Apple's reputation?

updated 05:10 pm EDT, Mon October 24, 2005

Nano lawsuit harmful?

more fool than motley

Anything can scratch

Oh noos!!!

my nano cracked

Thoughts

LOL

Everybody sues Apple...

Funding the lawsuit?

well...

What's new?

What a joke...

Pumice powder in pockets

Louzer

LouZer...

Who owns a nano?

cube

Re: Louzer

asdf

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Nano lawsuit to damage Apple's reputation?

updated 05:10 pm EDT, Mon October 24, 2005

Nano lawsuit harmful?

Related Articles

Recent Articles

more fool than motley

Anything can scratch

Oh noos!!!

my nano cracked

Thoughts

LOL

Everybody sues Apple...

Funding the lawsuit?

well...

What's new?

What a joke...

Pumice powder in pockets

Louzer

LouZer...

Who owns a nano?

cube

Re: Louzer

asdf

Login Here

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