San Francisco - A former iPhone user sued Apple claiming the company’s messaging system interfered with delivery of texts after she switched to an Android-based smartphone.
Apple’s iMessage retains text messages sent from other users of Apple devices and won’t deliver them to her Samsung Electronics phone running on Google’s Android operating system, Adrienne Moore said in the complaint filed yesterday in San Jose, California.
People who replace their Apple devices with non-Apple wireless phones and tablets are “penalised and unable to obtain the full benefits of their wireless-service contracts,” according to the complaint.
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, has battled smartphone manufacturers in court, most recently in a patent lawsuit against Samsung in San Jose.
Apple accused Samsung of infringement based in large part on its use of Android-based features.
Google, meanwhile, is pushing for a bigger piece of the wireless phone market with new features and updates to attract more users.
The efforts helped the search-engine company claim more than 75 percent of the smartphone industry at the end of last year, according to Gartner.
The text-messaging lawsuit, which seeks class-action status and undetermined damages, claims Apple failed to disclose that switching to a device other than one running on Apple’s iOS operating system would result in the interference.
The suit is based on contractual interference and unfair competition laws.
Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The case is Moore v. Apple Inc., 14-cv-02269, US District Court for the Northern District of California (San Jose). - Bloomberg News