Apple to face lawsuit over iMessage issues

Recently Apple launched a tool on their website which allows users to deregister iMessage from their phone number. This is to ensure that messages sent to users will arrive as SMS, especially if they’re using another platform like Android, Windows Phone, or BlackBerry that does not support iMessage. This came about after many users complained that they were not receiving their text messages after switching from iOS to a different platform. Well it seems too little too late because according to a report from Reuters, Judge Lucy Koh has granted the lawsuit filed earlier this year to proceed.

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) was ordered to face a U.S. federal lawsuit claiming it failed to tell consumers that its messaging system would block them from receiving text messages if they switched to Android-based smartphones from iPhones. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California said Apple must face plaintiff Adrienne Moore’s claim that the message blocking interfered with her contract with Verizon Wireless (VZ.N) for wireless service, which she kept after switching in April to a Samsung (005930.KS) Galaxy S5 from an iPhone 4. Moore, who seeks class-action status and unspecified damages, claimed that Apple failed to disclose how its iOS 5 software operating system would obstruct the delivery of “countless” messages from other Apple device users if iPhone users switched to non-Apple devices. In a Monday night decision, Koh said Moore deserved a chance to show Apple disrupted her wireless service contract and violated a California unfair competition law, by blocking messages meant for her.