iPhone 4 Class Action Suit

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a big fan of Apple products. They always exceed my expectations and for the most part have always put out quality products. I couldn’t wait to trade in my iPhone 3G for a new iPhone 4 so I pre-ordered it as early as I could. I was one of the lucky ones that punched through.

I noticed the antenna issue right away and the day that most people were lining up to get theirs I was on day #2 of ownership of my new iPhone 4. I made a video and posted it on youtube showing my issue with the antenna before they really came out with a “solution”.

When I got wind of the fact that I needed a case to avoid these reception issues, I was irate. I got wind that the law firm Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff out in Sacramento, CA was filing a class action lawsuit against Apple for the antenna issues. I sent this letter off to Jennifer Wilkinson at the firm, describing my issues.

Hello, I’ve been a fan of Apple products for years and I have owned an iPhone 3G before I pre-ordered the iPhone 4. I was surprised, frustrated, and angry at what I went through when I received my new Apple product. I pre-ordered and got my phone a day ahead and immediately noticed the reception issue when I would hold my iPhone 4 normally.

I’ve tweeted a lot about my issues here: http://twitter.com/ky

At one point to show some of my friends I created a Youtube video showing the issue.

Please keep me update on the status of this lawsuit. I am aggravated by this whole issue. To spend the amount of money I did, get the pre-ordered phone then have to go back into the store (on launch day no less) just to prevent calls from being dropped made me irate. The fact that I had to spend $30 on the Apple Bumper case just to get dependable behavior from my cellphone was the icing on the cake.

In my opinion, Apple has gone beyond what is reasonable for a company selling a consumer product. In their effort to make “pretty” and “beautiful” products I believe they have created a defective one. The mere fact that they created their own case for this current model shows that they knew of the issues and were positioned to capitalize on the very consumer problems they were creating. The phone does not work as advertised and I feel that they’ve taken advantage of me and my wallet. They’ve definitely lost my trust with this latest episode.

Sincerely,
Kyle Bradshaw

Of course after the fact there were all of these articles coming out saying “it’s not that bad”, “every cellphone does it”, etc etc. At the end of the day, in my opinion, they would not have created their own cases unless they knew this would have been an issue. I felt like I was taken advantage of, and that’s not cool.

Hopefully being a part of this class action lawsuit will in the least pay for my $30 Bumper, which probably should have been free in the first place. Btw, have you seen the Bumper? It probably cost $3 to make. Between the required Bumper and vents about iPhone docks – What the dock?, it looks like Apple is all about driving up costs on accessories to pour on the profits.

For the first time in my Apple love-affair, I feel like an iChump.

UPDATE Obviously as you well know now from the public outcry and backlash, Apple has offered FREE Bumpers and cases to all iPhone 4 owners. I have to say, this is what I wanted the whole time (and previously wrote about). Now why they just didn’t do that to begin with we’ll never know. I wonder if their brand will take a hit. I certainly lost confidence in their ability to handle “imperfection”.

Until next time.

No Comments (yet)

2009: The Year I Went Viral

Something crazy and unexpected happened to me this year that I was not ready for. I discovered a new way to peel a banana I had never known before and I wanted to share it with everyone. I ended up sharing it with more people than I ever expected.

How did it happen?

In July, I stayed with my friend for a week in Arlington, VA after a wedding in Maryland. When I was there I wanted to eat a banana that was a bit too ripe I couldn’t just crank the handle back without mashing the banana to pieces. His sister-in-law Brittny was staying with him at the time and was carrying a grilling spatula. I asked her if I could borrow it to make a cut in the rid.

Brittny: “Oh you don’t know how monkeys peel bananas?”

Me: “No..”

Brittny pinches the tip of the banana and opens it from the bottom

MY HEAD EXPLODES

I couldn’t believe it, how did I go through 28 years of life not knowing this? PEOPLE MUST KNOW!!

Share photos on twitter with Twitpic I immediately tweeted my discovery:

“holy crap, I just learned the way monkeys peel a banana (just pinch the end and peel) http://twitpic.com/9n7r3“ 9:08 PM Jul 7th from Tweetie

My friend Alistair re-tweeted and replied.

“DUDE! Youtube it”

It wasn’t until the next morning when I was making breakfast and wanted to put banana in my cereal that I thought about Alistair’s tweet. I should put my discovery on Youtube, why not?

I tweeted

“Dropping some knowledge, my 1st YT how-to video: “Open a Banana Like A Monkey” http://bit.ly/dmIId @F1LT3R thanks for the push :) ” 10:37 AM Jul 8th from Tweetie in reply to F1LT3R

I setup the camera on the counter and recorded the first take, fumbling over my words and massacring English in the process. I uploaded it to Youtube later that afternoon and when my friend Mike came back from work I showed it to him. He got a kick out of it and submitted it to Reddit, he’s pretty active in the community there.

Part of the reason it shot up in Reddit I believe was because the athiest community saw my video as reply to Ray Comforts religious slant on peeling a banana, the monkey method basically blew his line of thought out of the water.

The clip ended up making its rounds in mid July. It was a crazy ride. Eventually around 600k views on YT I was invited to their partner program. I didn’t know I could make $ off of the Youtube clip. Eventually I did up earning a couple hundred bucks for sharing my discovery.

Some Milestones

55th most popular link in 2009 on Reddit!

#55 Most Popular on Reddit

Popular on YT: World-Wide

YouTube Honors

Lifehacker
Featured as a Food Hack

Yahoo Homepage! Twice!
Reuploaded on Yahoo! Video, Voted to Best Videos of ’09

Busch Gardens made a video response
with Kashina, a REAL Gorilla!

I’m on TV in Japan!
NHK Video Clip, transcript

Lots of interesting video responses, some concerning.

Lots of supporting comments. Lots of not-so-nice comments.

Could I do it again? Doubtful

  • No Script, genuine. Just me (in my pj’s)
  • Polarizing subject – you loved it or you hated it. You knew about it or you didn’t.
    MIND = BLOWN or You’re a MORON
  • Monkey Pants (I swear I did not plan that)
  • Killer headline on Reddit “Holy crap, I never realized I was peeling a banana wrong my entire life [Vid]“
  • Timing, released early in the week, went more viral as the week went on
  • Wasn’t the first to do a YT banana peeling video. (I like to think that it was my likeliness that made it catch on like it did)
  • It seemed like a perfect storm of factors brought it together at the end.

Lots of copy-cats. First, my clip was picked up was poached from YT and submitted to Yahoo! It made the front page and got 2mil+ views before I submitted my own original then I contacted them and got it pulled. I got to the homepage again with this resubmission in the best viral videos batch.

I tried to capture screenshots of the craziness as it happened in my Banana Trail Flickr Photoset.

If I were to estimate, between YouTube, Yahoo, all of the articles, and times I saw it refactored & reused I’d say the video received over 10mil+ views worldwide. Maybe more.

That’s Pretty Awesome To Think About

1 Comment

‹ Previous Entries