July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

If you’ve ever had an issue with Apple refusing to honor your iPhone or iPod Touch warranty, you could soon have some settlement dollars coming your way.

Apple has agreed to pay $53 million to settle a class action lawsuit in San Francisco, Wired reports.

At issue was Apple’s refusal to cover devices under warranty — either the standard one-year coverage or extended two-year plan — that it believed were water damaged. Warranties for Apple and many other device makers typically cover standard usage malfunctions like cracked screens, but not water damage.

The company relied on white indicator tapes inside of its devices that would turn pink or red upon water contact. But according to 3M, the manufacturer of that indicator tape, humidity can also cause it to turn pink. Now that it’s no longer certain that the tape shows water damage, Apple had no choice but to offer the settlement.

The settlement applies to owners of Apple’s first iPhone up to its 3GS model, as well as the second and third-gen iPod Touch. According to Wired, settlement payouts will be around $200, but could be reduced or doubled depending on how many people make claims.

Photo: Hakan Dahlstrom/Flickr

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about kids it’s that having them is a bad idea. Worse, though, is letting them anywhere near your iPad.

Plenty of parents  learned that the hard way after their young ones racked up absurd charges on their credit cards because of in-app purchases in games like Tap Fish. These games, while presumably free, made it exceedingly easy for kids to spend hundreds of dollars on virtual goods.

The problem was so pervasive that a group of parents sued Apple over it in 2011. Two years later, Apple has reached a settlement, which will give affected parents $5 iTunes credits for their troubles. For claims of amounts over $30, Apple will also offer the option of cash refunds.

The one big drawback? Apple won’t dispense the payments until next year at the earliest, as GigaOM reports, which should temper some of the initial enthusiasm greeting the settlement.

Timeline concerns aside, the big question is how much the settlement is going to cost Apple. Though the final amount will depend on how many people end up filing claims, Apple says it plans to send a notice of the settlement to over 23 million iTunes account holders.