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iPhone-stroker-turned-fandroid sues Apple over iMessage text-slurpery

Android convert alleges she can't get texts from Apple mates

A former iPhone fan is suing Apple over claims that its iMessage service withholds texts sent to her new Samsung mobile by her iPhone-fondling pals.

Adrienne Moore has taken the fruity firm to court in the US for a (potentially class action) suit over the messaging service, which she says fails to deliver texts to former iMessage users if they keep their number but switch platforms.

She's looking for damages of up to $5m – but that could be increased if other complainants join the action and the suit is successful.

Moore alleges that iMessage has her texts but won’t deliver them after she switched from an iPhone 4 to a Samsung Galaxy S5, which runs Android. Her complaint claims former Apple users are being “penalised” and couldn’t get “the full benefits of their wireless service contracts” because they had been signed up to iMessage.

Since iOS 5, Apple has been using the iMessage service to deliver ordinary texts from people if those folks also have Apple devices and use the iMessage service. This is in addition to the free messages people can send from Apple-to-Apple over Wi-Fi or using mobile data.

According to Moore’s filing, the problem occurs when people then switch to another mobile phone operating system.

“Unbeknownst and undisclosed to Plaintiff, however, once she decided to replace her Apple iPhone 4 device with a Samsung Galaxy S5, Apple’s iMessage service and Message application still acted so as to not deliver incoming text messages sent to her by Apple device users to her same cellular telephone number, but that was now associated with a non-Apple device (ie, her Samsung S5 device),” the filing alleged.

Moore claimed in her filing that Apple was indifferent to the problem. “So pervasive is the problem that a number of public internet fora have been launched where former Apple device owners have posted their experiences and complaints online in the hope of getting the matter resolved,” the filing claimed.

Moore is looking for damages on the basis that people are paying their wireless carriers for a service they’re allegedly not getting as well as an injunction forcing Apple to fix the iMessage service.

The Reg asked Apple for comment, but hadn’t heard back at the time of publication. ®

The case is Moore v Apple Inc 5:2014cv02269 and is being heard in the California Northern District Court.

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