Over two months ago, in March, The Wall Street Journal reported on a lawsuit filed against Apple by a customer who claimed that Siri (the virtual personal assistant exclusive to the iPhone 4S) wasn’t then, and still isn’t, what the company made it out to be.
The customer’s main quibble was, and presumably still is, Apple’s “misleading and deceptive” marketing tactics and advertising campaigns for the new feature. In two separate inquires for obtaining directions to a store, and locating it, ”Siri either did not understand what Plaintiff was asking, or, after a very long wait time, responded with the wrong answer”.
More recently, Apple reportedly filed a motion to dismiss the case and provided a rebuttal to the Plaintiff’s claims and accusations (via WSJ):
They offer only general descriptions of Apple’s advertisements, incomplete summaries of Apple’s website materials, and vague descriptions of their alleged—and highly individualized—disappointment with Siri. Tellingly, although Plaintiffs claim they became dissatisfied with Siri’s performance “soon after” purchasing their iPhones, they made no attempt to avail themselves of Apple’s 30-day return policy or one-year warranty—which remains in effect. Instead, they seek to take an alleged personal grievance about the purported performance of a popular product and turn it into a nationwide class action under California’s consumer protection statutes. The Complaint does not come close to meeting the heavy burden necessary to sustain such claims.
Meanwhile, Apple continues to market Siri as an amazing, linguistic super-assistant as if the lawsuit was never filed. In fact, Apple has turned to well known celebrities Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschanel for the latest commercials in their Siri marketing campaign.
Stay tuned for more coverage on the situation as it develops and for more Apple related news.
