Apple Lawsuit Filed Over Misdirected Text Messages
posted Sunday May 18, 2014 by Scott Ertz
One of the many annoyances I encountered during my week with an iPhone was at the end of my experiment. When I was through with the phone and switched back to my Windows Phone, I noticed something odd: some of my text messages were delivered to the Windows Phone, while others were being delivered to the iPhone, which was now in Wi-Fi-only mode.
After a little investigation, I discovered that it was other iPhones that were delivering to the wrong device. I looked around a little bit and found that iMessage was on, which meant that communications with Apple devices didn't happen via SMS, but rather through Apple's servers. This was happening, despite the source of the initial message being SMS, meaning that it was not on an iMessage-enabled device.
Luckily for me, I still had the iPhone, and it was still powered on. Had I sold it, or destroyed it as I had wanted to, I am not certain I could disable the iMessage service. Unfortunately, not everyone has the scenario I did. Currently, the only two known solutions to the problem involve turning off iMessage before the switch (or after if you're lucky) or having each iPhone user with your contact information remove your phone number and re-add it, hopefully breaking the iMessage connection.
Unfortunately, both of the solutions are slightly theoretical, as some users have still seen their messages vanish into the Apple ether. Enter a new lawsuit filed against the company, alleging that Apple has known about this issue and done nothing to solve the issue. Having launched the service in 2011, with complaints starting shortly after, Apple has had more than enough time to fix the problem.
This has been a solved problem since before the introduction of iMessage, however. Windows Phone and webOS have had multiple messaging platforms integrated into their systems since at least 2009, meaning they had to have dealt with message source and destination. Considering Apple hired several developers from Palm after the HP buyout, it would seem they already have the expertise to fix it.
So, why hasn't the problem been fixed? Laziness on the part of Apple? A lack of respect for the people who have spent money on their products? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
