One thing is certain: When you build a multibillion dollar multinational company, you can bet the sharks will be after you. Indeed, Apple’s SEC filings routinely list a number of lawsuits in which they’re involved. Some they’ve filed, and others have been filed against them for various real or imagined offenses.

Some of these lawsuits aspire to class-action status, claiming that Apple has somehow done something to injure a specific group of customers, and they must be compelled by the courts to pay for their horrible misdeeds.

Recently, one Jessica Alena Smith of Alabama got in the act, filing a 10-page complaint alleging that the iPhone’s 3G network was not as fast as claimed. The action was very much inspired by Apple’s own ads for their hot-selling gadget, promising twice the performance of the original iPhone.

Actually, Apple’s own site claims a performance boost of 2.4 times, but they also have some very specific terms and conditions in the fine print that provide them with plenty of wiggle room: “Throughput depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, 3G/EDGE connectivity, feature configuration, usage, the Internet, and many other factors. Throughput tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary.”

What this means is that there’s no guarantee that you’ll get the same speed boost, and even if you do, it may vary as you travel from place to place. Even such issues as excessive network traffic and weather conditions may conspire to impair performance.

Story continued in this week’s Tech Night Owl Newsletter.

This article was posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 6:15 PM and is filed under News and tagged with: 3g, Apple, bug, configuration, daniel lyons, Dr Mac, Edge, Firmware, Germany, Iphone, iPhone 2.0, Live Radio, Mac User, Night Owl, Paycheck, performance, Phoenix, Prolific Author, Steve Jobs, Throughput, Washington Post.