Apple and AT&T sued for selling too many iPhones

As complaints over dropped calls and slow performance continue to nag Apple following its iPhone 3G launch, at least one man has become angry enough to file a lawsuit, saying that Apple and AT&T have misled consumers by not just selling a device that "requires too much power" but that the two companies have sold so many devices that they are now flooding the AT&T network and slowing it down for everyone.

The idea of flooding a cellular network isn't far-fetched, but so far there's only limited evidence that this is really happening. (I expect we won't likely know the extent of any such issue until iPhone 3G sales start to peak.) But the litigious William Gills has this response covered too, saying that even without the flooding, Apple has exaggerated performance data since the launch of the first iPhone, complaining that it never performed as well as the company said it would even on the old EDGE network.

For its part, Apple has defended performance on the handsets and as "great," but this is actually the second lawsuit the company has attracted in the last couple of weeks from upset buyers. Both suits appear to be seeking class action status.

While every new product invariably seems to attract lawsuits when expectations don't measure up exactly to what was promised in advertising, the iPhone has sold so many handsets so quickly that it's getting more than its fair share of attention from the legally minded.

There's no telling whether these suits will stick, but given the growing mountain of gripes on the web, it's hard to imagine we won't see Apple and AT&T offering some kind of settlement to iPhone buyers down the road. (My bet for what they'll eventually get in, oh, three years or so: a $10 credit at the iTunes Store.)