Apple Watch marketing rethink prompted by warranty legal challenge
Apple has been forced to rethink its marketing strategy for the Apple Watch after being successfully sued for failing to honour its own warranty in a small claims court ruling.
The case saw the technology giant ordered to refund the $489 cost of an Apple Watch Sport (plus $618 in expenses) to Gareth Cross after he complained that his ‘impact-resistant’ watch had developed a crack in its glass cover just 10 days after purchase.
Despite it being well within the warranty period Apple refused to replace the device, prompting Cross to seek legal redress.
Speaking to the BBC Cross said: “I hadn't even been doing anything strenuous, just sitting around watching TV. When I got to work the hairline crack had got bigger and bigger so I called Apple up to get it repaired."
The Sport iteration of Apple’s smartwatch is less durable than the regular version, despite the name, as it makes use of an inferior ‘Ion-X’ glass and aluminium body instead of a sapphire screen and steel, allowing it to be sold at a $200 discount.