Lawyers eye iPhone 'death grip' class-action lawsuit

Not even a week has passed since the new iPhone went on sale, and a California law firm is already trolling for victims of the iPhone 4's "death grip" reception problems.

Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff in Sacramento — known for its lawsuit targeting Facebook and social gaming company Zynga, which allegedly hit Facebook users with unauthorized charges after luring them with "free" offers — is now on the lookout for iPhone 4 users who are experiencing "poor reception quality, dropped calls and weak signals," according to Valleywag.

The law firm's website includes a contact number, e-mail address and even a live chat window for anyone who wants to gripe about the iPhone 4's poor reception.

"We would like to hear form you," the Web page reads, although there's no direct mention of an imminent class-action lawsuit against Apple. Yet.

The news comes amid the growing brouhaha over the iPhone 4's "death grip" problem, in which the phone's bars of AT&T reception may slowly flicker and disappear if you hold the handset near its steel-rimmed bottom-left corner, particularly if you're using the iPhone in a weak signal area.

Wireless experts have pointed out that many phones (including older iPhone models) will lose reception if your hold them the "wrong" way, with your hand too close to the phone's built-in antenna. But the iPhone 4 has drawn special attention because a) it's the iPhone, and b) the redesigned iPhone antenna is built into the stainless-steel band that rings the outer edge of the phone, with a couple of thin gaps on either side of the band and near the bottom that seem particularly vulnerable to being touched.

Of course, Steve Jobs didn't help matters when he told a series of iPhone users via e-mail "just don't hold it that way" and "there are no reception issues" — basically implying that we're the ones with the problem, not the phone.

 Source: Yahoo News