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Journalism of Courage
Apple has been taken to court by a lawsuit, claiming that the MacBook maker designed flawed keyboards since 2015. This was first spotted by AppleInsider, which also has access to the lawsuit statement. This keyboard, which has a polarised butterfly design, has been used on the company’s MacBook and the 2016 MacBook Pro models. According to the class action lawsuit, Apple apparently knew of the flaws before or at the keyboard’s launch, but did not take any action.
The lawsuit, that has been filed at the Northern District Court of California, says that ‘thousands’ of users have been inconvenienced by the butterfly keyboards. On most occasions, the lawsuit went on to say ‘minimal amount of dust and debris’ was enough for keyboard failure. This would then render ‘one of the core functions’ of the MacBook useless. Due to the defect, MacBook users ‘face a constant threat of non-responsive keys and keyboard failure’. Under the lawsuit, Apple is expected to publicly accept the flaw, as complainants seek damages, legal costs and reimbursements of replacement keyboards and MacBooks from Apple.
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Apple’s butterfly keyboard design first featured in the 12-inch MacBook, launched in 2015. At that time, the company claimed that this was more accurate and precise than other keyboards. At its launch, senior VP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller was quoted saying that the butterfly keyboard was ‘four times more stable than that scissor mechanism’, found across keyboards by other laptop makers. Apple has advertised this keyboard as being more responsive and comfortable than its predecessor.
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The lawsuit also shows a Change.org petition, which cites the keyboard as being ‘inherently flawed’. The petition cites that Apple must replace all laptops with the butterfly keyboard, and had received over 17,000 signatures within a week. Apple has never publicly acknowledged the keyboard flaw, though it did encourage keyboard cleaning using a can of compressed air.
