Both federal cases follow similar arguments, stating that AT&T and Apple sales representatives deceived the plaintiffs over the availability of MMS functions, according to the complaints. The Illinois lawsuit is based on alleged violations of the Illinois Deceptive Trade Practices Act, while the Louisiana case is based on alleged violations of the Louisiana Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Despite claims that iPhone 3.0 software, released June 17, would provide MMS for the iPhone 3G and 3GS, the service remains unavailable until late summer, Meeker's complaint says. (The iPhone 3GS .) "The only excuse offered by AT&T and Apple is a mouseprint disclaimer on the website[s], in barely readable font, which reads "MMS support from AT&T coming in late summer," the Meeker lawsuit says.

Meeker bought an iPhone 3G on March 13 at an AT&T store in Fairview Heights, Ill., and asked if MMS was provided. The store representative "misrepresented and/or concealed, suppressed, or omitted facts as to the iPhone and MMS functionality," according to the complaint. When he tried to download MMS with the 3.0 upgrade, the MMS did not work. He was told by an Apple customer service rep that AT&T had not upgraded its towers and would not do so until late summer.

Meeker also never saw the disclaimer on the Apple or AT&T Web sites and was therefore "damaged in that for many months he had been unable to send MMS messages."

Meeker probably represents a class of at least 100,000 people, according to the complaint.