A class action style lawsuit is being launched against Apple, who may have to cough up A$1.33 billion for throttling iPhones.

The action is being filed in the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London by consumer rights campaigner Justin Guttman, who accuses the company of “abusing its market dominance to engage in exploitative and unfair commercial practices” by releasing a power management software update in January 2008, in iOS 2.1 that actually throttled the phone’s performance.

The litigation is being paid for by Balance Legal Capital, and follows similar suits in Europe.

“Instead of doing the honourable and legal thing by their customers and offering a free replacement, repair service or compensation, Apple instead misled people by concealing a tool in software updates that slowed their devices by up to 58 per cent,” Guttman said.

“I’m launching this case so that millions of iPhone users across the UK will receive redress for the harm suffered by Apple’s actions. If this case is successful, I hope dominant companies will re-evaluate their business models and refrain from this kind of conduct.

“Although none of the European actions have yet been successful, Apple has been fined by the French and Italian regulators in relation to this conduct and has settled a number of class actions in the US,” a spokesperson for Guttman explained.

“Mr Gutmann understands that consumer law class actions have been certified in Canada and Spain; and that class actions have been filed (but not yet certified) in Belgium, Italy and Portugal.”