iPhone owners to receive Apple refunds

In a move that speaks to the ongoing negotiation between corporate power and consumer trust, Apple has announced it will issue refunds to iPhone owners — a formal acknowledgment that something, somewhere in the relationship between the company and its users, requires correction. The announcement, spare in its details, leaves open the questions of who qualifies, how much they are owed, and what prompted the gesture in the first place. Such moments remind us that even the most dominant institutions must occasionally turn back toward those they serve, however quietly.