After years of positive hype surrounding its snazzily designed gadgets and Macs, Apple (AAPL: sentiment, chart, options) has proven in the past couple of months that it can do negative PR just as well. From the MobileMe failure, to activation troubles, to dropped 3G connections, the company has run the gamut on its newest iPhone offering. As such, the latest news on the iPhone 3G front should come as no surprise. According to Ars Technica, Apple has now been hit with a class-action lawsuit over the new iPhone.

Alabama resident Jessica Alena Smith filed the suit on Tuesday, alleging that the iPhone's 3G performance and reliability is extremely poor, despite Apple's claims to the contrary. As Ars notes, "Considering that a true fix has yet to be issued for users' 3G problems, this could just be the tip of the iPhone lawsuit iceberg."

AAPL shares appear to be fatigued under the negative press. The shares are off more than 3% from their August 14 peak, just before the negative media blitz began. The stock has found some support in the 172 region, but today's breach of the equity's 10-week moving average could signal that additional losses are on the horizon.