A few sentences from Apple boss Tim Cook more than five years ago could cost the iPhone company almost half a billion dollars. Apple wants to settle a class action lawsuit that has been running for years with a payment of $490 million, according to court documents from the weekend. In a conference call following the presentation of quarterly figures at the beginning of November 2018, Cook made relatively positive comments about business in China. Two months later, Apple took the unusual step of lowering its revenue forecast by up to $9 billion – and explicitly referred to the slowdown in busin…