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Apple forced to take off the term 4G from latest iPad

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Apple drawn to court over misleading consumers by marketing the latest iPad as compatible with 4G mobile data networks in Australia.

Apple has faced a legal action and pressure from regulators in Australia and UK to remove the “4G” tag from marketing material of the iPad tablet.

The third generation Apple iPad tablet now has replaced the label “Wi-Fi + 4G” which connects to mobile data networks like Telstra’s with “Wi-Fi + Cellular” on its official website. This modification was done over the weekend not only in Australia but also in the UK and US.

According to Apple’s Australian branch they have decided to use the term Wi-Fi + Cellular for all high speed networks supported by the new iPad.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Advertising Standards Authority of United Kingdom has charged the tech giant of misleading the consumers even though its 4G mobile data networks could not connect in Australia and many other countries. The ACCC has pulled them to the court for any legal action seeking financial penalties, corrective advertising measures and an injunction on the device, preventing it from sale in Australia.

It is known that though the new iPad mobile networks are compatible with 4G or Long Term Evolution (LTE), networks in most part of the world, but in some countries due to different frequency it cannot connect. But it still connects to 3G networks.

In March at Victoria’s Federal Court Apple agreed its flaw and decided to display signs at in-store points of sale and on its website. It will also send an email to the new iPad customers informing them about it and also offered a refund to the customers who bought the iPad before March 28th.

The reason why iPad does not work in Australia because it has produced this iPad for US Telco AT&T which carries 4G speeds at 700 MHz and 2100 MHz frequencies. While Australian network mobile network provider Telstra carries 4G network speeds on the 1800 MHz spectrum and Optus on 700 MHz that will be available to mobile carriers in 2014.

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Pallab Jyotee Hazarika, 2012-05-14 (Update: 2012-05-26)