Accused of misleading consumers about the 4G capabilities of its latest iPad in Australia, Apple is taking the country’s regulators down with putting up a controversial argument on saying Australian regulators that you’re branding it wrong. According to The Australian, Apple earlier argues that: The descriptor ’4G’ … conveys to consumers in Australia that the iPad with WiFi + 4G will deliver a superior level of service in terms of data transfer speed (consistent with accepted industry and regulatory use of that term), and not that the iPad with WiFi + 4G is compatible with any particular network technology promoted by a particular mobile service provider in Australia.
Apple claims that Australian networks are mislabeled, not the iPad. The existing 3G networks operated by Telstra, Optus and Vodafone can be called “4G networks in accordance with accepted industry and regulatory use of the descriptor ‘4G,” Apple said. The statement is in response to earlier an earlier assertion from the ACCC that by including “4G” in the iPad’s branding it misled buyers into thinking that the device would operate on existing Australian 4G networks.
The ACCC believes the branding of the device as “iPad Wi-Fi + 4G” in Australia is misleading to consumers because the new iPad cannot access any 4G LTE networks in Australia. As a result, the commission is trying to have Apple rename the device. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that planned communication and discussion between the two groups came and went without any decision being reached. Although Apple agreed to contact people who had bought an iPad to make sure they knew they could have money refunded.
