Apple has failed to reach agreement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over the naming of the new iPad
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the ACCC initially took Apple to task in March after it: ‘failed to respond to its concerns that the name of its new tablet – iPad Wifi + 4G – would mislead Australian consumers.’
Although the iPad WiFi+ 4G does make use of 4G (LTE) connectivity in North America, countries elsewhere (including Australia and the UK) can’t actually make use 4G.
The iPad 4G’s LTE radio is geared to work with 2100MHz frequency bands used by AT&T in the U.S. and although Australian carrier Telstra also offers its customers LTE support, the frequency bands in use do not correlate with those in the iPad. Confusingly another Australian 4G carrier, Vividwireless uses WiMAX, an altogether different technology sometimes being branded as ‘4G’.
Apple initially emailed customers who had bought the new iPad, informing them that although it does support faster speeds, it doesn’t support 4G.
That wasn’t enough to prevent Apple being taken to court by the Australian Competition and Consumer watchdog, where neither side could reach agreement. This isn’t really a surprise, we can’t see Apple renaming it’s new iPad after a very expensive launch and advertising campaign.
SlashGear has reported that another mediation session is scheduled for April 18th and a trial for May 2nd. Apple’s woes might not end there as the factors in play in this instance, could translate to a number of other territories across the globe. We’ll bring you more news when we get it.
If you’re confused by the iPad 4G issue, find out more in What is 4G? Will the new iPad work with 4G in the UK?
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