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Apple Faces $2 Million Fine over '4G' iPad Marketing in Australia

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Apr 12, 2001
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Dow Jones Newswires reports that Apple is facing a fine of roughly $1.9 million to settle a case brought by Australian regulators over Apple's use of the "4G" term in marketing for the new iPad when the device is not compatible with such networks outside of the United States and Canada.
A federal court in Melbourne heard Friday that Apple had agreed to pay A$2.25 million to settle a case brought against it by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The company also has agreed to pay the commission's costs of A$300,000, commission lawyer Colin Golvan told the court.
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Specifically, Australian carrier Telstra has rolled out a 4G LTE network, but due to differences in frequencies used in various countries, the new iPad does not support Telstra's 4G network and must rely on 3G connectivity.

ipad_3_au_ultrafast.jpg

Apple has taken several steps to address the issue internationally, clarifying the language on its site discontinuing the "Wi-Fi + 4G" descriptor on a worldwide basis in favor of "Wi-Fi + Cellular".

Article Link: Apple Faces $2 Million Fine over '4G' iPad Marketing in Australia
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/08/apple-faces-2-million-fine-over-4g-ipad-marketing-in-australia/
Menel said:
Weird. Regulators sound confused, retarded gov't types strike again.

Quick google reveals an article from ZDNET Australia... Telestra, Optus, and Vodafone are 4G/HSPA+ networks.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/vodafone-goes-hspa-before-4g-launch-339332404.htm
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Uh... What's your point? Their networks are not compatible with the new iPad, so there is no service in Australia that can connect with the iPad's 4G hardware. Thus, the iPad effectively doesn't have 4G. That's the point.
 
The problem as I understand it.

Company X makes a device that is Nth generation compatible.
They sell it in Country Y which is at N-1th generation network.
Citizens of Country Y complain because their N-1 network is old technology.
Citizens of Country Y can still use the Nth generation device in other Nth generation network countries.

Aussies, stop whining and spend your legal dollars on upgrading your networks.

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Snowy_River said:
Uh... What's your point? Their networks are not compatible with the new iPad, so there is no service in Australia that can connect with the iPad's 4G hardware. Thus, the iPad effectively doesn't have 4G. That's the point.
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Complete crap. A 5G phone is still a 5G phone whether there is a network it works on.

Analogy, is a BlueRay disc still a BlueRay disc if you don't have a BlueRay player, but instead only a DVD player?
 
I would blame the carrier for using a different frequency. It's the same reason I don't have any sympathy for T-Mobile in the US when they cry about not getting the iPhone. At least T-Mobile is trying to fix the problem themselves.
 
FakeWozniak said:
The problem as I understand it.

Company X makes a device that is Nth generation compatible.
They sell it in Country Y which is at N-1th generation network.
Citizens of Country Y complain because their N-1 network is old technology.
Citizens of Country Y can still use the Nth generation device in other Nth generation network countries.
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Incorrect.

The issue is that the "4G" iPad cannot connect using frequencies that are used for 4G in Australia. The 4G networks in Australia aren't "old technology", they're just using a different frequency.
 
Plutonius said:
Apple will just increase the prices of everything sold in Australia to pay for the fine (i.e. pass it on to the Australian consumer).
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Frankly, if they do then the Australian consumers deserve it. It's not Apple's fault that ALL of the literature and website clearly state that it's carrier-dependent and that people there were too lazy to actually read.
 
FakeWozniak said:
Aussies, stop whining and spend your legal dollars on upgrading your networks.
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First of all, we do have LTE here, it runs on 1800MHz, which Apple does not support and I would say that hearing Americans whine about their crappy 3G service with AT&T and whoever else operates in your country is also a sign for your people who have one of the highest sue rates to also spend some money upgrading them.
 
Kaibelf said:
Frankly, if they do then the Australian consumers deserve it. It's not Apple's fault that ALL of the literature and website clearly state that it's carrier-dependent and that people there were too lazy to actually read.
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Apple messed up here. Selling a 4G device to the whole world that only works in 1 country? So the whole world is behind the US?

Almost all 4G networks across the world work on slightly different frequencies.

If an Australian or British company made a claim to something and it didn't work in the US because of a slight difference in technology, you lot we be the first to bitch about it and sue the companies for miss selling.
 
G4DP said:
Apple messed up here. Selling a 4G device to the whole world that only works in 1 country? So the whole world is behind the US?

Almost all 4G networks across the world work on slightly different frequencies.

If an Australian or British company made a claim to something and it didn't work in the US because of a slight difference in technology, you lot we be the first to bitch about it and sue the companies for miss selling.
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Correction, two countries. The new iPad works in 4G in Canada as well.
 
G4DP said:
Apple messed up here. Selling a 4G device to the whole world that only works in 1 country? So the whole world is behind the US?
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Are you really that myopic? Really?

The iPad 3 works just fine on all of the LTE networks in Canada. :rolleyes:

I think it is pretty idiotic that various countries around the world could not have worked together to agree upon one or two frequency bands for LTE globally and that Verizon LTE is somehow a different 700Mhz band than the 700Mhz band AT&T uses.
 
Better still - support more frequencies? Or the one the rest of the major markets all use?
 
Dagless said:
Better still - support more frequencies? Or the one the rest of the major markets all use?
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It supports the one the major markets use. Maybe they realized that most of their iPad sales were in the US and Canada and that other markets have fast enough 3G+ speeds to satisfy most consumers in those other regions.
 
2 million?
Apple will pay that pocket change to the Australian Government and move on. No story here folks.
 
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