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Apple Sends Out Refund Information to Australian iPad Customers
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Exactly! All carriers around the world should have changed their LTE hardware to be compatible with Apple's "resolutionary" new product. What are they thinking?! Haven't they heard yet that the world solely evolves around Apple and their decision to only support the US-American minority standard? Blasphemy!
Whoever finds extreme cynicism in this post can keep and collect it.
The big deal is that international companies operating here should still be mindful of local laws and customs.
Oh not that it got much coverage but Google got a slap on the wrist this week as well from the ACCC for misleading advertising.
I think the general misuse of the term 4G within the telecom industry is in general disgraceful, and really as much about marketing as mega-pixels have anything to do with digital photography... got to read the fine print these days more then ever.....
Upgrade what? Their telco hardware to a standard that isn't used anywhere in the world but the US (and Canada)? Doesn't sound like an upgrade to me.
I came on here to report exactly the same thing.
Apple might have been wrong to say "4G", but what they should definitely say instead is "THREE TIMES FASTER THAN 3G" on the old iPad. Wow, this new iPad is great!
CK.
Don't be rude to the Australian people. I am one and am offended by your language.
Back on topic. I think some people will ask for the refund but it'll be a really small number. Internet services and wireless services here are so 3rd world we never expected blazing fast internet speeds on anything. So most people here will go "oooohhh pretty screen I'm sold."
There is this little obstacle called "reality" which means there are no chips that would work on all the incompatible network implementations world wide. It is kind of silly to delay the new iPad for a year or more until such chips are available.
People look at megabits per second but what really counts in the end is the time to download something. If a download takes 60 seconds, then it takes 20 seconds if you are 3 times faster, and 10 seconds if you are six times faster. The saving is 40 seconds in the first case and 50 seconds in the second case, which is only 25% difference. And then there is the question how fast the server provides the data. If you go to macrumors for example there is often a huge delay because you are waiting for some advertisements; that doesn't change with a faster connection.
I suppose that Apple thought its customers are intelligent enough to read and understand the fine print. So they are told that their customers are less intelligent than Apple believed (whether that is true or not I don't know), so they change their wording and offer a refund.
You say yourself that you didn't believe anything that wasn't true when you bought the iPad. So if this was "designed to confuse" then it didn't work in your case. How many people _were_ actually confused? And then out of those who were confused, how many would have not bought the iPad? Since these people can return the iPad for a full refund, they basically were given a free trial of the iPad. They might not have bought it because of specs, but once they have it they might change their mind because they can decide that it is value for money.
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You have completely missed the point and just to keep missing it.
Read up on consumer protection and KEEP OFF THE Apple koolaid.
Wow, you start with this, then go on to say:
And what do you base that on? Have you even tried NextG? You get 98% population coverage, and knowing the vast empty state of the continent, that's quite an achievement — for a network that is faster than ADSL2+M in almost every location.
They made the new iPad available in more countries than ever before on launch day. Plus, it supports DC-HSDPA which no North American carrier supports.----------
LTE is LTE. It isn't a different standard. However, the spectrum is different just about everywhere. Even in the US, Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon are deploying it on incompatible frequencies. It's primarily a function of what spectrum is available for the carriers to license.
Yep, it falls under the "True 4G does not exist yet (in USA) anyway." So, its not like the Aussies are missing out on bandwidth. Apple needs to be more careful with their advertising, but how many people actually buy a 4G system without checking whether their area has compatible wireless? If you look at my Zip 49931, we only just moved from EDGE to 3G because Verizon came to town. Should I sue Apple for making a device that no carrier supports in my area?
From a cellphone connection?
And there are hardware issues in trying to be compatible with everything.
LTE was never misrepresented. It was always RIGHT THERE in front of everyone, and if they are too stupid and lazy to read, that's on them.
Why is it that whenever Apple sends out a note like this there is more information about why the product is so good than how they can actually receive a refund? Not that I don't agree that the products are amazing but it does seem a bit tasteless to write in it 3 times that it is capable of very fast cellular speeds when it clearly does not support 4G in other countries. lol
but it does seem a bit tasteless to write in it 3 times that it is capable of very fast cellular speeds when it clearly does not support 4G in other countries. lolBecause cellular tech is so completely fragmented across the planet, both technologically and in marketing-speak. The explanation must be long just to cover everything.Why is it that whenever Apple sends out a note like this there is more information about why the product is so good than how they can actually receive a refund? Not that I don't agree that the products are amazing
"Return for refund" is simple.
This captures the issue in a nutshell. The core of the complaints is that the new iPad didn't support the (immature, thinly available, perhaps not even yet existant) LTE capability in their various home markets. So they have transferred their anger to this supposed advertising issue. Apparently no one on Macrumors was "fooled", only some theoretical person who has yet to be shown to exist.
I agree that the LTE limitations, though accurately spelled out, could have been displayed more prominently. However, this just reflects a common problem in world-wide products rollouts-- it's easy to miss local issues that seem trivial within the bigger picture, but are much bigger to the eyes of the locals. Everyone wants to feel special, and people are unhappy when they are not treated that way.
Still less than half of 4G's official theoretical 100 Mbps + download.
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Do we even know if such a thing exists?