Apple Backs Down From 4G Claims

  • iPad 3 4G still doesn’t work in Australia
  • Now advertising iPad 3 as wifi + cellular
  • No more refunds on offer

Apple, not known for its modesty or for suffering fools, has had to take the unusual step of backing down from its claims about the iPad 3 and its 4G capabilities.

As mentioned in CyberShack recently, when the latest iPad 3 was released in early March, Apple marketing blurb was talking up the device’s 4G capabilities, but without mentioning that it would not work in Australia because it could not use this country’s 4G spectrum, which is 1800MHz.

At the time, Apple would only say that even though the 4G aspects of the tablet would not work here, it would still be the fastest slate on the 3G spectrum, which is what units would default to when trying to enable the unusable 4G spectrum.

In stepped the ACCC who took the company to court alleging that saying the device compatible with 4G mobile networks was misleading due to the fact that while it may be compatible with such networks, you have to live in the United States for it to work.

Now the company is using a new line – instead of spruiking the iPad 3 as a wifi + 4G device, it is now saying it is a wifi + cellular device. The company does not admit any wrong doing, instead they are trying to sell it to the public that the new term is more simplistic or easier to understand.

Apple did agree to offer refunds to consumers who bought the device before March 28. However, that also came with a caveat in that the offer would end on Anzac Day this year.