Apple: Penalty for misleading advertising in Australia
Apple has been fined the equivalent of 2.16 million Swiss francs in Australia for misleading advertising for the new iPad. The American megacorporation advertised the new mobile communications standard LTE, which does not work at all in Australia.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had accused Apple of advertising the new iPad in such a way that customers could assume that the tablet computer could handle the fourth-generation mobile communications standard, LTE, in Australia. However, this was not the case. Apple had therefore already offered to compensate its Australian customers in March.
LTE allows significantly faster mobile Internet access than the previous third-generation mobile communications standards such as UMTS. Apple advertised worldwide with the statement "the new iPad offers Wifi and 4G", i.e. fourth-generation mobile communications. However, the new iPad can only handle the mobile communications standard in networks in the USA and Canada. In Switzerland, too, iPad users cannot use the function. The reason is the different frequency ranges of the mobile networks.
In Australia, the ACCC had sued Apple for this. The trial was supposed to start this week. But Apple preferred to settle amicably and paid the fine and fees for the trial, according to the ACCC. (sda)
