Email
An Australian judge has fined Apple A$2.25m for misleading customers that its latest iPad is compatible with 4G broadband internet.
Justice Mordy Bromberg of the federal court ruled Apple misled the public for two months of 2012 with claims in its advertising wrongly implying that the "iPad with WiFi + 4G," could connect directly to the mobile data network operated in Australia by Telstra.
Bromberg fined Apple A$2.25m (£1.45m/US$2.29m) and ordered it pay A$300,000 in costs for contravening consumer law.
Apple admitted to the misleading advertising.
The same "iPad with WiFi + 4G" advertising campaign was used worldwide, the judgment said.
"Apple's desire for global uniformity was given a greater priority than the need to ensure compliance with the Australian consumer law," the judge said. "Conduct of that kind is serious and unacceptable."
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took legal action against Apple in March after it rolled out the first wave of new iPad tablets in the Australian market.
The court had determined Apple had implied "that an iPad with WiFi + 4G could connect directly to the Telstra LTE mobile data network in Australia, which it could not do", the ACCC said. Apple had "engaged in conduct that was liable to mislead the public".
Apple had already promised to email all buyers of its new iPad in Australia to offer them a refund and agreed to post warnings that its new iPad "is not compatible with current Australian 4G LTE networks and WiMAX networks".
Telstra's 4G network in Australia uses a different frequency from the new iPad.
;