New iPad 3 4G Label Brings Apple Legal Trouble in Australia

The new iPad is garnering success for Apple, but the little beauty is also plaguing the company with legal woes that won't just end here. Apple has launched the new iPad in Australia with a plethora of advertisements showing off the awesome features of the one tablet to rule them all. Unfortunately, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is not pleased, not one bit.

According to the ACCC, Apple is misleading consumers about the new iPad's 4G capabilities. From what we understand from all of this, the new iPad doesn't support LTE 4G in Australia, which is 10 times faster than normal download speeds, but still Apple is advertising that it does, and this is what is getting the ACCC very angry. The new iPad supports 4G LTE on the 700MHz and 2100MHz bands, while 4G LTE networks in Australia supports the 1800MHz band. Things are not looking good for Apple.

To make matters worse, the ACCC is bringing Apple to court. They want Apple to retract its adverts and to refund consumers for robbing them blind. Users who are more technology inclined would have known about the limitations. Unfortunately, the average guy wouldn't have known about this, making it unfair to them.

The ACCC filed the complaint on Tuesday at a Federal Court in Melbourne. Apple has agreed to pull the misleading advertisements along with offering refunds to earlier adopters who might have felt they were misled into buying the new iPad.

We can't understand how Apple made a mistake like this which shouldn't have been done in the first place. It is left to be seen how many early adopters will come running back with their new iPad for a refund.

Apple is not new to legal woes in Australia. The company is currently locked at the horns with Samsung over tablet patents. Trying to mislead consumers like this might not be good sign for Apple as it could backfire in its case against Samsung.

(reported by Vamien MacKalin, edited by Surojit Chatterjee)