Australia Judge Agrees to Fine Apple $2.29 Million for Misleading iPad 4G Claims

An Australian federal court judge has agreed to a proposed fine of $2.29 million against Apple for misleading consumers over the 4G capabilities of the new iPad, reports AllThingsD.

"I have no doubt that given the promotion by Telstra of the superiority of its 4G network, many purchasers will have felt decidedly short-changed, despite the fact that only a very small percentage of them took up the opportunity of a refund, offered by Apple on 28 March 2012 as part of the undertakings given to the Court," Bromberg said in his order. "Beyond that, all that I am able to do on the evidence before me, is recognise that the wide-ranging reach of the conduct is likely to have resulted in many hundreds of thousands of consumers being exposed to Apple's misleading use of the term "4G."

Commenting on the matter, Apple said:

"The new iPad supports many high speed networks around the world, including LTE in the US and Canada and HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA in many countries," according to Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet. "Carriers do not all refer to their high speed networks with the same terminology, therefore we've decided to use "Wi-Fi + Cellular" as a simple term which describes all the high speed networks supported by the new iPad. The advanced wireless features of the new iPad have not changed."

Read More [via AllThingsD]