Apple agrees $2.25m fine over Australia 4G iPad claims

Apple has agreed to pay a penalty of $2.25m to an Australian consumer group after complaints that adverts for the new iPad touting its 4G capabilities were misleading, according to reports.

The problems emerged as the 4G services available in Australia are not compatible wth the chipsets used in Apple's latest iPad. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that argued consumers could be misled that the iPad was 4G ready.

The Australian newspaper reported that on top of the $2.25m fine Apple must also pay legal costs of $300,000 to the ACCC.

V3 contacted Apple and the ACCC for comment on the decision but had received no reply from either organisation at the time of publication.

While the fine is notable it will barely dent Apple's huge cash reserves. The presiding judge who issued the penalty, Mordy Bromberg, was reported to have added that he had no idea what would have been an "appropriate" penalty given the circumstances of the case.

"I have no idea whether a consumer who bought the iPad, thinking it could connect to 4G but then realising that it couldn't, has been impacted in any way," he said.

The fine is another legal set-back for Apple after a US judge moved to dismiss a case it was bringing against Google subsidiary Motorola over several alleged patent infringements, claiming it had not made a strong enough case that court action was required.

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• Topics
• Tablets
• Law
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• Apple
• iPad
• 4G
• Australia