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Apple Gives In, Drops iPad '4G' Tag To Avoid Lawsuits
Back in March, Apple was sued in Australia and criticized in Europe over its marketing of the iPad as supporting 4G speeds when it only did so in the U.S. and Canada. Now, reader TheGift73 writes with news that Apple has given in and changed the 'Wi-Fi + 4G' label to 'Wi-Fi + Cellular.' From the article:
"In the U.K., a number of complaints by customers pushed the ASA into acting against Apple for its misleading advertisements. The regulator had received 'dozens of complaints' from customers, and had pushed for Apple to remove any mentions of '4G' from its websites. It should come as little surprise considering Britain has yet to see its mobile networks divide up its 4G spectrum without bickering furiously about it. Some networks had even opted to avoid litigation directed at them by including stickers to inform potential buyers that the new iPad will not work on existing 4G networks, or even 4G networks that don't even exist yet. This should come as bittersweet news for consumers. Apple has already sold millions of iPads across the U.K., Europe and Australia, while the vast majority are unaware that they will not be able to connect to high-speed mobile broadband networks."
Americans are slowly waking up to the fact that their mobile networks, internet access, and communications facilities are all crap compared to the rest of the world. Just wait until they find out that a farmer in rural China can get better cell phone service and a cheaper plan than they can in one of the large US cities...
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Isn't that a bit long for a spam post? Your WobbyClean one is better but still not that great.
MYclean PC is a virus and is crap
Just because a device has a certain feature, doesn't mean you can use it. That is especially true if it relies upon external services that may not be available in a particular region. It should be the consumer's responsibility to ensure that they meet the requirements to use those features.
But consumers like to play dumb and, at the rate that things are going, we are going to have some absurd situations. I mean, just imagine the day when printer manufacturers have to stop advertising their printers as colour. After all, colour isn't visible when you are looking at a printout in a darkened room.
Nobody in Australia calls mobile phones cellphones, so most consumers aren't going to have a clue what Cellular means.
AT&T has no LTE footprint at all here in Oregon. Yet Apple can still sell the iPad LTE here and call it that. Why? Because if/when AT&T finally brings LTE here, the device will work on it.
I get the whole "consumers walking out of the store thinking they have LTE service" thing. Seems like the simple solution is just to call it an "LTE Ready" device. You've got the LTE modem, and you're ready for the service.
They should take some of the old PowerPC G4 chips and stick one in each iPad backwards. Then should satisfy the regulator, right?
I know this is supposed to be an "Apple is evil" issue but imagine with all the standards trying to roll out a worldwide product? Is it an attempt to deceive or that support to local networks is lagging behind? Is it a matter of time or an issue that can't be corrected with the current product? There are simply too many standards to expect everyone to support every standard or local system. The advertising department is at fault for boasting of local support that doesn't exist but it's hard to say how intentional it was for the parent company.
How many 4G type networks are there, I thought the whole idea was to have a standard. So now we have who knows how many different LTE standards oh this is brainless for 2012. Forget using one system across multiple countries.
Now if only they'd get rid of the fake "4G" tag the iPhone 4S has on AT&T. It's barely faster than the "3G" on the iPhone 4, and isn't real "4G" by any means.
It's a scam. Mycleanpc is a scam. And complete bullshit.
Mycleanpc is spyware and a scam.
If you use mycleanpc you are a moron.
Mycleanpc is a scam.
Mycleanpc is a scam.
MyCleanPC is bullshit and spyware.
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MyCleanPC.com is a scam and spyware and bullshit and complete crap and you have to be an idiot to ever let it on your computer.
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"Apple has already sold millions of iPads across the U.K., Europe and Australia, while the vast majority are unaware that they will not be able to connect to high-speed mobile broadband networks."
Have any citation for the bald assertion that the vast majority of iPad owners don't know their iPad won't be able to connect to high-speed mobile broadband networks?
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Now if only they'd get rid of the fake "4G" tag the iPhone 4S has on AT&T. It's barely faster than the "3G" on the iPhone 4, and isn't real "4G" by any means.
Except that it's 4-5x times faster than the "3G" on the Verizon network, so while it's not as fast as LTE it does seem like there's some room for calling it something other than what Verizon called their dog-slow pre-LTE "3G" network. This wasn't Apple's call, anyway... AT&T's HSPA+ network has the "official" 4G designation so it's as "4G" as anything. You'll have to look specifically for "LTE" if you want that speed.
E pluribus unum
Like when I bought my 4G phone from Verizon. They made no bones about the fact that at the time, there was no 4G service in my city. They told me when it was scheduled to be there, and where else I might use it. However it was a device that had the necessary features to use a network they were building. They didn't sell me a phone that would only do 4G in Japan or something. They could truthfully market a 4G device as it had the necessary hardware, the network did exist in some of the US, and they were building it out to this area soon (came about 3 months after I got the phone).
This is about Australia, not America.
Now price aside (my employer pays for my phone so I dunno what it costs), I get pretty badass wireless speeds in America. I have a 4G phone and it works great. Get about 20-25mbps on speed tests. That'll probably drop as more people get 4G phones but still, that is cable modem kind of speeds on the cell network.
This isn't a theoretical speed, this is in actual testing. 4G service is being rolled out nicely in the US, by Verizon at least.
Congratulations. You just made sure I and tens of thousands of others will never, ever, buy anything from or use anything from mycleanpc.com.
Of course you are assuming that the spam actually came from the product owner. Clue: A griefer, competitor, etc can create the spam using someone else's URL. Its quite naive to make buying decisions, for or against a particular product, based upon spam.
At least have some sort of confirmation the product owners are actually involved in the spam before posting your silly nonsense.
These spamming assholes are promoting a site ...
But they may not be affiliated with that site. Maybe a griefer, competitor, etc is behind the spam. Make sure the corp is really behind it before posting phone numbers.
The truth is you probably just got suckered by a kiddie who is pissed off at slashdot. Next time at least post as AC to save yourself the embarrassment.
I know that this change must have been excruciating for Apple to do, as being seen to listen to their customers must rub them the wrong way.
But for this I congratulate Apple for this historic event. It was excruciatingly hard, but it was needed.
*claps*
unless it is profitable and stands a chance in court.
And this one does not: you could not sell a phone "with charger" either, if the charger is for the wrong voltage. What ever happened to common sense?
yo,sup dawg, I herd you like cleaning your PC, so I put installed MyCleanPC in your clean PC so you can clean the PC while cleaning the PC!
Much like HD televisions, the majority of which until quite recently were never used with HD media even when it was available, 4G seems like something that a purchaser either knows what it is at a technical level or they are blissfully unaware of it. Anyone with the interest to know what 4G is, knows that buying an iPad won't make it magically become available. There were plenty of technologically averse people (Apple customers I likes to call'em) swanning about the place, mentally gloating that their iPad was giving them an extra G's worth of data speed over the sorry Samsung users around them. All this litigation, fiery brand-waving and angry mobs is only serving to burst the smug bubble around these previously content consumers. It isn't hurting Apple (certainly not in any way reflected in their stock price) but it's hurting a lot of hipsters' feelings.
disclaimer: I am a very happy iPad owner. But I only use it ironically.
So if I purchased a TV in the USA that claimed to be PAL compatible (a former European standard) should I sue the maker because there are no PAL station here?
If it has a 4G-capable radio, then they have every right to call it "iWhatever 4G". Anyone too stupid not to know that the right service provider is required is just too stupid. It doesn't take hours of research, it takes five minutes on Google.
It's still just LTE, which is not 4G. So, it only makes sense to rebrand it (and all of it's other "4G" products) worldwide as "cellular," since none of them support 4G.
No, simply put in Australia we have strong consumer protection laws and independant bodies that are charged with the responsability of breaking kneecaps of companies that try to rip people off or misadvertise their products.
To advertise it as 4G in Australia is very deceptive marketing on apples part, while 4G has been revised to be hspa that technology in Australia is described as 3G [or nextg], with LTE networks being described as 4G. Apple knew this, as they are partners with all the major carriers in Australia, and yet still choose to mislabel their product in Australia in a cynical attempt to confuse the public about the quality of the product.
We have LTE 4G networks, this tablet doesn't run on any of those networks and Apple knew this from the start.
http://mashable.com/2011/07/14/4g-confusion-study/ 34% of iPhone Users Think They Have 4G [STUDY] July 14, 2011 by Charlie White
Apple gives-in? How about "Apple does the right thing and stops their misleading advertising"
The general public are NEVER the bad guy. Really. Don't make it out like Apple is some altruistic saint being attacked by the troglodytic public.
Snitching on snitches isn't snitching because two takeaways is an add and anyway you got cooties so yahboosucks with knobs on.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Will my iPhone 4S be changed to remove the "4G" from AT&T service? I have Sprint service but I know that "4G" icon has been installed in there!
sorry to butt in but i had to write a comment somewehere i am a apple mac user for their macbook(Last thing i i ever purchased was the 2006 edition whilte macbook which after a few HDD replacements still go strong today) I am sorta glad apple have been clipped it gives other companies that model like the IPAD or Iphone room for throught on how they market their own products to us consumers next time
The thing is as in the Uk here our broadband is rubbish also, Blinking Politicans have placed the blinders on ISP with courts to stop TPB and general any other website they please and with regard to speeds all of them ISP's in the UK are capped to death with Fari usage policey so over here we will never get a good speed just blatant ripped off for a fragment of the speed Euro or the USA get, South korea is the best place for speeds for faster broadband or connection thats a model itself to the world of what we could have yet its all about in this world now how much is in your wallet rather them productivaty and speed for apple and ISP's now. An once again us in the UK are being choked gagged and told to use what we pay for fairly(which is stupid because we have to pay the bill also and agree to stupid idology of the ISP)
wish i could go back to 1992 of internet time, yes crap speeds but the web felt free then.