UK ad watchdog probes Apple iPad '4G' boasts
Furious fanbois further flummoxed by fondleslab's 4G foible
The UK's advertising watchdog is taking another look at Apple's "4G" claims for its new iPad after receiving fresh complaints.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) had informally leafed through about 40 complaints regarding the 4G mobile internet boasts made on Apple's website. The new iPad was not in fact truly 4G because Blighty doesn't have any such networks yet and even when it does, those planned won't be compatible with the fondleslab anyway.
After the watchdog had a word with Apple, the fruity tech titan agreed to tweak the disputed webpage and edit a video that chatted about 4G connectivity.
"On the basis that the issues that had been raised with us had been resolved, we closed the case," the ASA told The Register in an emailed statement.
However, the regulator has now had fresh complaints.
"We have since been contacted by several complainants who have identified other potentially problematic claims about the iPad and 4G on Apple’s website," the ASA added.
"We are currently assessing these new complaints. If it appears that the problem claims we asked Apple to remove are still appearing, we will investigate these new complaints."
Apple had not returned a request for comment at the time of publication.
The Foxconn-rebrander is fighting the same issue with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which is not happy with the iPad being labelled 4G because the country doesn't have any networks using the high-speed mobile broadband standard either.
Cupertino capitulated somewhat, offering Aussies a full refund if they were disappointed with their new fondleslab, but the ACCC has still taken the case to court and Apple is now fighting back.
The company has claimed there that the moniker "4G" merely refers to higher performance in terms of data transfer speed and doesn't actually refer to the type of network it connects to, a defence it might actually get away with since the industry has been pretty lax at clearly defining what the standard means.
Technically, none of the existing so-called 4G networks were actually 4G to begin with, but were branded 4G and eventually allowed to be called 4G, leaving the whole concept wide open to interpretation. ®
COMMENTS
Yeah but
I think it is 'reasonable' for the customer to assume that a device sold in their country branded as 4G 'capable' would be also **COMPATIBLE** with any forthcoming 4G network in that country.
Don't you?
Furthermore it's also reasonable, in Trading Standards'/ASA's eyes to assume the customer would believe that displayed features would work out of the box, also. It's not the customer's job to check claims and labelling made by the manufacturer.
For example HD-Ready TV's must be labelled 720p / 1080i / 1080p / whatever on the packaging so the customer is not misled into thinking they're getting a 1080 unit when it's really 720 by virtue of the fact that it has HD-Ready on the box.
iPad3 - 4G in the UK, yes sir it is.
The iPad3 supports 42Mbps HSPA+ on the 3 Network here in the UK. So lets for arguments sake chop of 15Mbps so the figure is closer to real world downloads = 27Mbps......
Now lets look at the average download speeds people have been getting on US 4G LTE networks..... Oh look it's only around 25 to 30Mbps.
So what benefit is a 4G network at the moment? Not a lot apart from an approximate halving of latency from around 100ms to 50ms. There is no 'real' 4G network in the world PERIOD. Only 'LTE Advanced' reaches the original ITU spec for 4G.
We all know the term 4G has been bastardized to mean 3.5G, At least Apple iPad really does do LTE. All over the world (especially in the Caribbean) dodgy Mobile networks are beginning to claim 12Mbps HSPA+ = 4G... I can accept 42Mbps as '4G' but anything lower is really taking the piss imho.
From the figures quoted above it's hard to argue with Apple's marketing, it's a 4G device as it can run on a LTE network and since it's also a 42Mbps HSPA+ device it gets damn close to USA LTE speeds even in the UK on the right network.
Personally I don't want an LTE network in the UK yet. If EE get the go-ahead then we'll end up with bog standard LTE network (and not much incentive to update it) but if things get delayed till after the spectrum auction we'll be more likely to get 'LTE Advanced' from the get go plus living with a 42Mbps HSPA+ device till then isn't exactly a ballbreaker.
Re: What's the issue
The fact they'll refund you based on the 4G labelling is admission they lied.
The terms 3G and 4G relate to standards set out by the ITU. Each standard specifically states a range of speeds for that generation. It's really not comparable to games consoles.
