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Now, I obviously don’t know exactly why Apple chooses to do anything – the company is extremely secretive, after all, and does what it thinks is best – not what everyone else says is best.
However, when Apple decided to name its new iPad as a 4G device, the company was, in my eyes at least, telling the truth.
After all, there are 4G networks in the world that the iPad can connect to, and if you didn’t read the publicly and widely available marketing materials – or the many newspaper articles on the 4G topic at the time, the only “misleading” that was going on was those people misleading themselves.
After all, Apple can’t control what 4G frequencies are used around the world, or whether suitable multi-band 4G chipsets are as yet available, and while some may say Apple could have chosen a different name, the fact is the 4G capable iPad connects to 4G networks in North America – and presumably anywhere else in the world that compatible 4G networks exist – or are being built, with future iPads sure to sport those multi-band 4G chipsets mentioned above.
With the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission having “successfully” taken Apple to task over the 4G iPad issue, it appears as if Apple has decided that enough is enough – and it has changed the Wi-Fi + 4G designation to “Wi-Fi + Cellular”, as seen over at Apple’s websites in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, New Zealand, Ireland, Malaysia and the UAE, with other Apple sites presumably getting ready for the same change.
In addition, there’s a change to the “disclaimer” over the 4G issue that Apple modified to keep the Australian authorities happy, with Macworld pointing out that the message now reads:
“This product supports very fast cellular networks. It is not compatible with current Australian 4G LTE networks and WiMAX networks. For service from a wireless carrier, sign up for a simple, month-by-month plan on your iPad and cancel anytime without penalty.”
Macworld also states that retail stores will “change their signage” to the Wi-Fi + Cellular branding, which is an obvious move to make alongside making the changes online.
So, Apple has made the change from 4G to cellular, and it has probably done so to prevent selectively illiterate people – and both elected and unelected boneheads in government and government entities – from wasting everyone’s time in legal issues that are, frankly, a waste of everyone’s time - time that even a superfast 4G or DC-HSDPA network can't bring back.
