New iPad’s Misleading 4G Marketing May Prompt Investigations In Sweden, UK

The feature of 4G connectivity in the new iPad was much touted and it was a key reason why millions of users flocked to the new tablet. However, there have been complaints from users that outside of North America, the new iPad doesn’t connect to 4G networks and so, the users have to rely on 3G. This puts a question mark on Apple’s marketing for the tablet in which, some say, Apple hasn’t been clear enough about this limitation.


According to reports, due to this allegedly misleading marketing related to the new iPad’s 4G connectivity, The Swedish Consumer Agency is considering the initiation of investigation into this matter. At the same time, officials in UK are also reviewing the consumer complaints and may be contemplating a similar move.

The chief contention of these users is that despite the availability of 4G networks, the new iPad won’t connect to them outside of North America. Naturally, this is a huge disappointment for the users many of which bought the new tablet under the pretext that they will be able to use high-speed connectivity.

According to Marek Andersson, who is a lawyer with the Swedish Consumer Agency, ‘It’s fair to question whether Apple has been clear enough in its marketing that customers will not be able to access 4G LTE networks outside of the U.S. and Canada with the new iPad.’

In UK, the Advertising Standards Authority has also heeded to the complains of the users and is of the view that if users feel like it, they can file proper complaints with the authority and that it would then look into ‘whether or not there is a problem.’

Apple faced the very same problem in Australia and quickly declared that it was ready to refund such users who felt they had been misled and that it will also explicitly state that 4G networks in Australia are not supported on the new iPad. However, there remains the legal question that should the company have been this clear about this particular limitation at the time of launch and before too.

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Salman

Salman Latif is a software engineer with a specific interest in social media, big data and real-world solutions using the two.Other than that, he is a bit of a gypsy. He also writes in his own blog. You can find him on Google+ and Twitter .

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