iPad rebrand won't save Apple: ACCC

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is set to continue its legal action against Apple and its "4G" iPad, despite the fact that the company renamed the device in Australia.

(My Trusty Gavel image by Brian Turner, CC2.0)

The ACCC started a legal campaign against Apple in March over the company's use of the term "4G" to describe the connectivity capabilities of the new iPad. The new iPad is only able to connect to 4G networks on the 2100MHz or 700MHz spectrum bands, making it incompatible with Australia's existing 4G/LTE (long-term evolution) networks offered by Telstra and Optus on the 1800MHz band.

The ACCC accused Apple of misleading advertising, taking the company to the Federal Court. The gadget giant promised corrective advertising to clarify the connectivity capabilities of the device, but tried to argue that Australia's 3G networks should be classed as "4G".

Apple last week dropped the 4G tag from its new iPad, rebranding the device as "cellular".

The watchdog said that while the corrective advertising and device rebranding will go some way towards correcting the original issue, it won't earn the company forgiveness.

"While Apple provided undertakings to the court to do certain things while the ACCC's proceedings continued, it continued to use the descriptor '4G'.

"Any move by Apple to cease using the descriptor of '4G' will mitigate against the ACCC's concerns, but will not deal with any past conduct," the watchdog told ZDNet Australia today.

Apple will still have to appear before the Federal Court in Victoria on 4 June.