Apple fined for misleading iPad adverts

Apple has been fined after admitting it misled customers over the compatibility of its latest iPad with high-speed 4G networks in Australia. Federal Court Justice Mordecai Bromberg said that the A$2.25 million ($2.29 million) fine – only the fifth fine over A$1 million under new consumer laws – underlined the “seriousness of a company the size of Apple refusing to change its advertising.”

“Apple’s admitted contraventions were not trivial,” Judge Bromberg wrote in his ruling. “Apple does not seek to deny the deliberateness of its conduct and there are no facts before me which seek to excuse or explain the conduct, other than that the conduct occurred at the behest of Apple’s parent company.” The ruling came about after Australia’s consumer and competition watchdog claimed that the US tech group broke the country’s consumer law by advertising that the new iPad can run on 4G mobile networks using a sim card, which is not the case.