Alex Brooks:
There are a number of baffling points here though, why would Apple only release an iPad with LTE capable of working on the 700Mhz band which is only used in North America? And then why on the full knowledge that the new iPad has 4G that doesn’t work in the likes of Australia and Europe did it insist on advertising so?
I admit to finding this confusing as well. Why go through the mess of being investigated in a number of countries when you could avoid it?
Apple could argue that the iPad is 4G compatible around the world, but the carriers just don’t support it yet, I suppose. That argument is flimsy at best.
Here in the UK the eventual 4G frequencies will differ from the US ones supported by Apple. So the 4G iPad will never be 4G capable here.
While I do not appreciate that interpretation of 4G either, the source of this mess is the ITU-R itself.
“On December 6, 2010, ITU-R recognized that these two technologies, as well as other beyond-3G technologies that do not fulfill the IMT-Advanced requirements, could nevertheless be considered “4G”, provided they represent forerunners to IMT-Advanced compliant versions and “a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed”. (Wikipedia)
DC-HSPA (supported by the iPad “3”) is definitely a substantial level of improvement over “3G”. 3G started at 0.2 Mbit/s and DC-HSPA achieves up to 42 Mbit/s. That is a 210 times speed increase. Far more than from DC-HSPA to LTE. Actually, some DC-HSPA networks in Europe and parts of Asia are faster than average download speeds with LTE in the US.
Apple is using a Qualcomm chip which has the LTE limitation.
and because Qualcomm thought it would be in 28 nm chip by now
so Apple is using last years chip that is 45 nm with limited functionality.
4G definition was changed by AT&T and their like tosay 3.5G is 4G. So I don’t see why carriers are not in trouble, it is their definition.
P.S. And to be very correct, going by the original ITU-R specification, LTE is not 4G either as only LTE Advanced (not available anywhere yet outside of test deployments) is meeting IMT Advanced 4G requirements. So, if we want to split hairs: nobody has 4G and they all use misleading marketing.
Largely irrelevant to me. The UK doesn’t have a decent 3G coverage yet, the next generation will not be available until long after my ipad3 has been replaced
It is very clear what is going on. It’s a memo from Apple to countries and carriers: use the AT&T/Verizon 4G frequencies if you want 4G LTE. Apple is not going to support dozens of frequencies that are proposed. There is talk of multiple antennas and multiple chips being required to ship worldwide. It is like 10 kinds of DVD — it won’t work.
Australia is wrong. Yes, you are buying 4G iPads. No, you do not have a 4G network.
Apple is actually big enough to set the rules for 4G. If the current frequencies is all iPad and iPhone support, that is all the 4G that matters. Doesn’t matter what the “phone industry” wants. The phone market is dead. It has been replaced by the pocket computer market, which is dominated by Apple for 10 years with iPod/iPhone and now tablet computers also matter to 4G, and Apple is even more dominant there.
So if Apple has decided that their current level of support for 4G is going to be it, the countries and carriers are going to have to work around that.
There is plenty of precedent for such a move by Apple. They support Thunderbolt, but not USB3. They dropped their own FireWire from iPod once USB2 was on the majority of iPod user’s computers and FireWire wasn’t. That removed one chip. I can’t see them embracing the current idea where 4G is fragmented country-by-country, and phone makers are supposed to make 10 versions of each phone.
Verizon currently has most of the world’s 4G LTE. All non-Verizon LTE is smaller. Second-largest LTE is AT&T. Everyone who hasn’t yet built LTE should use either the Verizon frequency or the AT&T frequency because that is the devices we have and this needs to be global and it needs to grow fast. You should build your country’s 4G as part of existing global 4G because your citizens are traveling globally and global travelers are in your country, and the devices need to be built with global economies of scale, which means your country may not get specialized devices for your funky frequency choices.
Everyone is building 4G according to Nokia’s vision, like fighting the last war. It is Apple’s game, now. They are not going to make a UK-only line of iPads and iPhones. Unless the UK 4G LTE is compatible with the best global 4G chip and Apple’s antennas then UK will suffer slower tablet computing than everyone else.
Similarly, no Australia-only iPads. Apple is global in every way. That is why their holiday quarter is now 2 quarters long. It includes all the world’s holidays.