Update: The Core group, which distributes Apple products within Southern Africa, has revealed that the name has change is for regions that do not have access to 4G. The company is making the same name change in South Africa, where the third generation iPad will now be called Wi-Fi + Cellular going forward.

The latest in the Apple vs. the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) saga sees the Cupertino-based iPhone maker quietly changing the name of the tablet within certain countries.

According to Engadget, Apple recently changed the name of certain models of its third generation iPad from iPad Wi-Fi + 4G to Wi-Fi + Cellular in the US, UK, Canada and Australia amongst other countries. This name change doesn’t seem to be in effect within South Africa, since the local iStore website still lists the cellular data network enabled versions of this tablet as Wi-Fi + 4G.    

Apple has not released a statement regarding the name change yet.

The background

The ACCC announced at the end of March that it was making an application to the Federal Court in Melbourne to get court orders against Apple, for alleged contraventions of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

According to the ACCC, Apple’s promotion of its third generation “iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G” was misleading, due to the fact that the campaign informs Australian consumers that this tablet can be used with a micro-SIM card, to connect to a 4G mobile data network in Australia.

The commission says that this is not the case, because the new iPad’s 4G utilises 700 MHz or 2100 MHz frequency bands for 4G, whilst Australia’s 4G (LTE) network is provided by Telstra and uses a different (1800 MHz) frequency band.

Apple had previously attempted to end the saga by contacting Australian buyers of the new iPad via email to provide them with a refund if they felt misled by the campaign. The company also agreed to alter its point of sale marketing, to make it clear that Australian users will not be able to access Telstra’s next-generation 4G network.

In related news, Nokia is being sued by one of its investors, Robert Chmielinski, over its decision to adopt Windows Phone OS as its primary smartphone platform.