In its settlement of a "new iPad's 4G misbranding" complaint, which was filed in March by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Apple has agreed to a penalty of over 2 million Australian dollars (US$1.9 million). The case chiefly pivoted around the Australian sales of the new iPad which Apple initially sold as a "Wi-Fi + 4G" model.

Though the judge in the hearing, Judge Mordecai Bromberg, has yet to approve the settlement, a federal court in Melbourne heard on Friday that Apple had accepted the A$2.25 million penalty for settling the case, as well as pay ACCC's costs of A$300,000 involved in the legal procedure.

The settlement of the Australian iPad 4G case comes after Apple's acceptance of the fact that the branding for its new iPad had apparently misled the consumers in Australia to believe the tablet was compatible with the fourth-generation cellular networks operating in the country.

According to ACCC lawyer Colin Golvan, the "Wi-Fi + 4G" branding of the new iPad was misleading as the consumers though that the tablet could connect to Australia's first 4G LTE - or long-term evolution protocol - network from Telstra Corp.

With the ACCC accusing Apple of falsely advertising its LTE capabilities of the new iPad in Australia - and a number of European countries also piggy-backing on the commission's complaint - Apple had last month conceded to re-brand the iPad as a "Wi-Fi + Cellular" tablet.