New Macbook Air (2012) - Apple remote control work on it? IR?

No!

There are other ways to remote control your MacBook air, but as there is no infra red built in, you'll need a third party bit of kit via the USB port. Or an iPhone/iPad via Wi-Fi and the Apple remote app.

That is correct what AC said, just to rectify you don't have a MacBook 2012 it may be new and bought in 2012 but its a 2011 model. The 2012 MacBook air has not been released yet.

now, I had the same issue

solved it by transforming my phone (Nokia 2700 c ) into a bluetooth remote

see this pages:

http://www.salling.com/Clicker/mac/devices.php

http://torrentsmd.com/forum.php?action=viewtopic&topicid=87892828&page=p11032817 #11032817

search in the list if the phone you have is compatible, then install the little program and you may even have a remote MOUSE 😀 by just clicking it on your phone

PS. even if it yoru phone is not in the list there is a big chance that it will work, (mine wasnt in the list and it works like a charm) it is based on java if I understand corectly and most of the phones understand that programing language.

It's pretty ridiculous that Apple doesn't at the very least offer a Bluetooth remote and instead, we have to go through third party apps and the irritation of setting up an ad-hoc network if there's no wi-fi (I don't know about the rest of you, but ad-hoc doesn't always work for me when I use it).

Isn't one of the key features of the MBA supposed to be its portability? Does Apple not see how a remote would be useful for people using an MBA to give presentations?

It's really funny. I made the same mistake and bought a remote for my new MBAir. Now I don't wanna return it, so I'm considering a USB IR port!?