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Apple in Tablet Discussions with Both AT&T and Verizon
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Why two versions?
If Apple was smart they would design an iPhone and a tablet device that would run on both networks, or just walk away from ATT (ATT has hurt Apple's image) .
It's the only way to keep customers happy and increase their revenue ten fold.
ATT is getting slammed every which way possible due to the lack of 3G coverage. They are way out on the upgrades, all the revenue is going in the big-wigs pockets. Verizon will have an operating 4G network before ATT even gets a plan together on fixing their 3G network.
Apple would be foolish not to ride the Verizon train. More iPhones on a larger network that is known for business devices. Can you hear all the registers ringing?
Lets go Apple and release news about an iPhone on Verizon in 2010.
If Apple was smart they would design an iPhone and a tablet device that would run on both networks, or just walk away from ATT (ATT has hurt Apple's image) .
It's the only way to keep customers happy and increase their revenue ten fold.
ATT is getting slammed every which way possible due to the lack of 3G coverage. They are way out on the upgrades, all the revenue is going in the big-wigs pockets. Verizon will have an operating 4G network before ATT even gets a plan together on fixing their 3G network.
Apple would be foolish not to ride the Verizon train. More iPhones on a larger network that is known for business devices. Can you hear all the registers ringing?
Lets go Apple and release news about an iPhone on Verizon in 2010.
Everyone has to pay for both now. Why would a tablet make it any different? A new device isn't going to change how internet providers or cell phone companies charge for access.
I bet the device will be locked to AT&T (for U.S. customers) for 12 to 24 months after purchase if 3G is supported.
And MSNBC has sportscaster Keith Olbermann for credibility plus its website is co-owned & managed by MICROSOFT!
Choose your lack of reliability carefully.
At least Rush Limbaugh is a Mac fanatic and Mac laptops are prominently featured on several FOX News Channel programs.
This.
Can we just add a filter to prevent anything coming from/about Fox News? We'll cut the ******** in half instantly
Arn usually does one the evening before or the morning of the event. Look for one on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
First of all, just because you disagree with their opinion people doesn't make their news unreliable.
Secondly, if you want Mac News, go to apple.com. If you want Mac rumors, you've come to the right place.
I think the reason so many Mac fans hate Foxnews is the obvious left-leaning direction of Mac fans. I get that. But it's also the "I hate #1" attitude intrenched in our thinking. Microsoft is #1, we hate them. Foxnews is #1. They must be evil, too.
Exactly like me. Is connecting to the world a luxury? Well, Apple and AT&T, cable/sat companies, DSL service, etc. sure don't cater to poor people, do they? And as many have pointed out, it seems that even the more fortunate people are being stretched about as far as can be.
These industries have pretty much decided on serving the wealthier segment of the world with devices and connections that only they can afford. It is easier and more profitable than trying to provide products and services for everyone.
True. The fact that they repeatedly use video from one event to illustrate another event (ie: they fake the news) is what makes them unreliable.
This Fox News bashing NEEDS TO STOP. These forums are not about politics.
As for the thread, I just hope that ATT will have a better price point for people already signed up for the iPhone (although I highly doubt it).
The veracity and reliability of the source of the rumor is highly relevant to the topic at hand. In this case the source is, has been pointed out, questionable.
i highly doubt they'll have 1 version for each carrier. instead, they'll have 1 version that works on both if possible, or they'll pick 1 carrier
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
No, it's not that at all. Do you have their services? Are you in what you consider "the wealthier segment"?
What makes this work is pseudo-monopoly, where the competition is too thin for the natural competition of capitalism to work for us buyers of such services. The other thing that makes it work is that enough of the crowd- wealthy segment and not- finds a way to pay whatever price is required to keep such services.
In a (national) duopoly like AT&T and Verizon, neither feels ANY pressure to roll out lower cost plans (there's no real competitors fighting them on price). Any time a new entry gains enough ground to start giving them some trouble (on pricing) they gobble them up (Alcatel for example) or crush them on a local level (such as the various maneuvering to crush city-wide free wifi/wimax efforts), then resume duopoly pricing.
The ONE solution that remains is for the crowd to choose not to pay... that is, drop service. If enough people would decide they could live without 3G service, prices would come down in efforts to win back falling subscriber bases.
But, the steadily growing pool of subscribers shows that we can't do that... we (apparently) MUST have our phone anytime/anywhere service, and will pay just about whatever they ask to keep it that way. That's why business is soooo good in that industry, and why your mall has 3-5 kiosks (sometimes more than one from the same company) and every strip mall has 1-2 3G stores as well. You don't have that many retail spots unless just about every one is profitable.
It's funny to read the comments made by people whining about the high cost of service, often bundled with comments how they have everyone in their household set up with 3G service. Does every single person in the world need phone anywhere/anytime service? Of course not. But many choose to pay up for it anyway. That's what feeds the power of the duopoly Goliaths.
The same for the cable/satt business. Who ever sees their cable/satt bill go down (without changing providers... and then only for what is usually a promotional period)? There again you have pseudo monopolies. As they test price increase after price increase and the crowd accepts (griping & complaining, but accepts) each increase, they win. That acceptance says that we value the service MORE than the money we pay for the service. If enough of the crowd would decide that TV signals are not worth the next price increase, prices would come down. Until then, it is only more and more profitable to keep raising the prices.
Griping & complaining about ripoff prices accomplishes nothing. Quitting the service- and getting enough others to quit with you- is the only remaining way to get a better (permanent, non-promotional) deal.
Or some new technological breakthrough, which would make the business model obsolete. But then the duopolies would be quick to buy and suppress any patent that would negatively impact their cash cow, cash flows. On this particular issue, I'd love to see new patent legislation that makes each patent a "use it or lose it" proposition, meaning you can't own patents for defensive (keep things the same) purposes. But some of those kinds of ideas are probably wilder to actually realize, than the wildest speculation about the capabilities of this tablet.
Of the latest models, basic netbook is completely tied to one network ?
They've been on several flavors.
i. generic netbook with bundled wireless card.
ii. netbook with one specific wireless card built in.
iii. netbook with a generic wireless card built in that is preconfigured to that carrier.
Only the second is the problem. The ranks of the third have been increasing growing. (not large corporate buyer wants to wed their either mobile computing capacity to some vendor when next year or two the corporate alliance folks dump wireless vendor A for wireless vendor B )
The option for a dongle card sticking out of it. *Cough* like Apple's design tendencies lately are for some big honking USB thing hanging out of the side of their device.
The option of different circuit boards in a huge "build to order" exercise ... increased inventory and logistic headaches. ( another reason why Dell/HP/Sony et. al. are going the third option route too. )
If it is just a 3G data modem it is goofy to come out with a solution that is tied to one wireless vendor. Locked devices are an impediment. Not sure why Apple wants to line up with an impediment.
opinions are not news. Fox is a dubious source because they ambiguously flip flop between delivering opinion and news. They run a news segment and then slice "news like" opinion and propaganda pieces between them.
There is nothing wrong with talking heads blowing hot air who say ridiculous stuff to boast their ratings. That's fine entertainment. That is not news. Their marquee investigative "reporter" is Geraldo. Clearly a more a unusually high journalistic standards... *cough*.
Fox's approach to investigative reporting (can skip to 3:18 to get to the point):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcjzdoiL0j4
Most viewers is more an indicator of entertainment value than of news fidelity. I know more than a few folks who watch it for laughs and giggles.
If you have a device that does all of the 3G data protocols it doesn't matter which carrier because it is the same exact hardware coming off the line regardless. The only thing have to work out is activation logistics.... which can be done in the time between when announcement is made late Janurary and when the device is actually sold ( mid/late March - June ).
Even more so if using a base radio that has already been qualified on all of their networks and just need to maybe tweak some config issues for this specific design.
It is old, established news for devices to have this capability (they already exist and are already on the market). There is nothing revolutionary about it.
Can make it work with WiFi but your going to seriously drain the battery life out of your iPhone doing it. You'll have both radios going full blast 3G and WiFi. You'll need to create a local IP address for the tethering process so now the iPhone has to be a router also. So can add router code overhead load to the CPU overhead.
Is the battery going to drain to nothing in a couple minutes? No. Are you trimming minutes off of your phone? Yes. If you don't talk much or can plug in somewhere often it may not matter. For those who are currently stretching for a days worth of charge out of their iPhone. Doing that will likely be a tipping point.
In contrast, if have a MiFi like device, if you are just talking on the phone can turn it off and it is a separate battery. That's why there are folks who have a "not as smart" phone and perhaps a iPod Touch (or netbook ) now in those kind of devices. Stay away from the subsidy built-in plans and can get decent value if not sucking down GBs in a month.
If the tablet can do substantive things the iPhone can't that will increase web traffic ( e.g., Flash gaming sites , etc. ) that will put that much more strain on their wireless data networks. That increase in usage it going to come with increased price. ( the "unlimited" on the iPhone is predicated on it not being as functional as a more mainstream computer. ) The people with iPhones (and relatively larger screens) do more web surfing than those folks on similar capable phones and smaller screens. With a device where have a full fledged browser and a full sized screen to view it with the amount and traffic will increase because of the very same drivers.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...roundup+site:macrumors.com&aq=f&aql=&aqi=&oq=
Here are a bunch of older ones. It will be done a day or two after the event.
I think the wireless company might end up getting backdoored here.
I already pay for two data fees for two iphones. I am not going to pay for another one.
What I will do though, is drop my data plan from one or more iphones and get a data plan for the iPad that is seperate from any voice plan.
People have been wanting to do this all along, and now people will be doing it. Instead of people thinking about tethering an iPad to an iPhone they need to think about tethering an iPhone to an iPad.
Ultimately the wireless companies are gong to find themselves stuck with seperate data plans, and having things unbundled, which will hurt them in the short term as people will cut back or turn off voice plans in some cases.
Have a wireless data charge for the iPod, use it to feed via wifi or bluetooth to the iPhone and then have apps that handle voip or whatever between the two.
I already pay for two data fees for two iphones. I am not going to pay for another one.
What I will do though, is drop my data plan from one or more iphones and get a data plan for the iPad that is seperate from any voice plan.
People have been wanting to do this all along, and now people will be doing it. Instead of people thinking about tethering an iPad to an iPhone they need to think about tethering an iPhone to an iPad.
Ultimately the wireless companies are gong to find themselves stuck with seperate data plans, and having things unbundled, which will hurt them in the short term as people will cut back or turn off voice plans in some cases.
Have a wireless data charge for the iPod, use it to feed via wifi or bluetooth to the iPhone and then have apps that handle voip or whatever between the two.
YOu won't do that if you are on AT&T though. All iPhones require the $30 data plan (same for Verizon - all smartphones require data).
The only hope here is that Apple uses their leverage and forces some sort of "change"/"shake-up".
I'm hoping for that..... frankly, i'd rather pay Apple for the data to not have a contract and possibly have a better offer of "pay as you go".
While Apple is probably looking at an international release, a US targeted product is not unreasonable. People seem to get annoyed that an American company would focus primarily on the American market-- which also happens to dwarf the rest of the world. There's money to be made elsewhere, but if you're going to pick one market to start with...
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
What leverage? No one should conjure ANY illusion that Apple is going to be able to get 3G providers to take a big hit to their revenues in support of selling more Apple products. The last thing that AT&T and Verizon want is ANY kind of special 3G price arrangement they can choose to offer on their network that yields a cheaper 3G phone/phone-like (VOIP) solution for millions of their customers.
They don't win by giving any discount data-only plan that then is eaten up by lots of us (via a Tablet/iPhone/Touch) with a VOIP calling solution.
Just put yourself in their shoes when you think of these kinds of things, and ask the ultimate capitalism question: what in this for me? In our own shoes, it's potentially big monthly cash savings. In their shoes, our big monthly savings is their big per-customer loss.