So, my wishlist for OS 4 is pretty brief: If the phone is factory unlocked, then don't restrict features based on carrier!
Bandwidth usage is about to become more impacted, not less, with the release of so many 3G connected net books which will be dedicated Facebook workstations with all that Flash and stuff.
Apple and AT&T have managed historical wireless account and data usage uptake while building out the network like a madman.
Tethering traditional PC's to a 3G device to gain access to its data stream will only make the problem worse.
I for one have been wishing for internal 3G support in Apple laptops since a year before the iPhone was even released. Obviously Apple knows folks want it, but the only path right now are USB dongles, typically through Verizon and Sprint. Off the AT&T network entirely, so it remains for all those iPhones and Blackberries.
It will not be until LTE starts real deployment that tethering will be widespread. By then you will also have a "family plan" for each of your personal digital devices. PC, phone, picture frame, DVR, VoIP, whatever.
Even the physical wired broadband in this country sucks. The wireless system is even more slammed.
Want to see a real difference? Make POLITICAL noise to your representatives in congress that if they want to spend stimulus money on something immediately useful and totally populist, do it on wireless broadband. Give AT&T and Verizon a $40B tax credit each for LTE and provisioning build out. Give them a low interest 15 year loan for $120B each for additional build-out costs.
When the alleged internet bubble happened in 2000 (which was actually forward awareness of the internet boom that actually, really happened), there was massive build out of fiber. Half of that fiber is still dark in this country.
What we need is catch-up capital investment in BROADBAND WIRELESS, and mesh wifi, and fiber to cell backbone, build out. The folks on this site know first hand we need it NOW, TODAY. So using stimulus money for that, right this second, is not mere make work, but critically needed national infrastructure.
The interest proceeds will offset the tax credit so it is staticly budget neutral. Dynamically the earlier access to true broadband wireless will have massive GDP and tax revenue benefits from the CUSTOMER TAXPAYERS of the infrastructure.
It's not very often the stars align like this, but there you have it.
Rocketman
