This is something that nobody seems to get.
One thing I keep seeing as a reason for not liking the iPad is that Steve Jobs announced a bargain deal for 3G data connectivity with AT&T. And it seems that not only everybody hates AT&T but also everybody thinks that AT&T will be the 3G carrier for the iPad in the USA.
They blame Apple for this. Which is nonsense, because Apple have not restricted the iPad to AT&T and Steve Jobs have not announced AT&T as the official carrier.
I was watching the video Tech Crunch posted yesterday: Walt Mossberg, David Carr And Michael Arrington Talk iPad With Charlie Rose. At 15:50 Charlie Rose asks Why did they go with AT&T? to which Michael Arrington answers that he’s disappointed and wished Apple went with an unlocked device. David Carr notes that there’s no contract and that this may indicate they (who? Apple? AT&T?) understand people aren’t ecstatic about the service and the idea of developing a long term relationship with the carrier. Walt Mossberg chimes in saying that Apple surely knows people are not happy with AT&T, but we do not know the details of the contract Apple and AT&T signed a couple of years ago, so it could be that they went with AT&T because they had to, at this moment, but things may change when that agreement expires.
They seem to have missed it. All of them, seem to have missed it. Check the iPad presentation.
Michael, I have good news for you. The iPad is unlocked. See the presentation at 1:14:35.
Apple did not select AT&T as a carrier for the iPad. They just announced a great bargain deal AT&T is going to offer. You will buy the iPad and the data connection separately. You will probably be able to buy them from the same store, but that’s all there’s to it.
It may be unusual for the USA to buy cell phone connectivity in a supermarket or in a pub. But that’s what has been possible in other countries for years. Rechargeable prepaid connectivity. You buy a card with a code, scratch it to expose the code, and use the code to “recharge” your SIM. Similar to how you buy game time cards for MMORPGs like World of Warcraft or EvE Online. I’ve been using a rechargeable cell phone for over 15 years. And I buy the “recharges” with my newspaper, my cappuccino, my cigarettes or my groceries. Bars, newsstands, kiosks, stores, all these shops sell phone recharges too. And the same goes for my laptop 3G connectivity. How long will it take for this to be possible in the USA I do not know. But it will eventually happen.
There’s absolutely nothing that stops Verizon (or whoever) from offering data connectivity for the iPad. If they do not do it, it’s not Apple’s fault.
In fact there’s a little trick you could use to get it even now. Buy a laptop 3G plan, then hack the SIM into a micro-SIM buy cutting out the extra cardboard. Sure, this is not easy to do correctly and you will no more able to use the hacked SIM with an ordinary SIM device. And the current cost of a laptop data plan is way higher that the AT&T deal. So you probably want to wait for an actual micro-SIM offer from Verizon. But that’s just Verizon vs. AT&T competing on their core business, the iPad is neutral to that.
So why didn’t Apple say anything about Verizon? And why didn’t Verizon say anything in the following days? One would expect that if they want to compete with AT&T (and surely they want to) they would have announced an offer already. I’m not sure why they didn’t, but I do have my opinion. AT&T offer is a real bargain, so they need to carefully price their counter offer. They may decide to go for a plan that costs more, but works, so to speak. They may be waiting to be able to announce support for iPhone too (and here’s where Walt is right: we do not know when that will be possible). Most importantly, they probably are trying to leverage all the negative reactions to AT&T. The “iPad craze” will eventually fade out a bit and then grow again. If I were Verizon I’d wait and shake the press with a competing offer just days before the device hits the streets.
Jobs was very subtle in his presentation. He said let me show you another of our apps that we are very excited about only to bring on screen an image of the Kindle and then declaim how Amazon did a great job with the Kindle and Apple was going to stand on their shoulders. But when doing it, as David pointed out, he left the image of the Kindle on the screen as long as possible. He was also subtle when announcing that the iPad is unlocked and uses micro SIMs. He presented it as a question of international support. But that’s bullshit. While it’s true that micro-SIMs are more used outside of the US, they really are not that common. And I do not believe for a microsecond that US Carriers are not in the position to sell micro-SIMs instead of SIMs if they want to. The reason for using a micro SIM is probably political: to let carriers offer a data plan for the iPad without lowering the prices for laptop connectivity. At least as long as the market is not large enough that USB key modem producers see an opportunity. Another reason could be pushing that technology and then adding micro-SIM support to MacBooks, where space is much more limited than it is on an iPad.
If you are in the US, plan to get an iPad, hate AT&T and love Verizon, all you need to do is go bug Verizon. They can sell you a micro-SIM and a data plan, if they want. In fact they could even sell it to you before the iPad is available (not sure what you’ll do with it, but they can).
