AT&T CEO: iPad will be mostly used on WiFi, won't drive many new 3G subscriptions
By Vlad Savov 
posted March 3rd 2010 5:11AM
posted March 3rd 2010 5:11AM
We all know by now that AT&T has secured the rights to furnish US iPad owners with 3G connectivity, but apparently the market desire for that service won't be quite as big as we might have expected. That comes straight from Randall Stephenson himself, AT&T CEO and eternal believer in the power of i-branded devices, so it may have some legitimacy to it. Surely Randall's dearest wish would be to announce his network is about to be overwhelmed by new subscribers, and the rather cooler news has already caused a small dint in AT&T's stock price. Then again, this is hardly shocking news given that 3G on the iPad can be had on a month-by-month basis without contract, and in truth any subscriptions related to it would have to be achieved by AT&T's own ingenuity -- which, judging by its CEO's comments, won't be suffering any undue exertions any time soon. Not only that, Randall's also taken the opportunity to advise us that higher data rates are likely for intensive users of unlimited 3G data plans -- whether on the iPad or on smartphones. Way to endear yourself to the masses, dude.
With that kind of network, I find it easy to believe...
@Independence76 so aple becomes its owncarrier now to carry its products because atnt fails? is that whats going on?
@Independence76
jobs is smiling!
@unwynd you mean, the DEVIL is smiling
lol im only jk'in folks
@CaptainPlanet
lol, yeah at&t is just saying we cant handle the loads, but then they are assuming a lot of things...
@emopoops Your communication skills fail.
@Independence76 For sure, Steve Jobs released one of the best Tablet as for this moment, but seeing its flaws -- surely, made the impression that it really didn't 'beat' its contenders. Maybe, this statement could bring a new shift to the said tablet. More: http://bit.ly/ipad-debacle-examined
@Independence76
I think this is the first time I've said this:
This was an unnecessary article. Really. It even states that its not shocking news. Or news at all. nothing happened, we all agree.
These were my thougts exactly when I read the live blog. That said, if I get one I'd just get a WiFi and serve it up via 3G from my phone.
Why pay any extra?!
@FORDY Because your going to pay in battery drain on your iPhone.
@Douglas grr. I mean "you're"
@Douglas
Well, Milestone, but I take your point.
However:
1) Milestone/Droid has better battery life anyway (based on my touch)
2) You don't pay $130 worth in battery though.
3) My point is, I can't see I'd need the connectivity that much on the go, so a phone or MiFi would suffice.
Even if you were to use it more, it'd be cheaper to use your old phone as a 3G-WiFi adapter, just keep it in a pocket or something, and then have all your battery reserved for calls and whatnot on your current phone.
@FORDY
I would get the wifi only ipad myself. Not that wifi is everywhere but when i'm not in a zone I've already got the iPhone (or if I was someone else android) which has only rarely left me wanting.
Then again my main reason for wanting an ipad is so I can propose/demo business solutions based around it for clients.
@FORDY
How are you going to give it 3G through your phone? Are you talking about a jailbroken iPhone? If so, the solution only applies to a small percentage of iPhone users.
@FORDY LOL, yea, tethering between an iPad and iPhone? What do you think this is Windows Mobile with all its crazy features?
@Luxury Guy & @Plazmic Flame
Guys, I never ever said through an iPhone. I have a Milestone.
There is are Android apps (and WinMo, Blackberry, Symbian etc) to do this for any mobile with both 3G and WiFi radios.
I'd be surprised if there wasn't an iPhone app, but then, "user-confusion" I guess... Anyway, that wasn't my point because as a non-iPhone-user - it doesn't apply to me! And I'm selfish!
@FORDY
Why would you carry around both an iPad and an iPhone?
@Zorque
me = facepalm
@Zorque
I say again, I DO NOT HAVE AN iPHONE.
If I did, the answer would be on holiday. I need to make calls, I also want to watch 720p movies on the plane.
BUT I DONT HAVE AN iPHONE.
@BigJayDogg3
Me = Facepalm if this carries on much longer..
@FORDY Seriously, is your iPhone not good enough for you that you need a bigger version of it? Hahaha just messing with you.
@scots79
xD
eff at&t
@munir AT&T is officially the company that is cool to hate on. i get it. im not going to defend them to all ends but i really don't think it is as bad as everyone makes it out to be.
@kojo87 They INVENTED being the company to hate on.... Remember Ma Bell... and "we're the phone company, we don't have to care"
I think AT&T does have a point. iPad is something you'll want to take somewhere you can sit for a bit, not for texting-while-driving down the interstate. AT&T has also spent the last 3 years cornering the market on the WiFi hotspots. Pushing out Verizon and T-Mobile encouraging the best retail places to drop other companies and push out "free" WiFi. My take is that if you pay for the $15/month plan you will get ANY AT&T WiFi spot free (as iPhone subscribers already get them free with the premium cell/data plans) I see them tightening the conditions for the "free" WiFi that's everywhere now.... But I used to have hotspots for free under my DSL plan as well... I'd venture many people will bite for the iPad and not even realize the strings. That also reduces AT&Ts network load when basically anyplace you're stopping for more than a few minutes will automatically switch over to a land-line with free-WiFi.
This is why I get so upset with the FCC wanting to pass out more "discount bandwidth" when they won't put up a nice formal free replacement for WiFi in it's own non-sharing band. It's a good allocation of resources to use local WiFi with the high speed land lines for Data and Cable we already have. AT&T has essentially already solved the "bandwidth" problem for another few years. I'd imagine at some point AT&T, Comcast,Sprint etc will just build in WiFi and 4G repeaters into every landline they sell. As a customer you'd only be a few houses away from somebody on the same network... and it's all possible right now.
i will buy the wifi only version.
@giaomo I'm very tempted with the Wifi version too. If I do get it, I'll turn my jailbroken iPhone into a Wifi hotspot and browse on my iPad. No one wants to have an extra monthly fee to pay. If they allow tethering on the iPad, on the other hand, people might just want to get a data plan on their phones and use that.
@MrAffrox To me wifi is enough too. It's nice to have internet on the go but I need to save money from now to get the new iphone in July lol
It's definitely a device for the home only. Unless someone with an iPad doesn't have an iPhone to use out of the home on 3G.
@JBaker
Hopefully you can load it up with magazines and newspapers and read them offline.
This would be an airplane traveler's dream device.
@JBaker What you just described is an iPod touch, not an iPad.
The iPad just wasn't meant to leave the home. I wouldn't dare put it in a bag for fear of scratching the screen.
@The Madman
I don't see any reason why you can't take it with you when you travel, be that across town on a bus or across the planet on a plane. Just make sure it is properly protected and it would be fine. While I would certainly be expecting to use it mostly at home, when I do travel then I'd have no problem taking this with me. Frankly, I'd be more worried about transporting my laptop...
@The Madman
Thats what cases and/or screen shields are for. slap on a full body Invisible Shield and you will have no worries this thing is only about as wide and long as a netbook and thin as heckkk. Very portable. If it was only meant for the home it would be called an Imac....
@The Madman
You don't have to worry about scratching the screen if you really want to use it. They have these really tough plastic skins that would adhere to the screen with a minimum of loss of touch sensitivity. Basically they would be scaled up versions of what they already sell for the iPhone and Touch and various other touch-screen devices.
http://www.zagg.com/?s_kwcid=TC%7C9984%7Ciphone%20clear%20skins%7C%7CS%7C%7C4753161643&gclid=COyms_fZnKACFUde2godfWBIeg
@schultz
I can imagine some situations wich would be perfect for the iPad. My hobbies could become easier and better with it, imagine to do a fotoshoot and upload the images right from the dslr into the iPad, maybe upload it directly without carying 2 kg more for a notebook. Or with the band in a studio or on tour in the van, browsing in the internet :) Would be very nice....
@MosesusedaniPad
I wouldn't advise using those Zagg skins. I bought one for my iTouch and it's a horrible looking piece of crap... Not only it will have permanent bubbles but it's has terrible clarity and you can see it right away. $.99 skins from eBay work much better.
@Bratan I agree, they give great protection but its not worth it for the sacrifices you've mentioned. The eBay ones are really great value but you do get what you pay for. The ones in the Apple store (I forget the brand name) and the PhoneDevil ones are the best i've come across so far.
even AT&T are underestimating the ipad. i bet there network will crash
@appleipad I seriously doubt their (use the correct spelling next time) network will crash since it's w/o contract. One month a person might use 3g and the next month the same person will probably not use the data plan, since you can can cancel it anytime.
We don't need to upgrade our network we will be fine... Years after the iPhone release and still look at the state of the network.
See, the interesting thing about 3G on the iPad, for me anyway, is that if all countries its available in follow the one month at a time policy it means i could take it to any of the countries i go to for work and not pay the exorbitant rates my mobile provider charges me. That alone is worth the money for checking email/web on the road..
Now if only Apple weren't charging an arm and a leg for a $10 chip inclusion...
@benedictm
Last i checked it was 130 for the 3g capability which is what you pay for any prepaid broadband card. I agree that its probably a few dollars if not a few cents to make this happen, but 100-150 is the going rate for prepaid broadband units nowadays
@schultz Aah see in the UK you can get a PAYG 3g dongle for £19.95 (about $30 :)
@schultz Even if that is the going rate, it doesn't change the fact that you are not getting a 3G dongle that can be moved from device to device. You are getting a built-in 3G chip, the same type of chip that can be bought for likely $6-$10 by oems, and that you can find in cell phones costing less than the price of this "upgrade"
ipad will not be used (at least not by me) until it has a front and rear facing cameras (for voip calls and taking pics, respectively) and an os that doesn't belong in a cell phone.
@EI8HT Well put. The iPad basically just a crippled netbook -- locked-down application store, no ports for peripherals, no camera for video conferencing. Nobody's been able to give me a slightly interesting usage scenario for this thing that isn't already handled better by something else.
@EI8HT
Oh, please. Those are the worst reasons not to use the iPad that I've ever heard, with the single exception that it has an Apple logo on it. Cameras on a device like this are entirely useless, front- or rear-facing, and the OS is the reason why the whole thing works. Seriously, what difference does it make that the OS was first used on a cellular telephone? All that means is that it works very well for touch-based interaction and has very little power requirements.
Seriously, how on earth were you planning to take photographs with a tablet device? It's hard enough to take a reasonable picture with a cellular telephone let alone holding something like this like you are Moses. The form factor is all wrong for photography.
I agree a rear facing camera wouldn't make much sense on a device this size. A front facing one would be nice though, for VOIP video calls.
@Raptor007
"no ports for peripherals"
Now, that's actually a good argument against the device. I think the rest of the arguments are bunk but that's a good one. It could be that Apple is expecting wireless connections to be used with peripherals (WiFi or Bluetooth) but there aren't enough devices that will support this yet to give it a decent ecosystem. An SD Card slot would certainly be useful.
@EI8HT Notice how the iPhone screen only rotates to three sides but the iPad rotates to all four? So what if someone designed a plug in camera for the dock-connector. Because of iPad screen rotation the device could be turned completely upside down so the camera was at the 'top'. Then if the camera that could swivel so that you could change the angle it was pointing depending on the angle you were holding the iPad? And you could in fact swivel the camera around to be back facing? And then what if you could go and easily upgrade that camera in future without needing to replace the whole iPad? Now that would be a good idea wouldn't it... ? :)
@DJ
I just don't see a device like this being good for video conferences. Unless you hold it parallel to your face, which will either require a stand or reasonable arm strength, then your audience is going to be looking up your nose or you are going to be hunched over it. Ergonomically it just sounds awful. Perhaps this is something that needs to be tried but I just don't see this as being a good way to do a video conference. A camera built into a dock device for the iPad, on the other hand, could be a decent solution with the exception that it sacrifices portability.