Rumor: AT&T outbid Verizon for the iPad data plan
Fox News writer Clayton Morris was also wondering just why Apple went with AT&T yet again for the iPad data plan, but it turns out things between the two companies weren't quite so cut and dry as Jobs made us believe on stage. He says that inside sources at Verizon still insist that they've been talking with Apple about handling some of the data service, and he even says that they've mentioned not only an iPhone set up to work with Verizon later this year, but an iPad as well.
Rumor also has it that AT&T simply outbid the other cellphone providers for becoming the official iPad data service, and that makes sense: that $29.99 unlimited plan is a heck of a deal for consumers, but then again, it'll bring in a heck of a lot of business for AT&T (who should have already been in hot water for their service outages, and will probably end up in more, despite their promises that their network can handle the data).
Of course, Verizon is really the only source saying they're still in the game at the moment -- most analysts believe Verizon won't see Apple hardware until they bring out their next-generation LTE service, and even then having a bunch of different plans to choose from doesn't really sound like Apple's kind of thing. But it is interesting to hear that AT&T is willing to take a dive in price to keep Apple's business. Wonder what might happen if their network dives as well.
[via Apple Insider]
