Apple tablet to use Verizon network
A Wall Street analyst said today that he has heard from his sources that the Apple tablet computer, due to be announced in a few weeks, will be able to use Verizon and other wireless carriers to connect to the Internet.
Brian Marshall, an analyst with Broadpoint AmTech, cited unnamed sources when he said, “The tablet will be supported by multiple [mobile] carriers. Verizon and others. Definitely Verizon. I’ve been told that’s a certainty.” The wireless carrier data sources would be used when the tablet and its owner were out of range of a local Wi-Fi connection. The tablet is expected to be announced near the end of the month at a an Apple event at Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco.
While rumors have been rampant over the last year about the device, Apple has yet to acknowledge that it is even working on such a device, though that is not odd new-product behavior for Apple. Few of those rumors concerned Internet access away from Wi-Fi, though the consensus is that the Apple tablet will be something like an iPod Touch on steroids, with a roughly 10-inch touch-screen, and will specialize in media of all sorts. This rumor from Marshall is therefore something fairly new.
Other analysts, when talking about this issue, have said that the Apple tablet probably would not have wireless connectivity beyond Wi-Fi, according to a ComputerWorld story. Generally, they felt that this was a function of the well-known AT&T bandwidth issues, with Apple not wanting to overload the AT&T network any further that iPhones already are. Marshall is saying something new, specifically, “The tablet will connect to 3G, not just wireless [hotspots].”
The tablet will need a way to connect to the Internet, for many reasons, including the downloading of videos, music, and books in order to fulfill its destiny as a portable multi-media superstar. And consumers are going to expect the tablet to have the availability full-time connectivity to the Internet as a feature, just as if they were using a laptop. Building in that capability, with the possibility of using a variety of wireless carriers for data, just makes sense. It gives consumers a choice in what network they use to connect to the net, and it gives Apple a way to begin their long-awaited movement away from AT&T exclusivity.
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January 7th, 2010
Thanks for the update. Connectivity with various internet carriers is indeed one of my main concerns with this tablet. I do not want another 2 year plan with at&t, such as the iphone 3G, with this tablet. It would be a massive turn off for me as well as others if you only had one internet carrier to choose from.
So good news and I hope your sources are correct.