Verizon Wireless will begin selling Apple’s iPad at its 2,000 retail stores nationwide on Oct. 28, the companies announced Thursday.
The move ends AT&T’s exclusive grip as the U.S. wireless carrier for Apple’s wildly popular tablet, and potentially sets the stage for a broader partnership between Apple and Verizon. The two are widely rumored to be preparing to bring Apple’s iPhone to Verizon’s network in early 2011.
Verizon Wireless will offer three iPad bundles, all featuring an iPad Wi-Fi model and a separate Verizon mobile hotspot device. The retail prices range from $630 for a 16 GB iPad to $830 for the 64 GB model.
Those prices match the cost of Apple’s WiFi + 3G iPads, which come with built-in 3G capabilities running over AT&T’s network. Stand-alone, Wi-Fi only iPads — which Verizon says it will also sell — begin at $500.
Customers could already run their Wi-Fi iPads over non-AT&T networks using hotspot external devices, like the one Verizon is selling as part of its iPad bundles. But the Verizon partnership marks the first time Apple has linked up to sell its devices with a U.S. wireless partner other than AT&T.
Verizon’s mobile hotspot comes with the added bonus of being able to connect up to five other devices.
There are a few drawbacks, though. The battery on Verizon’s mobile Wi-Fi device only lasts four hours, compared to the nine to 10 hours Apple estimates iPad users can get from their devices while surfing on Wi-Fi or 3G networks. And although Verizon’s smartphone data plans offer unlimited data use, the company isn’t being so generous with its iPad data cap. A monthly plan offering up to 1 GB of data will cost an additional $20. That compares to $15 on AT&T for a 250 MB data plan, or $25 for a 2 GB plan.
The new iPad rates are still cheaper, though, than Verizon’s current mobile plans for non-phone devices, which start at $40 for 250 MB a month.
Some experts think the competition will be good for consumers.
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(Source: CNN Money)
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One Response
Verizon DSL service here in Brooklyn and elsewhere in the NYC metropolitan has been so bad the last two weeks that I wouldn’t trust Verizon for anything.
I think they may be trying to get people to switch to FIOS.
If I switch, I switch to cable. These past two weeks service has been awful and it’s not getting batter.