Who fancies an iPad then?

[RobertB]

Agreed about the tie in to AT&T. 3G/4G seems to be the trend for new things like this. It has Wifi as well.

Glenn |B)

Sprint and Verizon also offer 3G of course, but a different flavor, which Apple has chosen not to support in their stuff to date (same as with the iPhone, etc..). They've chosen to stick with technologies based on the European standards for both 2G (GSM/GPRS/EDGE) and 3G (UMTS/HSDPA ... developed by the European 3G standards body, 3GPP). And among the "big 3" tier 1 service providers in the US, AT&T is it, as far as having rolled out those technologies in their networks.

The 3G flavor Sprint and Verizon use is a technology invented by Qualcomm called 1xEV-DO, that's compliant with standards developed/published by a different/North American standards body called 3GPP2.

I haven't seen a clear/unambiguous statement of why Apple is going 3GPP-only, but it's pretty easy to speculate. Technologies based on those standards are dominant in terms of global market share, and the same will be true in the US as well, in the relatively near future. Verizon has already anounced plans to adopt the European standards for their evolution to 4G at some point (a UMTS standards evolution called LTE (long term evolution)), and Sprint may end up doing the same, though they are looking at WiMax as well. So it actually makes pretty good sense for Apple to jump exclusively on the 3GPP/UMTS bandwagon, and not waste R&D dollars on dying technology.

Granted, Sprint and Verizon's current 3G networks (based on the NA standards) will still be around for some time - the average/norm in wireless is 12 years from the time the early revisions of a new standard are published before it sees widespread deployment. So though there's a lot of marketing buzz out there about "4G", the first revisions of those standards have only recently been published.

Probably TMI, but some folks find it interesting ... I used to .... it'd be nice if I still did, since I work with this stuff. Time for a change, I suspect.

Edit: balance, I just saw your post. I didn't know VZW had passed on the iPhone. If that's true, I'm sure they're regretting it now. Like I said, I just speculated it was a decision on Apple's part, based on everbody & everything going UMTS/LTE, but then again, I'm sure they'd see the wisdom in selling a s* load of iPhones to VZW users in the meantime.

 

[francric]

I'm getting one to go along with my big button phone. It has a fire alarm ring tone and if you don't hear it, it sets off a flair. I got one cause Glenn and MikeV are very happy with theirs. You just have to be careful because Mike didn't hear it one day and almost burned down the house......................

 

[GWDavis28]

I'm getting one to go along with my big button phone. It has a fire alarm ring tone and if you don't hear it, it sets off a flair. I got one cause Glenn and MikeV are very happy with theirs. You just have to be careful because Mike didn't hear it one day and almost burned down the house......................

Hahahahahaha, but dude you'll need regular replacement batteries, but hearing aide ones won't work.

Glenn |B)

 

[sunmouse]

i pad

Not yet convinced. I use an i Mac for most things but will soon be supplementing that with a Macbook Pro for stuff on the go. Recently had a taster of the i Pad at the Apple shop and thought it a little cumbersome although it was quite well designed. Not sure how it will fit my needs any better than my tiny but cute PDA.
Phil

 

[GHWelles]

I don't see the benefit because I have a Macbook laptop and an IPOD touch and together that more than covers what the Ipad appears to do. [Except the ATT 3G which I don't need since I have a blackberry.] Maybe I am missing something, but it seems like this is just for the cool factor.