Verizon sees a way to cash-in on the iPad, despite AT&T having the exclusive data contract for the Apple tablet device. In a memo, the rival wireless carrier sees the new Apple gadget as “an opportunity for VZW” and urges employees to promote its MiFi wireless router as a stop-gap connection method until a 3G iPad is available in late April.
The memo, obtained by Engadget, notes the 3G iPad will cost $130 more than the Wi-Fi version to be released in April. However, that advantage could be reversed when the 3G iPad goes on sale, potentially making an iPad and MiFi combo more costly for subscribers. (Unlimited data will cost $29.99 from AT&T.)
The wind has been somewhat knocked out of Verizon’s corporate sails after a series of setbacks, including the increasing likelihood Apple will renew AT&T’s exclusive iPhone contract for another year. Until the iPad’s release and news of AT&T’s involvement, speculation heavily centered on Verizon becoming the second U.S. carrier to offer the iconic handset. However, the uncertainty lead some on Wall Street to downgrade Verizon.
[via Silicon Alley Insider and Engadget]
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
