Verizon Wireless is set to sell Apple iPads at the end of this month. AT&T Inc. has provided service for the iPad since its debut.
(Paul Sakuma/File/Associated Press/File 2010)
Verizon to sell Apple’s iPad
Some wonder if iPhone will be its next offering
Verizon Wireless is set to sell Apple iPads at the end of this month. AT&T Inc. has provided service for the iPad since its debut.
(Paul Sakuma/File/Associated Press/File 2010)
NEW YORK — Verizon Wireless will start selling Apple Inc.’s iPad at more than 2,000 company stores on Oct. 28, gaining better access to a tablet device that rival carrier AT&T Inc. has provided service for since its debut.
An iPad with 16 gigabytes of storage and a portable Wi-Fi device called MiFi to connect to the Web will sell for $629.99 combined, Verizon, the biggest US mobile carrier, said yesterday.
A model with twice the memory will go for $729.99, and a version with 64 gigabytes is priced at $829.99.
Verizon Wireless is using smartphones and devices like Apple’s touch-screen tablet computer to boost revenue from data plans. The announcement may signal that Apple and Verizon have also reached an agreement for an iPhone that will work on Verizon’s network, which uses so-called CDMA technology, Maynard Um, an analyst for UBS AG, wrote in a research note.
“The ability for Apple and Verizon Wireless to reach a working agreement on the iPad gives more credence to our view that a CDMA iPhone is likely to come,’’ Um said. “Supply constraints for both iPads and iPhones have begun to ease, a positive for Apple, as we believe these products should be two of the most heavily gifted items.’’
A Verizon iPhone would end AT&T’s exclusive contract to be the carrier for the handset in the United States, a right it has had since the iPhone was introduced in 2007. Verizon plans to start selling the iPhone in January, two people familiar with the plan said in June.
Apple is expanding distribution of the iPad to fend off competition from tablets by Samsung Electronics Co., Dell Inc., and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it will start selling the iPad at its Sam’s Club locations.
AT&T, which has provided Web access for the iPad since April, also said that it will begin selling the tablet Oct. 28.
Verizon’s iPad data plans range from $20 a month for up to 1 gigabyte of usage to $80 a month for 10 gigabytes. The carrier will also sell the iPad without the MiFi device, starting at $499, the same price that the tablet is available for in Apple’s stores.
The MiFi 2200 is a credit-card-size gadget that lets users link up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices to the Web.
Sprint Nextel Corp. has promoted a similar arrangement, encouraging customers to connect iPads to the Web via its Overdrive portable Wi-Fi device.
AT&T is the only US carrier selling an iPad that connects directly to its mobile-phone network. Those versions start at $629, and the carrier charges $14.99 a month for a plan that includes 250 megabytes of data and $25 for 2-gigabyte plan.
A Verizon spokeswoman declined to say if that carrier plans to sell an iPad that connects directly to its wireless network.
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.
