I couldn’t leave you guys alone for an entire weekend without a unicorn, right?
There’s been talk for a long time now about the wireless connectivity of the Unicorn Tablet, and most of the talk has been around Verizon, mainly because most people are pissed with AT&T’s service. But that’s never made sense to me for a few different reasons. Mainly, if I have an AT&T contract for my iPhone, why would I want to pay a second mobile bill for a tablet? Unless I’m using it 24/7, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to have two mobile bills, and frankly, that might put me off from purchasing one.
But talk now is about there being either two separate tablets on the market – one for AT&T, one for Verizon – or a dual use device, which could run on either network. Honestly, I’m not sure why it needs either, unless it’s to offset the cost of the device, which is a very real possibility.
For me, I think having network connectivity would be a nice bonus, but it’s far from necessary. Just allow me to use my iPhone account to tap into AT&T wi-fi spots with the tablet, and I’d be OK.
I can definitely see the purpose of wireless data access with the device. What I can’t see is spending another $60 a month on a plan for it. A dual purpose device would make the most sense, as there are Qualcom chips that support CDMA and GSM access, and manufacturing a device specifically for Verizon when 3G based access probably isn’t the true goal of the device would make the process of deciding which version to get unnecessarily complicated.
Personally, I’d rather a pay as you go data option for the device, where I could buy a day/week/month worth of 3G access for the device through the iTunes store if I am outside of WiFi access. Having this PAYG option with multiple carriers might also help drive down 3g data costs. That is, if ATT is offering a month of tablet data access for $30 and Vz is offering for $20, it would spur some competition in this otherwise completely locked down market.