Well, tomorrow is officially the day that Apple is going to update the iPad. Many of these tech blogging sites are wondering if we’re going to possibly see a Thunderbolt (Light Peak) port on the iPad, or will we be seeing a SD card reader, perhaps dual cameras or how about that brand spanking new Retina display that the iPhone has been sporting for over a year? All of this shit would be absolutely great, but as someone that doesn’t own an iPad (and doesn’t plan on buying one in the near future, sans possibly developing applications) I am looking forward to one thing, and one thing only: the possibility that tomorrow we may finally see an iTunes cloud streaming service.
It is a widely known fact that Apple has been purchasing some real estate in North Carolina to house a massive data center to what they’ve told investors is for their expanding cloud services division. For the past couple of years Apple has been trying to get people to pay $100 per year for MobileMe when you can get the same services, with nearly the same Mac integration, for absolutely free from Google. Apple told its investors that this new data center is going to be strictly for MobileMe and iTunes; pray tell what exactly does iTunes need a billion dollar data center for on the east coast? MobileMe sure as hell doesn’t need it; the service is crap, and most people only pay for it because they forget to take it off their credit card after the first three months they’ve owned a new Mac.
Another point of interest is that Apple purchased Lala, a music streaming startup, and has done absolutely nothing with the service to date. Steve Jobs sure as hell does not buy companies unless he plans on using their technologies, because otherwise they would just roll their own. You can bet your dollars that tomorrow we’re going to see three things: a brand new iPad, without a Retina display, with two cameras, a bumped up processor and memory; a new take on the MobileMe offering, most likely free and including some kind of premium services ala Dropbox storage; and a cloud streaming service powered buy the Lala purchase.
If we’re lucky iTunes catalog streaming from the cloud. That would absolutely make my year. And I am about to launch a a website myself!
Unless you’ve been under the rock for the past couple of weeks, by now you should have heard about AT&T killing the unlimited data plans for both the iPhone and iPad, then grandfathering in the iPad plans for people who buy theirs before the deadline and finally caving in and allowing a 30 day “grace” window until the deadline. If have been following that news then you most certainly have heard about the release of the iPhone 4.0 on the AT&T network and Apple’s change of tune on mobile advertising as soon as they decide to start their own ad network built in natively into the operating system. The big news obviously is the caps on data, 200MB and 2GB respectively, and how many people are rather irritated because the iPhone is built around connectivity. There has been continuous coverage on podcasts and blogs regarding how the 200MB plan is essentially crap and the 2GB plan is a necessity, but what people are not talking about is Apple is now going to be delivering advertisements to your iPhones and iPads which are going to consume quite a bit of bandwidth that you will now be paying quite a pretty penny for.
Of course one could argue that mobile advertisements have always been on the applications that are available through the App Store, but Apple themselves are toting these media rich advertisements that allow for running video, interactive games and streaming audio which out of all the possible digital mediums consume the most bandwidth. So not only are we now going to have advertisements pushed upon us, but the cheaper bill that AT&T is waving around in our faces will most likely be non-existant if these iAds push us over our bandwidth limit.
Of course Apple neglected to mention this little tidbit in their press conference earlier this week. Even though I am eligible for an upgrade on my account I think I am going to wait to see what happens with this whole bandwidth fiasco that AT&T is pulling, and more off, hoping that Verizon will get an iPhone this time next year coupled with an unlimited data plan that I can actually use in the New York City metro area. Here’s to dreams.
I was reading Engadget.com today and I came across this tidbit about AT&T deciding to allow iPad orders before July 7th to continue to have the unlimited data plan. For those of you that read my iPad vs. AT&T blog post it highlights all of the points that AT&T seems to have forgotten when they first decided to change how they are going to handle their data plans. The facts are simple – most iPhone users consume between 200-500MB worth of data, and (from AT&T’s metrics) the 98% of all iPhone subscribers use less than 2GB of data per month. But what they did not include is the metrics from the month long usage of the iPad. Due to streaming applications such as Netflix the iPad itself is absolutely going to use more data.
The major data consumption on the Internet is audio and video, both of which applications on the iPad are designed specifically for, whether it be watching a movie streaming from Netflix, a baseball game through the MLB application or television through your Slingplayer – it is very clear that this device is going to overall trump the usage of a standard iPhone. You can bet your wallet that the widely popular service Hulu.com will be eyeing up developing an application for the iPad as well.
With all of these data heavy applications that 2GB cap is going to be quickly approached. Of course the AT&T suggestion is to use WiFi as often as you can, but why should you have to? This device was designed to run on battery for roughly ten hours, so why should I be tethered to my apartment, office or coffee shop? Most people purchased this device because they planned on reading, listening to music or watching movies on their daily commute into the office. Others may have picked it up to placate their children on long car rides. You’re telling us now, after we purchased the device, to not use it for what we purchased it for?
I am still on the edge about whether or not I will purchase a 3G iPad before July 7th. Part of me cannot justify spending this much money on a device that I do not see myself using all too often, but the other part of me, the commuter, sees all the ways that I can use this thing to keep my mind busy on the train into work. Yet still another half of me wants to develop some cool games for this beast. So the real question is, do I wait until later or purchase it now to take advantage of the unlimited 3G data offer? I think the answer is pretty obvious, how about you?
I can be somewhat of am impulse buyer. This afternoon, after I was reading more and more into how AT&T is pulling a bait and switch, I placed a few phone calls to the Apple retail stores in and around New York City. I have been interested in purchasing a device ever since I got a few minutes to play with the SDK, but what nearly set me over the edge was the fact that AT&T has decided to discontinue the unlimited 3G plan that Apple was still (up until this afternoon) toting as one of the major selling points of the device. What I found interesting is that all of the stores made a point to tell me that all models of the 3G iPad were currently unavailable, but all except the lauded Fifth Avenue store had WiFi models for sale.
What I find the most interesting is how AT&T are parading this change as being beneficial to their customers without providing any statistics on data usage for the iPad. In the press release they specifically stated that most users consume less than 2GB of bandwidth, which so happens to be the ceiling of their data plans, but the will offer more bandwidth at a $10 per gigabyte rate after that. I will agree with the AT&T findings – my bandwidth usage ever since I have owned an iPhone (since the original) has never gone above 2GB – but I have a had time believing that a streaming Netflix program won’t regularly break that 2GB ceiling.
But a part of my questions if AT&T’s motives, which absolutely are not int the best interest of the consumer, are being put in place to potentially curb a growing VOIP market with the release of Skype for 3G on the iPhone. If AT&T are able to make it more expensive to place VOIP phone calls then people are not going to do it, right? In fact, what I find completely insane is that these devices that have been heralded as the most connected, interactive and innovative consumer electronics, ever, are being hogtied by the only capable wireless 3G provider. We do not have a choice even if we wanted to. These devices, even unlocked, will not work with a similar 3G card inside due to the frequencies being different between T-Mobile and AT&T.
So this unlimited data plan that was absolutely sold as being the primary reason to purchase the 3G model of the iPad has, less than a month after release, completely evaporated. Should those of us that have purchased an iPad be up in arms? What about when AT&T decides to change your contract when you use that neat little clause that lets you turn off your wireless 3G service when you aren’t using it – the next time that you sign up are they going to let you pay $30 for unlimited coverage? Boy, am I glad that Apple has decided to make the iPad unavailable until June 7th, or else I may be asking those questions myself right about now.
Oh, and by the way, if you want to tether your laptop to your iPhone to use some of that 2GB of bandwidth that you have purchased from AT&T you are going to have to pay an additional fee that will not give you a higher cap. Anyone that is interested in voicing their opinion directly to the man himself the Consumerist blog has posted the contact details of AT&T CEO, Randall Stephenson, so have at it boys.