Verizon to Sell IPad Oct. 28 Bundled With Wi-Fi Device
October 14, 2010, 12:43 PM EDT(Updates with analyst’s comment in fourth paragraph.)
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- 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 U.S. mobile carrier, said today in a statement. 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 reached an agreement for an iPhone that will work on Verizon’s network, which uses so-called CDMA technology, said Maynard Um, an analyst for UBS AG, 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 U.S., 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.
Expanding Availability
Apple is expanding the distribution for 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 yesterday.
AT&T, which has provided Web access for the iPad since April, also said today that it will begin selling the tablet in its stores on Oct. 28.
Verizon Communications Inc., which co-owns Verizon Wireless with Vodafone Group Plc, rose 27 cents to $32.48 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 12:05 p.m. Dallas-based AT&T added 4 cents to $28.51, and Apple gained $1.67 to $301.81 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Card-Sized Device
Verizon’s iPad data plans start at $20 a month for up to 1 gigabyte of usage, and go as high as $80 a month for 10 gigabytes. The Basking Ridge, New Jersey-based carrier will also sell the iPad without the MiFi device, starting at $499, the same price that the tablet is available in Apple’s stores.
The MiFi 2200 is a credit-card sized gadget that lets users link up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices to the Web. Sprint Nextel Corp., the No. 3 U.S. mobile carrier, has promoted a similar arrangement, encouraging customers to connect iPads to the Web via its Overdrive portable Wi-Fi device. Cristi Allen, a spokeswoman for Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint, declined to comment on today’s announcement.
AT&T is the only U.S. carrier selling an iPad model 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. Brenda Raney, a Verizon spokeswoman, declined to say if that carrier plans an iPad that connects directly to its wireless network.
Devices that allow users to surf the Web provide the carriers a new revenue stream from data plans as voice sales for mobile and home-phone lines stall or decline. Verizon is upgrading its network to a faster, fourth-generation technology called long-term evolution to improve the performance of mobile- Web connections and add new features.
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