Ok, the iPad. Yes, the name is ridiculous. Yes, there are features I hoped for that are missing. Yes, despite the "low" $499 price tag they're touting, you have to spend closer to $900 to get a reasonable HD and cellular data.
Despite all that, I'd be tempted to buy one, were it not for one fundamental problem.
I currently have an iPhone and a laptop. I pay for unlimited data for the iPhone, and I pay for unlimited "unlimited" data for the laptop (via a Verizon USB modem-thingy.) That's bad enough: Given my usage, I'm badly overpaying Verizon for the laptop data; I'd much rather be able to tether to my iPhone for occasional data use. But that isn't possible*, so I overpay Verizon for what is essentially an insurance policy: I have access to 3G data on my laptop whenever I need it.
Now: The iPad. For this to be worthwhile, it has to be something I would sometimes carry with me instead of the laptop -- I'm certainly not going to carry both around. So I'll need a data connection for it. That means yet another data plan. And that's a deal-breaker -- there's just no way it makes sense to pay for three separate mobile data plans, particularly when two of them won't be used all that often, but need to be there just in case.
So, if a cellular carrier offered me an unlimited data plan that could be used for all three devices, at a reasonable surcharge over my iPhone data cost, I'd be interested. Or if I could tether the iPhone to the laptop and/or iPad, and piggyback on its data connection. But $30 per month for iPad data, $40 for iPhone data, and $50 for laptop data? No way.
That's a problem Apple and the cellular carriers should think about. They would likely make more money selling me things I want (books, music, apps, whatever) if they didn't gouge me so much for something I don't (redundant data plans.)
* Yes, I suppose I could jailbreak. That's an entirely different discussion.
I am so with you on this - ONE DATA PLAN TO RULE THEM ALL.
Posted by: fourlegsgood | January 27, 2010 at 03:17 PM