Amidst all of the speculation over whether the iPhone is coming to Verizon in 2011, yesterday Verizon announced that it will be selling an iOS device starting October 28. No, not the iPhone, but the Wi-Fi version of the iPad bundled with a Verizon MiFi 2200 mobile hotspot. (Click here for report from Eric Slivka of MacRumors.com.) Upside: you can also use the hotspot with your computer, your iPhone, etc. Downside: you have one more thing you need to remember to carry around and charge. The bundled prices are the same as the prices of the 3G versions of the iPad. Verizon will also just sell you just an iPad if you don’t want a MiFi or already own one. You need a monthly contract for the MiFi to work on Verizon, and Verizon will offer a monthly 1GB data plan priced at $20 (or $35 for 3GB, $50 for 5GB). AT&T stores will also start selling the iPad on the 28th (both the Wi-Fi versions and the 3G versions), and their iPad data plans remain $15 a month for 250MB or $25 a month for 2GB. But the big news here is that there is now officially a relationship between Apple and Verizon: another sign that the iPhone may be coming to Verizon in the near future. Other news of the week:
- If Verizon is going to have the iPhone, Spencer Ante of the Wall Street Journal writes that Verizon’s experience with Android has prepared the company to handle the heavy data traffic that would come with the iPhone.
- Bryan Wolfe of AppAdvice writes about the latest update to the Amazon iPhone app. The app has long had the ability to take a picture of a book and then tell you how much the book costs on Amazon with the option to order it. Now the app adds the ability to scan a barcode and show you the price. Sounds like a great way to save some money — and really annoy the local store where you are scanning barcodes.
- Apple’s stock price rose to over $300 this week for the first time in the history of the company, as reported at TUAW and elsewhere. AAPL started this year at $200.
- Apple announced yesterday that it is holding a “Back to the Mac” event on Wednesday, October 20. Presumably the focus will be the next version of the Mac operating system, version 10.7 “Lion”. I hope we also see an update to the iLife apps, and perhaps some part of the announcements will relate to iPhone owners, such as adding FaceTime to iChat. For an insightful and humorous take on the upcoming announcement, read this column by Andy Ihnatko.
- Sam’s Club will soon be selling the iPhone and iPad, according to Charles Starrett of iLounge. No word yet on whether you need to buy a case of them at a time.
- If you set a 9am appointment when you are in the Central Time Zone, do you want it to automaticaly shift to 10am while you are in the Eastern Time Zone? David Pogue of the New York Times explains the Time Zone Support feature of the iPhone Calendar.
- Eric Slivka of MacRumors.com writes that Apple now has a registered trademark on the phrase “There’s an app for that.”
- And finally, how many times do you find your self wondering which yacht to purchase and wishing that there was a way that your iPhone could help? Well now, there’s an app for tha…. um, can I say that anymore without paying Apple? Rather than say anything, I’ll just let this video from Sunseeker explain it for me: