Apple Inc. is reaching out to Verizon Wireless to assist in selling the iPad this Christmas, thus weakening their sturdy tie-up between AT&T Inc. The gadget will be available in both companies this Thursday, October 28.
The surprising news created a disturbance between the relationship of AT&T Inc. and Apple. AT&T Inc. was the exclusive carrier of iPhone, and was primarily tapped as the network that will give the iPad’s mobile plan when this computer tablet was released last spring.
Apple’s iPad are priced equally by both companies. On the other hand, Verizon will be offering the gadget with a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot bundle that will work for their network.
Walter Piecyk, a BTIG analyst said that the decision of Apple to sell the iPad through Verizon is a simple one. He said that Apple wants to sell more products of these as possible and this decision will truly sell more items. Piecyk said that if Verizon’s network works better, then why not Apple sells the iPad tablets there.
He said that Verizon’s retail sales will help them be accustomed with the tablet’s software, as well as to prepare them from selling iPhone items. These two gadgets share the same operating system.
Verizon is pushing a high-speed connection by bundling the gadget to its portable hotspot. Prices start from $629 for the 16 Gigabyte iPad reaching to $829 for the 64 Gigabyte model.
Verizon Wireless has about 2,000 stores compared to AT&T’s 2,200. Their shares closed up to 0.7 percent while AT&T shares increased to 0.1 percent. Evidently, Apple climbed to 0.7 percent shares.