{"id":242500,"date":"2010-01-28T14:06:22","date_gmt":"2010-01-28T19:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=95149"},"modified":"2010-01-28T14:06:22","modified_gmt":"2010-01-28T19:06:22","slug":"what-the-ipad-tells-us-about-mobile-broadband-pricing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/242500","title":{"rendered":"What the iPad Tells Us About Mobile Broadband Pricing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>No matter what you think of the newly launched Apple\u00a0 iPad, it confirms a shift in the way mobile broadband services are priced, albeit a subtle one. Yesterday I wondered if Apple had it in for AT&T<\/a> because the prepaid data plan offered more data for less than existing AT&T prepaid plans, and because with an unlimited plan that mirrored the pricing on the iPhone plan, it seemed like AT&T would have double or quadruple the traffic without a corresponding increase in revenue.<\/p>\n

But after listening in on the AT&T earnings call today, I realize that AT&T thinks it won’t be so hard up, and that the iPad data pricing continues a pattern of pricing mobile broadband based on the device. Much like prices are different for data via a data card or dongle based on the expected usage pattern, the data plan on the iPad is less because AT&T hopes a “substantial” amount of the web surfing will occur over the Wi-Fi network, AT&T’s CFO Rick Linder said on the call. If it turns out that isn’t the case, then Linder said AT&T would re-evaluate the pricing plans. AT&T does expect the iPad data consumption to fall somewhere between that of an iPhone and a laptop.<\/p>\n

Plus the fact that AT&T isn’t subsidizing the iPad — and doesn’t have subscriber billing and other costs associated with it — means the carrier isn’t terribly concerned about the iPad’s effect on its margins. Check out the chart below to see the costs for AT&T associated with the two devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\niPhone<\/th>\niPad <\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Avg. Data Consumption<\/th>\n500 MB per month<\/td>\n1-2 GB per month<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Unlimited Plan<\/th>\n$29.99<\/td>\n$29.99<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
250 MB Plan<\/th>\nnone for the iPhone, but AT&T charges $29.99 for pre-paid 250 MB plans<\/td>\n$14.99<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Subsidy<\/th>\n$351<\/a><\/td>\n$0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Estimated Traffic Sent Via Wi-Fi<\/th>\n10 percent to 20 percent<\/td>\nanalysts estimate 50 percent or more<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/div>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No matter what you think of the newly launched Apple\u00a0 iPad, it confirms a shift in the way mobile broadband services are priced, albeit a subtle one. Yesterday I wondered if Apple had it in for AT&T because the prepaid data plan offered more data for less than existing AT&T prepaid plans, and because with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mobile","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2813"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}