Apple Stunner: Why Stick With Overloaded AT&T for iPad?

Analysts decry decision, Verizon stock plummets
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 28, 2010 7:35 AM CST
Apple Stunner: Why Stick With Overloaded AT&T for iPad?
Apple CEO Steve Jobs shows off the new iPad during an event in San Francisco, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Apple shocked investors and dismayed consumers yesterday by announcing that the iPad would run exclusively on AT&T, even though the iPhone is already straining that network to the breaking point. iPhone users tend to gobble up twice the bandwidth that other smartphone customers use, and AT&T has been bombarded with complaints that its network is overloaded. Many had expected Verizon to get the nod this time, and its stock plunged 2.2% on the news.

“AT&T is going to need to make some sort of statement or some sort of acknowledgment that they’re up to the test of supporting this,” one analyst tells Bloomberg, saying he was “shocked” AT&T got the call. The clincher may have been that AT&T uses global technology that will allow Apple to sell the same iPad overseas. If AT&T can handle it, it’s a big win; one analyst predicts they’ll make $100 million on the device.
(More AT&T stories.)

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