Today Verizon announced what basically everyone knew: the AT&T chains are strained, and the inevitable march towards being able to choose a different provider strains on. While these iPad bundles are not CDMA (yet), the fact that Verizon and Apple have partnered to provide product bundles is the writing on the wall.
The press release contains the bundle details:
Verizon Wireless will offer three bundles, all featuring an iPad Wi-Fi model and a Verizon MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot, for a suggested retail price of $629.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 16GB + MiFi, $729.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 32GB + MiFi and $829.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 64GB + MiFi. Verizon Wireless is offering a monthly access plan to iPad customers of up to 1GB of data for just $20 a month. In addition, Verizon Wireless will also offer all three iPad Wi-Fi models on a stand-alone basis.
This is a somewhat hobbled solution. The MiFi is decent (our review), but having to use two devices to get on the 3G network is awkward and annoying. Double the charging, double the stuff to keep track of.
Still, this is a first step: Apple is doing business with Verizon. A CDMA iPhone is inevitable.
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