Tablets will come to Verizon LTE before smartphones
US carrier expects consumers to pay premium for speed and new services
Published: 11 August, 2010
READ MORE: US | Verizon Wireless | Tablet | LTE
Much of the revenue growth on new networks will rely on non-traditional mobile devices, and the apps and content services for which they are optimized. So tablets, personal hotspots and media players could lure new users to 4G systems, rather than phones, a factor Clearwire has already embraced for its WiMAX offering. Now Verizon Wireless expects to launch tablets on its upcoming LTE network before it releases smartphones.
John Killian, CFO of co-parent Verizon Communications, said the cellco believes it will be able to charge a premium for the speed and quality of LTE services, especially when these are driving new applications or usage patterns. "Customers will pay for quality and premium service and premium speed," he said. Verizon has previously hinted that it would use LTE as the trigger to introduce tiered data pricing, making it acceptable to consumers with improved quality of service and new content options.
He also said that Verizon would release tablets in the "not too distant future", meaning early next year, while smartphones would arrive in mid-2011. The timeline, a reversal of the 3G pattern, will be partly down to the complexities of developing and testing phones, which will have to be multimode for CDMA roaming - not essential for data-only devices like tablets, dongles and hotspots, which will be usable just within areas of LTE coverage. It also demonstrates the importance of eye-catching gadgets supporting new services to encourage early 4G uptake.
On a webcast, Killian said Android would remain the centrepiece of its smartphone strategy, despite the rising expectation that Verizon will get its own iPhone. "I definitely think in terms of the Droid franchise we're going to continue to be unique," he said, adding, in response to a question about Apple: "All of our assumptions about our business is we're going to have devices that act and perform just like the iPhone does. If the iPhone became available to us under the right terms, we would be interested in that."
Verizon has already looked ahead to a pay-TV tablet geared to its FiOS broadband offering, created with Motorola, and a Google device to go head-to-head with the iPad. Both would run Android.
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