Last month Verizon began selling MiFi bundles. Now, Verizon started airing its first television commercial for the iPad. The ad features a man with an iPad paired with a Verizon MiFi mobile hotspot on his lap. The commercial tells the world that the nation’s most reliable network now has the “magical iPad.”
The MiFi 2200 mobile hotspot is the only model that Verizon offers costumers for the iPad, but hopefully we might see more early next year.
Today was a big day. Google and Verizon joined forces to protect the internet. Clever developers created an easy way to install Flash on a jailbroken iPhones. The last place Seattle Mariners fired their manager. And Naomi Campbell ‘complained that diamonds were not shiny enough‘.
Trumping those bombshells, Sharpie released the following picture on their blog.
That’s right! Sharpie has introduced the “Liquid Pencil”. Are you concerned that writing in pencil isn’t permanent enough, but you find yourself prone to mistakes? Well, Sharpie has come to the rescue. The Liquid Pencil offers the ability to erase just like a pencil, but becomes permanent like a marker after 3 days.
Engadget has video of the Liquid Pencil in action. You can order your very own from Office Depot right now or wait for them to become widely available in the next month (2/$5).
You’ve heard it before and you will likely hear it again as the iPhone 4g release approaches; rumors involving Verizon and the iPhone are circulating yet again. According to a CrunchGear article, an advertising company called Landor Associates is working on Verizon’s campaign for the new iPhone. This is according to a tip received by CrunchGear. Of course the implications of this news spice up the AT&T, Verizon, iPhone saga. The iPhone may be carrying a Verizon symbol by as early as the end of this Summer. We’ll keep you posted as more information comes in. Maybe we will send a friendly e-mail over to Landor…
According to a recent Engadget report, the original Apple / AT&T contract signed in 2007 was a for a five year period. Until now, the agreement between the two companies had but rumored to be 5 years but never independently confirmed. Citing an Apple Brief and a Court Order stemming from a class-action law suit, Engadget shows that the original agreement between the two IT giants was intended for five years. Therefore, their unique relationship would be exhausted as early as 2012.
Here are the telling quotes from Apple:
“The duration of the exclusive Apple-[AT&T] agreement was not ’secret’ either. The [plaintiff] quotes a May 21, 2007 USA Today article – published over a month before the iPhone’s release – stating, “AT&T has exclusive U.S. distribution rights for five years-an eternity in the go-go cellphone world.”
…
“[T]here was widespread disclosure of [AT&T's] five-year exclusivity and no suggestion by Apple or anyone else that iPhones would become unlocked after two years… Moreover, it is sheer speculation – and illogical – that failing to disclose the five-year exclusivity term would produce monopoly power…”
Of course this all happened in October of 2008, and as Engadget puts it, “Contracts can be canceled, amended, and breached in many ways, and AT&T’s spotty recent service history plus the explosion of the iPhone and the mobile market in general have given Apple any number of reasons to revisit the deal.” It’s not for sure if this contract still holds, but for now, as the AT&T/Apple contract nears its end, it will be interesting to watch just how the key players (Apple, Verizon, and AT&T) act.
