Tethering coming soon to iPhone 3G?
Apple and AT&T may soon offer an official way to get your laptop online using your iPhone 3G.
(Credit: Apple)Apple CEO Steve Jobs seems very responsive to customer e-mail these days.
Gizmodo has obtained another e-mail supposedly sent from Jobs' iPhone, claiming that Apple and AT&T want to officially bring "tethering" to the iPhone 3G.
Lots of other carriers and handset makers offer ways to wirelessly hook your laptop up to your smartphone, and use the data connection of the phone to get on the Internet. But Apple and AT&T scuttled one early iPhone application called NetShare that was designed to do just that.
One Gizmodo reader claims to have asked Jobs why Apple and AT&T don't offer the option of paying for such a service, calling their reluctance "ludicrous." Steve supposedly said in reply, "We agree, and are discussing it with ATT." You can tether if you're willing to jailbreak, but that might get you in trouble with Apple and/or AT&T.
Is it just me, or does the recent rash of Jobs' e-mail replies to disgruntled customers raise anybody else's eyebrow? Jobs has been known to reach out to customers this way, and has invited shareholders to e-mail him directly, if they have questions or concerns, but over the last couple of weeks, he seems to have really picked up the pace.
I e-mailed Jobs directly this morning to see if he'd confirm whether he's actually responding to these e-mails, or whether a crack team of marketing department "Steves" monitors his in-box and selectively responds to keep that grassroots feeling alive. We shall see.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
Apple should wake up and listen to the people, there are a lot competitive products out there. limiting carriers, non tethering, no IR port and poor response to dropped calls. What is it that draws people to a product thats this poor.
I expected more from Apple. I don't have one, I'm waiting to see some thing favorable in the news, it's been a long wait and I think I may just stick with Verizon. As a road worrier I can't be limited with an iPhone.
"I don't have one, I'm waiting to see some thing favorable in the news, it's been a long wait and I think I may just stick with Verizon. "
So you are already paying for an iPhone in your first sentence, but in the next one you are on Verizon??
How about getting one and trying it before making judgements. I LOVE my iPhone and the access fee is on par with any other PDA available. (Unless you count Sprint or T-mobile, which I don't because I like to be able to make calls and not have dead spots every 5 steps)
Seriously? Who the hell uses IR anymore. Sounds as if you are stuck in the past on your out of date Palm.
As for the plan you don't need an Iphone to get the unlimited plan. and I know plenty of people who are trying to push me into an Iphone so I have used one already and their not all that and a slice of bread!
look at the poor iphone original sales here in europe! donīt mess with your customers...
When something happens with my phone, I call my carrier, not my phone manufacturer. I understand why Apple gets all the attention, but I don't think they deserve it. The flipside is that they take all the credit for the good as well as the bad, so in the long run I think they will come out on top.
- by bmahf June 1, 2009 3:44 PM PDT
- Still no tethering or cut and paste, and their calndar sucks, but I have to confess I still love my iphone. Even though it'sa kind of love hate relationship. Why can't apple actually respond to their users. From what I've heard of 3.0, these changes aren't necessarily on the horizon.
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