On Monday, Apple announced at its Worldwide Developer Conferences in San Francisco that it plans to finally add data tethering to the iPhone, which will turn the device into a wireless modem to connect laptops to 3G networks.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)Updated at 4:09 p.m. PDT with a link to a Boy Genius report and a clarification on when AT&T expects MMS and tethering service to be ready.
iPhone users across the U.S. were disappointed Monday to learn that AT&T, the only operator in the country offering the iPhone, won't immediately support a couple of key new features in Apple's new 3.0 operating system that will be available starting next week. But AT&T says these features are coming.
On Monday, Apple announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco that it plans to finally add data tethering to the iPhone, which will turn the device into a wireless modem to connect laptops to 3G networks. It also announced that the new 3.0 version of the iPhone operating system will support multimedia messaging messaging.
These features have topped iPhone users' wish lists since the phone was launched two years ago. But millions of iPhone users in the U.S. will have to wait a little bit longer. That said, AT&T says the features are coming soon.
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Apple and AT&T have apparently figured out a way to tether an iPhone to a laptop, and get those e-mails on the big screen.
(Credit: Apple)AT&T Mobility chief Ralph de la Vega confirmed on Thursday that iPhone 3G users will be able to use their phones as wireless modems at some point next year.
De la Vega made the comments during a conversation with TechCrunch's Michael Arrington at the Web 2.0 Summit on Thursday. "Tethering" an iPhone to a laptop, and using the iPhone's mobile data connection to get online, is a service that iPhone users have wanted for some time but that AT&T was reluctant to provide, perhaps because it feared that a huge influx of traffic could overwhelm its network.
It's not clear when AT&T will roll out the tethering service; some point in 2009 appears to be the only stated time frame.
Last month, Steve Jobs supposedly sent an e-mail to a Gizmodo reader saying Apple and AT&T were working on a tethering plan for the iPhone. But for a brief period this year, a company called NullRiver software sold an application called NetShare that let iPhone users tether their laptops to their phones. Apple pulled the application from the App Store, despite the fact that other carriers selling the iPhone around the world permit tethering and the developer's claim that NetShare did not violate any terms and conditions of the developer program.
Will NetShare be allowed back on the App Store, if tethering is declared legal? Or is Apple planning to develop that software itself, after rejecting the developer's application, as it appears to be doing with a podcast download feature that looks to be coming to the iPhone 2.2 software? We'll have to wait and see.
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.
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