AT&T confirms tethering coming to iPhone in 2009
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.
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. 
- by Somecollegedude September 26, 2009 11:43 AM PDT
- Okay, so am I the only person who noticed that in the 3gs manual it says that MMS and internet tethering are already available? Since they are not would this not be considered false advertising? I am sure that many Americans who bought the new 3gs expecting these two features to be "ready-to-go" when they opened the box that their $499 3gs came in were as utterly disappointed in ATT and Apple as i was. Now, a couple of months later, ATT decides to ENABLE the MMS feature, and us 3gs owners are supposed to be thankful? Umm I think not.<br /><br />P.S. <br />False advertising is prohibited under federal law.<br /><br />P.P.S<br />Is it just me or does it seem like day to day we are in a constant struggle moving toward a coexistence of Marxist and Totalitarian principles? At this point in time it seems like Apple is taking over the electronics department (I can't wait for their first video game system), Wal-mart ('nuff said), the Japanese have their car companies, and meanwhile Barack is trying to dismantle the CIA and trying for governmentally funded health care (well it would actually be funded by tax payers). Now I know why 2012 is supposed to be the end of the world. A Communist government along with a Socialist economy... Who would've known?
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- by piece-of-bread December 30, 2009 8:23 AM PST
- The reason that the 3gs manual says that it supports tethering is because the iPhone does support tethering in other countries, it's just that AT&T doesn't let the iPhone tether because they are evil devils.
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