Verizon Wireless will start selling Apple Inc.’s iPad at more than 2,000 company stores Oct. 28, gaining better access to a tablet device that rival carrier AT&T Inc. has provided service for since its debut.
An iPad with 16 gigabytes of storage and a portable Wi-Fi device called MiFi to connect to the Web will sell for $629.99 combined, Verizon, the biggest U.S. mobile carrier, said Thursday in a statement. A model with twice the storage will go for $729.99, and a version with 64 gigabytes is priced at $829.99.
Verizon Wireless is using smartphones and devices like Apple’s touch-screen tablet computer to boost revenue from data plans. The announcement may signal that Apple and Verizon have reached an agreement for an iPhone that will work on Verizon’s network, which uses so-called CDMA technology, said Maynard Um, an analyst for UBS AG, in a research note.
“The ability for Apple and Verizon Wireless to reach a working agreement on the iPad gives more credence to our view that a CDMA iPhone is likely to come,” Um said. “Supply constraints for both iPads and iPhones have begun to ease, a positive for Apple as we believe these products should be two of the most heavily gifted items.”
A Verizon iPhone would end AT&T’s exclusive contract to be the carrier for the handset in the U.S., a right it has had since the iPhone was introduced in 2007. Verizon plans to start selling the iPhone in January, two people familiar with the plan said in June.
