Fox News is reporting that Verizon and AT&T fought over having their 3G service available to future iPad owners and that AT&T won the rights by outbidding the competition.
iPad 3G costs $30 USD monthly for unlimited, or $15 for 250MB data plans, a price about half the cost of what 3G service would normally cost from AT&T for a netbook or modem owner.
Verizon had no comment on the report, and AT&T did not either except to say it’s happy to be the “main carrier partner” for the iPad.
Result for: price
According to a new survey of university students conducted by the University of Reading, the overwhelming majority would prefer to download music than stream it or buy it in-store.
The survey of 10,000 students showed that 75 percent would prefer to download music via iTunes, Amazon MP3 or illegally rather than pay for streaming services such as Spotify.
The source notes the example of TunesPro.com, a legit website which offers music downloads for $0.19, a giant discount off the $1-1.29 that iTunes charges.
Says TunesPro: “We have seen a huge surge of younger people using our site as more and more of torrents and P2P files contain viruses, so our pricing must be competitive enough for the younger students with perhaps less disposable income than professionals. We keep our prices low and concentrate of making money through volume sales. Currently we charge 19c per song and offer a further 10% when a whole album is purchased. We believe this will attract the younger users away from iTunes, which charge almost 6 times more than we do.”
A quick check of the frontpage shows albums selling for $2-3, with lots of catalog tracks for 0.19. Some newer tracks will sell for $1.29, as it is at the discretion of the record companies.
Result for: price
Creative has announced the launch of the Zii MediaBook e-reader, marking the company’s entry into the seemingly crowded e-book reader market.
The MediaBook will use Creative’s powerful Zii application processor, used in the company’s HD media players such as the Zii Egg.
The device will do more than just read books, and will include social networking integration and video playback.
Adds Willie Png, vice president for strategic business, Creative: “The MediaBook will harness videos, pictures, text and services in one device that supports rich media experience.”
No word on price or release date but this e-reader should be a game changer.
Video available here: Zii MediaBook
