To answer a burning question in the minds of so many potential consumers of Apple’s forthcoming iPad tablet, an intrepid emailer by the name of Jezper Söderlund (a well-known trance DJ/producer) worked up the courage to email Apple CEO Steve Jobs the one question many enthusiasts and potential general customers who already own iPhones the one question on everyone’s mind:
“Will the Wi-Fi-only iPad allow for tethering with the iPhone and/or vice versa?” The exchange follows below:
I’m Jezper from Sweden, a long time Apple fan, currently about to replace the very last computer at home with a brand spanking new iMac i7. I’m also awaiting the release of the iPad. However, I have one question:
Will the wifi-only version somehow support tethering thru my iPhone?
Two devices, based on the same OS, with already built-in technology to share one data plan suggests a secondary contract could possibly be redundant.
From the look of your keynote, where the iPad sits well between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone, I was hoping the three of them could interact as seamless as possible.
All the best,
Jezper Söderlund
Jobs, in his trademark style fired up his iPhone and sent out his response:
Ämne: Re: Dear mr. Jobs
Från: Steve Jobs <sjobs@apple.com>
Datum: 5 mars 2010 17.01.29 CET
Till: Jezper Söderlund <>
Return-Path: <sjobs@apple.com>
No.
Sent from my iPhone.
While the Wi-Fi only iPad could access the internet from any Wi-Fi capable smartphone with the proper software/settings, the combination of slinging 3G from an iPhone 3G/3GS via Wi-Fi seems like the most logical pairing, with the confirmation of no such functionality another in a string of artificial limitations placed by Apple.