I have had my iPad for a little bit now and so far it has been a wonderful device for the consumption of media. It has allowed me to be free of using a regular computer in order to browse the web for meaningful purposes. No longer does it feel clunky or hold me back as other portable devices like cell phones continue to do. What would really take things further is the ability to do work.
People will say that if you want to get things done there are better options than an iPad. I have heard about others and their accomplishments for the work that they can get done on their iPad. For myself right now I have just recently downloaded a wordpress app and am typing this article on my iPad. I know the web portal for wordpress would probably give me a decent experience but with this type of device, apps can really add features and make the experience more fulfilling. With an open source app like wordpress, which is free by the way, I don’t feel cramped and overall the feeling I get is that of being productive. I am challenging myself to adapt the way I go about business and to integrate the use of the iPad more and more. This wordpress app is just the first step towards changing the iPad from a consumption device to a creative wonderland not limited by what it can do.
Bell announced their iPad plans today and not unsurprising they are an exact match for the plans that Rogers announced earlier. For $15 you get 250mb which is a nice lite starter plan, and then beyond that they offer 5gb for $35. In Canada, we have all the major players offering up plans for the iPad and yet we are lacking an unlimited plan as seen in the USA by AT&T. Down there they have the usual $15 for 250mb but they also offer unlimited for $29.99 which is very nice. Let’s hope that when Telus finally gives word on their plans they mix it up a little and offer something different. I don’t want three different carriers offering the exact same thing.
Other Billing Ideas:
Why not bring on a reasonable pay per use rate (not $x / MB, I mean x cents / MB)? I personally would be fine with 2 cents per MB this would give me a good enough rate for light browsing and let me get around paying $15 for something I may not even use in a month. If I used 1gb, well then I would be paying $20, sounds reasonable. If I want more then I would pay for a monthly plan.
Another idea might be allowing for data sharing between a regular smartphone and the iPad. I know that my data usage would definitely go down on my cellphone with an iPad. Some users may even be inclined to reduce their cellphone data plans to compensate for this. If they offered the ability to share the data between a cellphone and iPad some users would probably even increase the amount of data on their current plans to share. I’m not into financials enough to know whether this type of data sharing would help ARPU as its a single user paying more or whether the two devices would split the revenue over “two” users. Either way, increasing the revenues and offering something the competition isn’t would go a long way in this very tight iPad battle royale.