If you follow Gruber, he's made the point that Apple doesn't consider this a new device, and that Apple will probably sell it as the exact same device to customers. This is one significant area where it's not, though - if you buy an iPhone on Verizon, you get this feature. If you buy one on AT&T, you don't.
Apple to date has stood pretty firmly against the idea of carrier differentiation. There is nothing about the iPhone on AT&T that reminds you that it is an AT&T device, no preinstalled apps, no logos, nothing.
So that's why the hotspot is a surprise to me. I'm sure that Apple has been pushing for this on AT&T all along, but it seems to be a chip in the carrier fragmentation armor.
If you follow Gruber, he's made the point that Apple doesn't consider this a new device, and that Apple will probably sell it as the exact same device to customers. This is one significant area where it's not, though - if you buy an iPhone on Verizon, you get this feature. If you buy one on AT&T, you don't.
Apple to date has stood pretty firmly against the idea of carrier differentiation. There is nothing about the iPhone on AT&T that reminds you that it is an AT&T device, no preinstalled apps, no logos, nothing.
So that's why the hotspot is a surprise to me. I'm sure that Apple has been pushing for this on AT&T all along, but it seems to be a chip in the carrier fragmentation armor.