AT&T today officially announced that it will offer all Wi-Fi + 4G models of the new iPad through its sales channels beginning this Friday, March 16, in line with Apple's official launch. The announcement is of course no surprise given past history and an information page that has been available on the carrier's site since soon after the device's introduction, but the carrier has now made official its plans to make the device available through all sales channels including online and in-store.
AT&T today announced it will offer the new iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G in the United States on Friday, March 16. AT&T will offer all models of iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G with a range of attractive data plans that will allow customers to connect to the AT&T 4G LTE network with speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G. [...]
Customers can buy the new iPad through all AT&T sales channels beginning Friday, March 16. For complete details on pricing and availability please visit www.att.com/ipad.
The carrier offers three monthly data plans for the iPad, a 250 MB plan for $14.99, a 3 GB plan for $30, and a $5 GB plan for $50. All plans are commitment-free and include access to over 29,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots around the United States.
AT&T has not yet made any announcements on whether it plans to support the personal hotspot functionality of the new iPad, but as things currently stand the feature is not included in AT&T's data plans. Verizon, which will presumably be announcing similar launch plans for Friday, will be offering personal hotspot connectivity as part of its data plans at no additional charge.
Electronics retailer RadioShack has also announced plans to launch the new iPad on Friday, taking pre-order deposits in the form of $50 gift cards that can be applied to the device purchase.
Update: Verizon has also published its press release announcing availability of all Wi-Fi + 4G models beginning on Friday. The carrier is also touting its support for the new iPad's personal hotspot functionality.
Verizon Wireless today announced it will offer the new iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G nationwide on Friday, March 16. Verizon Wireless will offer all models of iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G with a range of attractive data plans that will allow customers to connect to the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network with speeds up to 10 times faster than previously available on 3G. Additionally, Verizon Wireless is supporting the Personal Hotspot feature of the new iPad so users can share their fast network connection with up to 5 other devices using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB.
