Comments on: Rumor Has It: Apple Putting 3G Into MacBooks, Rendering USB Sticks Useless

By: Weekly App Store Picks: May 9, 2009

Weekly App Store Picks: May 9, 2009 — Sun, 10 May 2009 02:02:51 +0000

[...] mirth was provided courtesy of Apple, when someone on the Cupertino campus inadvertently approved a listing for QuickPWN — the iPhone jailbreaking tool — in the official web app [...]

By: Stefan

Stefan — Sun, 10 May 2009 01:15:05 +0000

I think this would be the best thing since sliced bread – if they would offer casual plans / adhoc option. I hardly have the need for 3G but when I need it, it would be great to have it integrated and just land on a portal page where you read news etc. and unlock it for a day or even a few hours with your credit card / itunes account.

I don’t want to have another account or monthly bill but being able to switch it on when you travel would be brilliant.

just my 2 cent

By: Todd Baur

Todd Baur — Sat, 09 May 2009 08:30:02 +0000

Makes sense to me they would do this

By: Joseph McLaughlin

Joseph McLaughlin — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:18:47 +0000

It’s not shooting themselves in the foot. Why would you drain both your computer and iPhone battery to tether, when you can choose to only drain one devices battery (granted, at a slightly faster speed).

I would love this option and would venture a guess that it would be a no cost upgrade. (As long as you purchase a data plan)

One thing to think about though, is the possibility of a 3G unlock. iPhone hackers have already accomplished it with the limitations of the iPhone software (yeah, I know they hacked it, but it’d be a lot easier on the Mac).

By: austinandrew

austinandrew — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:44:36 +0000

It’s about time. Just one of the reasons I’ve never considered a mac is because they don’t have integrated 3G broadband. I can get that with a PC.

Also with a PC I can choose many brands which lets me choose the carrier of my choice.

By: David

David — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:34:57 +0000

Putting a 3G radio into Macs isn’t going to make those USB sticks obsolete because Apple seems to be fixated with dictating your mobile phone provider.

In North America Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, Telus, Bell, Virgin, etc. customers won’t be able to use a 3G Mac with their account unless they get a stick from their mobile provider or switch to AT&T / Rogers.

I realize that’s the point, to force people to buy service from Apple’s preferred partners, but I’m worried it could backfire because the hardware will be built into the price of the MacBook and nobody likes paying for something they can’t use.

By: Constable Odo

Constable Odo — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:23:57 +0000

Won’t having 3G built into all notebooks increase bandwidth use to the point that nobody will be getting telephone calls? AT&T won’t be able to keep up building infrastructure at this rate. Especially in large cities such as N.Y. or L.A. It seems like good revenue for carriers if their networks can carry the load without dropped calls and such, but I don’t think they’ll be able to carry the load.

I’m thinking that Apple is just going to put 3G in their future tablet or pad to compete with the Kindle. And they may even cripple it to throttle down bandwidth use.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:56:15 +0000

they aren’t exactly shooting in their own feet:

The iPhone for everyone who already has a Mac as a 3G tethering option
The built in chip for everyone else (those who have an iPod Touch) or for those people who buy a new one.

This means: 2 ways for Apple to sell 3G options for their laptops, means more money coming from AT&T contracts.