Tethering the Web
Image courtesy of Ben Dodson via the Creative Commons attribution license.
Since Apple made the iPhone OS 4.0 beta available, developers have been digging for clues as to the future of the iPhone platform. We believe that one of the answers is tethering, a technical term used to describe a mobile internet connection from a laptop/PC using a smartphone as a modem.
So what tipped developers off to this future feature? A new configuration page for internet tethering and an alert sent to users to call AT&T to set up tethering. Tethering has always been in the future of wireless data plans. It was not a matter of if, but when.
If tethering really is a feature of the next-generation iPhone, it will provide another incentive for consumers to switch to wireless-only homes – no landlines and no wired Internet. Very likely, even the most generous projections of mobile data growth will end up proving conservative.
-Subhi Andrews
Tags: iphone, smartphone, tethering