Apple's next big iOS release - presumably iOS 4.3 - will bring the Verizon iPhone 4's personal Wi-Fi hotspot feature to the GSM versions of the handset. So says a Dutch telco mole cited by local iPhone fansite iPhoneclub. A Greek site makes the same claim, though there's nothing to indicate that it got the info independently …

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Wednesday 12th January 2011 12:09 GMT Anonymous Coward

since

the removal of unlimited iphone data packages, there should be no objections, by the networks, to tethering anymore.

if you've only got 500meg, or 1gig a month, why should they care how you are using it? In fact, they are likely to make more money from people going over their limit if they can attach a laptop to it.

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Wednesday 12th January 2011 12:35 GMT Anonymous Coward

is this the same "personal hotspot" concept that's in Android 2.2?

is this the same "personal hotspot" concept that's in Android 2.2?

How about acknowledging that Android got there first then, with a reference back to the article where you covered it.

Or maybe you didn't cover it, because it wasn't Apple?

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1. Friday 14th January 2011 11:20 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Well...
  
  The reason that they're not acknowledging that Android got there first is because it didn't.
  
  I remember being able to share a data connection over Bluetooth from a Sony Ericsson and a Nokia dumb phone a long time ago (probably over 10 years), I remember using third-party software to do the same on my N95 something like 3-4 years ago.
  
  Roughly two years ago the N97 shipped with a free version of Joikuspot in the firmware, so about the best you can say is that Android 2.2 might be the first to have the capability written into the OS, but it's certainly not the first to have the capability nor is it a new concept.
  
  What's interesting from an iOS perspective is that apps for this functionality have previously been banned from the official app store (but are readily available to jailbreakers) and Apple previously said that this functionality would not be made available when they launched the iPad, so this represents a bit of a back-track.
  
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Wednesday 12th January 2011 12:35 GMT William Gallafent

Getting there …

Well, I think this would at last mean iPhone had caught up in function with my three year old Windows Mobile phone - WiFi tethering is the last thing missing from my required features!

Sure, iPhone has a much higher resolution screen than my current phone, faster CPU, blah blah, but at the moment it is missing one of the core functions that I rely on, viz WiFi tethering!

Ah, hang on, there's still the problem of not being able to install any software I like on it _without_ invalidating the warranty (jailbreaking) … ah well, roll on TomTom for Android …

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Wednesday 12th January 2011 12:40 GMT JaitcH

Apple catching up with Android!

Finally Apple has taken another step in matching Androids attributes. Strangely Verizon's users won't find preloaded cellco software on the phones, and are limited to downloading carrier-specific apps from Itunes.

Maybe someone will jailbreak the device.

Any news whether they will be shipping in white, yet?

CDMA is now extant in the U.S.A. and China with most carriers switching to good old GSM. Hardly worth making a CDMA/GSM version.

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1. Wednesday 12th January 2011 12:52 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Lemon?
  
  Whoops!
  
  You forgot to say Lemon.
  
  Come on... you have to keep your Apple-loathing frothing at the mouth bile coming...
  
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Wednesday 12th January 2011 12:52 GMT Feldspa

Apple catching up with Android, catching up with Symbian

There has been personal wifi hotspot software (Joikuspot) available on Symbian for a number of years now. I also think there was something similar on Windows Phone too.

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Thursday 13th January 2011 10:19 GMT nickrw

Short lived rumour

I just installed the beta 4.3 on my iP4 on O2, personal hotspot works nicely. Looks like it phones home and checks to see if you have the tethering bolt on on your data plan first though.

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