With the iPad pre-orders beginning this morning, a lot has happened over at the Apple site, not only the addition of the iPad to the store, we have a different tab header, of course the iPad has been integrated, but they also removed the Downloads tab, and split up the iTunes and iPod tab, with only minor image differences on both of those pages, wonder what that is about???
Anyways, they have also given us the breakdowns and information on getting some service for those 3g models… You can either choose from a 250mb/month plan, or unlimited. $14.99 will get you 250mb/month, or you can fork out $29.99 to get unlimited, pretty much a no brainer, but just incase you can only spare an extra $15, you can still surf where no WiFi exists.
The really neat thing about the whole thing is that if you are on the 250mb plan, a pop up will show on the screen, letting you know you are getting close, which will happen at 20%, 10%, and 0% remaining. It’ll also give you the option to bump up to the Unlimited plan. But the nice thing is, you can manage this all from the iPad, no need to call AT&T up for anything. You can pay, renew, change, everything, right from the settings.
I’ll ask this again, anyone here going to get one of these? If so, which shipping option you choose? Or will you wait in line. I’m just curious…
MacRumors
Seeing as how I got to fly the skies back in January when attending CES, I can somewhat relate to this — mobile boarding passes. According to Trinity Mobile (one of the leading companies behind mobile boarding passes), 2009 saw an increase in mobile boarding pass usage to the tune of 1200%+. Talk about progress. According to their data, over 600,000 fliers opted in (voluntarily) for the paper-free boarding option as opposed to the meager ~50,000 from 2008. What’s impressive however is that there really hasn’t been any big public marketing push from either Trinity or the major airlines meaning users are opting in for this service by themselves.
As we as a society further entrench technology into our daily lives, we can expect to see the number of paper-based boarding passes shrink with each passing year. Estimations by Trinity have 2010 offering up over 2 billion mobile boarding passes with that number skyrocketing to over 15 billion by 2014.
I honestly can’t see why anyone would favor a paper boarding pass over a mobile/electronic one. It’s exponentially more convenient, which is why I only use such things. Who else has gone electronic on their voyages across the planet? If you have opted out of paper-based boarding passes, how easy or not easy has the whole experience been for you?
FYI: I’ve only flown out of major airports so I would expect them to be more on the up and up technologically speaking. A small regional airport may not quite be there yet. Drop a comment.
MobileCrunch
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