09 March 2010 | Author: D. Warburton Search Copywriter

Steve Jobs confirms no iPhone tethering for iPad

Apple founder Steve Jobs has confirmed that users of the new iPad will not be able to tether their tablet to the internet using the 3G connection of their iPhone.

The Register reports that Jobs replied with an unequivocal "No" from his iPhone, when emailed by Swedish trance DJ Jezper Söderlund asking if a Wi-Fi-only iPad could use an iPhone's 3G tethering.

Despite Jobs' seemingly definite reply, which The Register is confident was genuinely from the man himself, the decision to provide internet tethering from the iPhone is presently one made by carriers, with companies such as O2, Orange and Vodafone offering various tethering plans for the iPhone 3.0 in the UK since its release last June.

However, Apple fans in the US are less well catered for. While the iPhone's exclusive carrier AT&T has promised tethering since November 2008 - when CEO Ralph De La Vega said his company was in discussions with Apple to arrange a tethering plan - one has yet to appear.

Apple's eagerly-awaited iPad is set to launch next month, and has already sparked a 'war of the tablets' among rivals, especially after the device was billed as the industry's next hot platform at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that up to 15 tablets are expected to be launched this year, most of which will be powered by Google's Android platform. With tablets already confirmed from Microsoft and HP as well as Google, analyst firm Gartner is predicting that 10.5 million tablet PCs will be shipped this year.