Apple and AT&T Working on iPhone Tethering Plan?

Gizmodo is reporting that one of their readers sent them a pretty legitimate-looking email thread of Steve Jobs responding to a complaint regarding iPhone not have tethering capabilities.

If the email thread that has been published is true then there are chances we could use iPhone for tethering purposes without the need to jailbreak the iPhone to achieve it.

The process of tethering allows your laptop to use your iPhone's data connection to surf the internet, which would have been a treat to use with iPhone 3G rather than the first generation's Edge connection. So it was disappointing to find out that AT&T will not be offering tethering capabilities for iPhone 3G.

iPhone hacking community have already figured out a way to tether a jailbroken iPhone to the laptop.

Gizmodo has published the following email thread that was forwarded to them by one their readers:

From our reader to Steve:

AT&T offers data plans for BlackBerry that include tethering for an additional $30 per month (a total of $60 per month for the BlackBerry+tethering plan).

It seems ludicrous that the same thing is not offered with the iPhone. I understand the desire to prevent tethering with the current data plan, but I am willing to pay more money to allow tethering! With such an advanced device, why can I not do so?

From "Steve" to our reader:

We agree, and are discussing it with ATT.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

Though Steve Jobs has been known to send out brief email responses, if this is true it seems to be the first instance where he has sent it from an iPhone (as Gizmodo puts it, it either makes the email legitimate or illegitimate).

It will be interesting to see how Apple plans to offer this feature as they had removed NetShare, an iPhone App which basically turned your iPhone into a portable Wi-Fi hotspot, thus enabling your laptop or any Wi-Fi enabled device to surf the internet using your iPhone's data connection due to pressure from AT&T as they typically charge smart phone users an addition $30 to use tethering applications.

What do you think?

[via Gizmodo]

 

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