Verizon Trying to Leverage iPad and Testing New Pricing Strategies

On Wednesday, Verizon demonstrated the power of the app, announcing plans to make it generally available by next year. If this happens, the carrier’s FiOS TV service will be available on the iPad, making the TV experience as mobile as the tablet device from Apple.

According to a Daily Tech piece highlighted that the biggest obstacle for Verizon right now is getting content providers on board. Verizon doesn’t plan to offer the app until it has a powerful portfolio of content providers agreeing to the benefits of its service.

Once the new service is in place, Verizon subscribers will be able to rent or buy movies and content through the company’s website or a set-top box. They can also download and watch the content on as many as five PCs and/or mobile devices such as the Droid X, Droid 2, BlackBerry Stor, and Windows Mobile 6.5 devices. While we wait out the news on the iPad app, Verizon has announced a carrier test of a $99 unlimited everything plan. The plan is designed to directly compete with Sprint’s Simply Everything plan, also priced at $99 per month.

According to a Verizon spokesperson, the limited-time promotion will be available only on single lines. Once tiered data plans are rolled out, don’t expect the unlimited aspect of the deal to stick around.

Regardless of the outcome, the fact that Verizon is testing options means that it is experimenting with some changes to its pricing strategies. The company has often been branded as the “luxury mobile provider” compared to players like T-Mobile, which offers an unlimited everything plan on its no-contract Even More Plus for $79.99 per month.Verizon also appears worried about competition from discount carriers like MetroPCS, Cricket and Boost as the company is testing a $50 unlimited prepaid plan in the Southeast.

In other Verizon news, the company is making headway in cloud computing for credit card transactions. Verizon Computing as a Service, or CaaS, the company's cloud computing solution delivered from Verizon cloud centers in the U.S. and Europe, is the first cloud-based solution to successfully complete the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard audit for storing, processing and transmitting credit card information.

Source: TMCnet.com