» Sponsored data
Ina Fried for Re/code:
AT&T has been pretty quiet about its plans for “toll-free” data service since announcing its plans at CES in January.
With sponsored data, companies foot the bill for certain kinds of data use, meaning it is free for consumers. AT&T said at the time it was testing the service with a handful of partners, but has gone radio silent since then.
That could change Wednesday if, as some suspect, Amazon chooses to subsidize some of their customer’s data usage on the smartphone it is introducing.
Huh. If only there were some kind of phrase for a situation in which when you are not paying for a product then you are the product. Oh, well.
At least people already know Amazon just wants you to buy more stuff. I find the relationship with an Amazon device to be a little more honest than the relationship with a Google Android device. I do have a hard time imagining how AT&T’s network will hold up if Amazon phone owners can stream Prime video over LTE for free. Still, that would be a neat feature to have if it worked.