Tech Data Partners Get Ability To Activate iPads

Through an agreement with Verizon Wireless, Tech Data Corp. partners will now be able to activate 3G and 4G mobile services on Apple iPads and other tablets.

The activations come through Tech Data's year-old TDMobility unit, a joint venture with Brightstar. Charles Kriete, executive vice president of TDMobility, said in an interview that about 700 partners are fully authorized through TDMobility to sell solutions, but that participation is open to Tech Data's entire 60,000 partner ecosystem. He said TDMobility has been adding between 50 and 100 partners a month in North America.

With Verizon on board, TDMobility now works with all the biggest carriers in the United States. TDMobility was already working with AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. However, Verizon is a big deal for TDMobility and its partners because of the size of its network and customer base, its large corporate presence and the ability to activate iPads. AT&T, the other major corporate account carrier, does not currently permit iPad activation through TDMobility. Sprint does allow iPad activation through TDMobility's infrastructure.

"Verizon has really stepped up in the channel, enabling the activation of a complete portfolio of mobile tablet solutions, including the iPad, on the largest LTE network for the VAR community," Kriete said.

The Verizon capabilities add a new type of business for TDMobility partners with higher margin, Kriete said. "Currently, we're doing around 70,000 tablet sales per month. Approximately 20,000 of those are embedded with 3G/4G, so they're capable of activation," he said. Any 3G/4G activations will be new business, he said. "We'd be coming from zero as far as the activating opportunity."

Posted by Scott Bekker on March 04, 2013 at 11:58 AM