In the preceding article we wrote about the increased traffic on the networks due to increased multimedia usage. Most of us are not aware of the amount of traffic that is generated by every application, let be by streaming radio or TV.
As long as you are on a WiFi network where there is no price linked to traffic (at home, most hotspots, at work) there is also no need to know. But once you get billed for the volume of data exchanged, you might get what is called a “bill shock” (excessively high bills leading to a mental shock). This is most probably going to happen in three ways.
One bill shock can come from the app store. You might be buying too many paying applications. Or the kids might do 
this. Apple keeps your login active for 15 minutes after giving your password. This means you give the password for the first download, and during the next 15 minutes you can continue downloading apps. The counter goes up and you get the bill on your credit card afterwards. Mostly this is limited when being done by adults (eg. Less than 100€), but with kids you never know.
A second bill shock may come from for example iTunes. It is possible to do in-app purchases. Buying virtual goods within an application. This may happen in games (Smurfvillage is the most frequently mentioned) or in newsreaders for example. Apple now separated the app store login from the in-app login, such that when you download an app (you need to log in to do that), you will still need to do a login from within an app with in-app purchasing. These bill shocks might go up rapidly and become several 100€.
A third bill shock is the one coming from your mobile operator. The switch over between WiFi and mobile is seemless. Users may not notice at all that they are working over mobile data. Most of the tariff plans pay for a particular volume, with a second tariff once over the already-paid-for volume, which most of the time is higher. When you are abroad, the roaming tariff is even higher. If you then watch an HD movie during 2 hours, you may be surprised of your bill, which can go easily in the 1.000’s of euros and even over 10.000€. You better be warned.
The European Union rules the operators to send SMS’s to the users to indicate how much they transgress the volume limit. See for example the article on this subject. As long as the tablet allows to display these messages (and the user did not turn off the feature), the concept works well. Apple has turned off the possibility to receive SMS on the iPad, unfortunately for their users. Luckily enough there are more and more solutions to do telecom expense management, allowing to control your consumption, and you should definitely speak to your provider to find out their offerings.
There are many applications to get radio or TV on the tablet. Internet providers who also deliver broadcasted TV (cable or ADSL) start to use the tablet as an additional channel to watch TV. The applications they provide, allow to watch video on demand movies or “missed programs”. Some applications allow to remotely configure the Set Top Box. “Free to air” TV is streamed over the internet and can easily be received with other apps. There are plenty radio receivers, even receivers to listen to the american police channels.
Tablets are going to set in an era of completely new cloud utilisation. Their design comes with some limitations but opens up new possibilities. WiFi is standard and 3G connectivity will become standard as we move forward in time. But there is no disk drive, no DVD drive, a limited amount of connectors and many come with (or without) slots for memory cards. 
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