Apple hiring engineer to test 3G, 4G carrier compatibility
updated 04:45 pm EDT, Wed August 24, 2011
Gears up for future LTE devices
Apple is hiring a person to produce iOS compatibility with different cellular specifications, including LTE, AppleInsider notes. The successful candidate will work as an "iOS Inter-Operability Development and Performance Engineer" in Cupertino, and must be familiar with multiple wireless standards, namely WCDMA/UMTS, HSPA+, CDMA, EVDO and LTE. The job will also specifically involve communicating with carriers and vendors to ensure compatibility.
The company is believed to be gearing up for 2012, when the iPhone and/or the iPad may support LTE for the first time. The technology will probably be left out of this fall's iPhone update, since there has been no evidence of LTE in recent leaks about the device, and Apple is likely waiting for improved LTE chipsets which merge 3G and 4G support and consume less power. AT&T has also yet to join Verizon in launching an LTE network.
Apple has been spotted installing LTE in stores and including references to the standard in recent betas of iOS 5. Combined with recent hiring efforts it suggests that Apple is in the middle of a testing phase, nowhere near locking down the design of LTE-equipped hardware. It would, however, have at least five months to prepare for an LTE iPad 3, and longer still for an iPhone 6.
