Verizon CEO Calls The iPad 'Very Interesting'

In a Q&A earlier this week with The Wall Street Journal, Seidenberg described the iPad as particularly well-suited for video, adding that because it uses flash memory instead of a hard drive, users will download all of their content from the cloud.

"This device will be great for media, and it's a video-intensive experience. The intention of the iPad is to push a lot of video onto that device," Seidenberg said in the interview, , which took place during an event at the Council On Foreign Relations in New York City.

The iPad has its share of detractors, but Seidenberg seems to think the iPad will become a major pillar of content consumption. "We look at it as a fourth screen," Seidenberg said. "So you got your TV; you got your mobile device, right; you got your PC; and now you got a fourth screen."

Incidentally, this sounds like "three screens and the cloud," Microsoft's strategy of developing software for PCs, televisions, and mobile devices, and having all three platforms augmented by cloud services. Microsoft probably wouldn't agree with Seidenberg's glowing assessment of the iPad, and it's more than a bit ironic to hear a carrier executive mimicking a software vendor's messaging.

Seidenberg also addressed the persistent rumors that Apple may develop a CDMA version of the iPhone for Verizon's network. "It's their shot, their call. We're open to doing it," he said. "We have expressed to Apple an interest in doing it; we have explained that our network is capable of handling it."

A Verizon iPhone would help an end to the debate over whether AT&T is to blame for poor iPhone service in areas of high subscriber density. If the country's most well-regarded wireless network were to run into the same bandwidth issues AT&T has faced, fingers might start to point in Apple's direction.

Still, there are plenty of industry experts who believe AT&T simply didn't invest enough in network capacity to support the iPhone. Seidenberg suggested that the quality of Verizon's wireless network service -- which he described as "pretty good" -- stems from the carrier's earlier investments.

"I think that it's only because we invested -- and we invested, and we have people that run it. So I think, in the future, everyone will sort of catch up," Seidenberg said.

Bandwidth demand today is nothing compared to what the future will bring, according to Seidenberg. "So you think of all of the information you all transmit back and forth, that's only 10 percent of what we think will happen in the next 10 years. It's just absolutely awesome," he said.