Apple had a prototype where they experimented on this idea with the older Macbook Pro (pre-unibody) so this was quite a few years back. See: http://www.macrumor

Apple had a prototype where they experimented on this idea with the older Macbook Pro (pre-unibody) so this was quite a few years back. See: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/14/photos-of-a-prototype-macbook-pro-with-integrated-3g-cellular-data/ http://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/14/photos-of-a-prototype-ma... It was posted on eBay and eventually pulled because of Apple. You can google for more info. As to why it never became a thing? I suspect (read: guessing) that it has to do with a few things: 1. Network speeds have trouble supporting tablets and smartphones as it is 2. Not everyone wants this 3. City wide initiatives to bring wifi have been ongoing None of those are really valid enough to excuse why no one else have done it. But then again, its not like no one has. Some netbooks and some models of laptops out there do have built in network cards (I know some sony models do). Just not sure there is a huge market demand to cost ratio for this. I for one wish there was such an option as well, one that can also translate to a hotspot but I'd imagine we're going to wait a bit longer before that happens.