Lenovo's refreshing its ThinkPad Tablet with the Qualcomm Gobi 3000 chipset, which will allow it to connect via 3G to the carrier of your choice. The Gobi 3000 packs in a wide variety of EV-DO and GSM / HSPA bands on the same chip, so finding a network shouldn't be an issue regardless of your carrier of choice. Of course, while all the major US carriers are supported, you'll be at the mercy of whatever service options those carriers offer — fortunately, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile all offer some form of contract-free tablet data.
Not surprisingly, Lenovo's touting the benefits of this new connectivity to the Enterprise market, noting that IT departments can now buy one type of tablet, deploy it around the world, and generally not have to worry about regional carrier compatibility. The tablet itself appears to be unchanged from the version introduced in August, with an NVIDA Tegra 2 processor, 10.1-inch screen, handwriting support, and a host of pre-installed business apps. While a carrier-agnostic tablet is great to see, it's disappointing that it isn't including the just-announced Gobi 4000 chipset instead, which adds LTE to the already-robust connectivity options. Lenovo's not yet saying how much the updated ThinkPad Tablet will set you back, but the non-3G versions range from $499 to $669. We'll find out the 3G premium when it goes on sale later this month.