Verizon hasn't announced yet what the mobile hotspot pricing will be for the new iPhone. Most likely, it will be the same as for Android phones. If it's cheaper, there will be a scream from all their Android people, followed by a run on the web sites that talk about how to jailbreak and install custom ROMs.

Frankly, it's not really all that big a deal. Since I originally got an iPhone in 2007, I've done business trips where I never actually needed my laptop. I just do everything from the phone. The exceptions to that rule, ironically enough, would require negligible bandwidth -- most notably, synchronizing git repositories if I'm working on something at the time. That's noise compared to catching up with the New York Times in the morning, even on the phone.