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Earlier today, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson boldly told investors during a webcast of an investor conference that he believes the iPad will be a primarily “Wi-Fi driven product.” Stephenson has only confirmed my belief that 3G on the iPad is superfluous in most cases, and that your average consumer isn’t going to be using his or her iPad enough to make paying for 3G worth it.

“My expectation is that there’s not going to be a lot of people out there looking for another subscription,” he said during a webcast of an investor conference, adding that the device would be a mainly “Wi-Fi driven product.”

I believe Stephenson is completely right to make the assumption that most iPad users are going to confine their use of the device to places such as homes, coffee shops, restaurants, and universities; all places where Wi-Fi access is readily available (for the most part.)

TUAW suggests that Stephenson made this comment in order to dissuade people from buying the 3G iPad, at least initially, in order to allow AT&T to keep up with the 3G network demand. An interesting theory, but I personally believe that the iPad is going to be a device primarily used in the home, which, for most people, is a place where Wi-Fi access is as available as running water.

[Reuters]