The succinct answer was communicated by Jobs via e-mail (from his iPhone) to Jezper Söderlund of Sweden who e-mailed Jobs to ask, "Will the wifi-only version somehow support tethering thru my iPhone?"
9to5Mac has both e-mails in question, along with e-mail header information, and all indications point to the one word buzzkill response being legit. You can read the text of the e-mail inquiry and Jobs's response below:
Söderlund's e-mail:
"I'll keep it short.
I'm Jezper from Sweden, a long time Apple fan, currently about to replace the very last computer at home with a brand spanking new iMac i7. I'm also awaiting the release of the iPad. However, I have one question:
Will the wifi-only version somehow support tethering thru my iPhone?
Two devices, based on the same OS, with already built-in technology to share one data plan suggests a secondary contract could possibly be redundant.
From the look of your keynote, where the iPad sits well between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone, I was hoping the three of them could interact as seamless as possible.
All the best,
Jezper Söderlund[a famous DJ in his own right]"
Jobs' response:
"No.
Sent from my iPhone"
The bottom line is that those of you who were hoping to buy the cheaper Wi-Fi version of the iPad and tether your iPhone for 3G Internet access (and avoid the additional 3G hardware costs and AT&T subscription plan) are out of luck.