If you’re lusting after an iPad but money’s too tight to mention, then Orange UK is hoping to tempt you into the world of tablet Nirvana by offering a shiny 3GiPad for £199, so long as you sign your life and soul away on a £27 per month, two-year contract.
Shortly to be made available for your pre-ordering pleasure here, the 3G-connected iPads start at £199 for the 16GB version, £249 for the 32GB model, and a not-inconsiderable £349 for the 64GB bad boy.
Existing Orange customers signing up to the two year deal get a discounted £25 per month charge, with Orange throwing in 1GB of anytime data, 1GB of off-peak data (that’s the time between midnight and 4pm according to Orange), and 3GB of BT Openzone WiFi access every month for all subscribers.
Get now, pay a shedload later.
Although £199 sounds an alluring price, it’s worth mulling over the total outlay before you reach for your wallet: the 16GB iPad will end up costing you an almighty £847 by the time you’ve finished paying it off, and the 64GB iPad will set you back a frankly ridiculous few quid short of a thousand pounds.
Orange have gone all coy about when the iPads will become available, which has led some speculative types to muse over the possibility that an iPad revision could be looming. Or maybe not.
Either way, we’ll be sure to give you a shout when we hear some news if this is the kind of deal that sends your savings into a samba.
Who else?
If you don’t fancy going with Orange, their new best buddies T-Mobile are likely to offer the same deal, and 3 have announced similar plans “in the coming months.”
Vodafone are rumoured to be mulling over iPad monthly data service plans, while o2 have said that they have no immediate plans to join the subsidised iPad bandwagon.
While it’s a lot of money…per pixel/screen inch it’s good value compared to a lot of phone packages. More to point out that they too are overpriced when compared to the cost of a laptop+ basic broadband package. Still people pay for it, so happy days!