Apple announced earlier today that the iPad will finally be available in the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and Switzerland on Friday 28 May 2010. Customers can pre-order all iPad models, including 3G models, from Apple’s online store in all nine countries beginning next Monday, 10 May.
Apple's iPad is available in the UK for a suggested retail price of £429 for 16GB, £499 for 32GB, £599 for 64GB for Wi-Fi models and £529 for 16GB, £599 for 32GB and £699 for 64GB for Wi-Fi + 3G models.
All prices include VAT. The iPad will be sold through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorised Resellers. The iBooks app for iPad including Apple’s iBookstore will be available as a free download from the App Store on 28 May. O2, Vodafone and Orange will all offer 3G data plans.
Contact Us
Digg
It's easy and free to get the latest news headlines, reviews and opinions straight to your email inbox. Sign up NOW to make sure you receive the latest Mac news, reviews and tutorials on your favourite topics.
Comments received
NickBlakey said on Fri, 07 May 2010
That could have been a lot worse. £30 mark up for the 64GB 3G iPad? Worth waiting for, methinks...
Geoff Taylor said on Fri, 07 May 2010
Comparing UK and US prices. In the UK, £429 for the cheapest model, minus VAT, is £354, which converts to 566 dollars, a markup from the US price (499 dollars) of 67 dollars, about £42. Could be worse, I suppose...
Mark Hattersley said on Fri, 07 May 2010
It's pretty much where we expected it to be. About £10 higher than our last guesstimate but not outrageous. £100 for the 3G is pretty steep, but apparently it has five antennas inside so is justifiable.
Having used the US one for a while I can safely say it's money well spent.
nom said on Fri, 07 May 2010
hmm.. I'm coming more to the view that the wifi only one is the way to go.
At present I pay £15 pm for a 3G data plan for the laptop which I need for working out and about
I don't want to have another plan for an iPad - so maybe the get the wifi iPad and then get a Mifi which I can use for both laptop and iPad and cancel my current data plan
Mark Hattersley said on Fri, 07 May 2010
Have had the WiFi one for a while now and it's great, but I've decided to stump up for a 3G model. Just occasionally you wish you had it.
Xhris2210 said on Fri, 07 May 2010
@ Mark
According to the US comparison you published here, MiFi is better becaue it doesn't cap video downloads and you have the flexibility of sharing the data. Over there the initial cost of a dongle Vs built-in is much greater. Over here, it's half the cost. Unless the proposed data plan bundles are very cheap, that's also likely to be less with MiFi too.
I can't see it's a difficult decision unless you don't like the idea of carrying a separate dongle that weighs a couple of ounces...
nom said on Sat, 08 May 2010
@ Xhris2210
yeah - carrying one more thing is a pain - as is having to charge yet another thing and deal with limited battery life
just found a short review of the Mifi from 3 tested with an iPad in UK/Ireland and they found it unreliable in terms of the 3G signal
so I've kinda changed my mind on this... again!
nom said on Sat, 08 May 2010
oh yeah forgot review on cnet uk in crave section
Dragonfly said on Sat, 08 May 2010
Am I right that the wifi model doesn't have GPS ? The Apple Tech spec doesn't clarify this.
Assisted GPS (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
Assisted ?
Firstly does this mean that both models have GPS and only the 3G model has assisted GPS via radio masts ? or is it only the 3G model that has GPS ? A simple table would clarify that.
And what does WiFi+3G Model mean ? Both the Wifi and the 3G model or only the combined model has GPS.
Mark Hattersley said on Sat, 08 May 2010
Assisted GPS is the triangulation technology that determines position using nearby radio masts and a database of WiFi hotspots.
The WiFi model uses just this system to triangulate position (usually to within 100 metres, I tried it earlier and it was pretty accurate). The WiFi + 3G model also has a GPS chip inside so it can get your exact position.
It's the same on the iPod touch and iPhone
Dragonfly said on Sun, 09 May 2010
@Mark Hattersley,
So the Wifi-only model doesn't have GPS. It only uses wifi hotspots to calculate position (similar to iPod) ? Of course it wouldn't be able to use radio masts to triangulate if it doesn't have a mobile receiver, or am I understanding that wrong ?
The Wifi+3G has a dedicated GPS receiver and also uses 3G radio masts to triangulate position and assist GPS, similar to iPhone ?
I wish Apple would just say
iPad Wifi = No GPS
iPad Wifi+3G = GPS
to clarify. (If that's the case).
Mark Hattersley said on Sun, 09 May 2010
That's right. You can check out the specs at www.apple.com/ipad/specs
This is what it says
Location
Wi-Fi
Digital compass
Assisted GPS (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
Cellular (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
Mark Hattersley said on Sun, 09 May 2010
But unless you plan to use it as the world's biggest SatNav you might not really want to worry too much about it. I've managed to get fairly accurate readings in Maps with the WiFi only version. Enough to get hone in on the right part of the world, at any rate.
glasshalfempty said on Sun, 09 May 2010
Any idea if pre-ordering tomorrow will mean getting your hands on one sooner than queuing at a store on May 28th?
Will 24-7 said on Sun, 09 May 2010
What time will they open pre-orders online?
jel1983 said on Mon, 10 May 2010
Pre-ordering went live shortly after 1am uk time. Advice don't use safari to order. It crashed. Had to order it again but used firefox and it was much smoother.
Xhris2210 said on Mon, 10 May 2010
@nom
The key thing here is there was no comparison in the review with a 3G version. Some of the comments should be read in light of that - like the failure to get a consistent signal on a train journey. Have you ever tried to use a mobile on a long train journey? There are always black holes. I use the Three dongle with my MB Pro and it's fairly reliable. OK, principally I use it at home [very poor 3 signal, but I rarely get outage - so long as I keep the dongle upstairs!
It's true battery life will not give you a constant 10 hours of surfing - but how many days would you need that? If you're close to a handy USB port it recharges fairly quickly.
Xhris2210 said on Mon, 10 May 2010
It's not as elegant a solution as having 3G built in, but the extra cost of that version, the expense of the price plans and the fact you can't share the data with any other device...
I'd say particularly if you have another computer you might want to use a 3G connection with, the dongle is still the obvious choice. It's a long time since the contract obligation on mine expired, but there's not much danger I won't stick with it.
[In case anyone's wondering I have no connection with 3, other than it's the network I have experience with!]
Dragonfly said on Mon, 10 May 2010
@Mark,
Thanks for clarifying :-)
Disclaimer
Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Macworld. Macworld accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content.
Click here to read the house rules.
Click here for the latest reader comments