back to article Apple prices up iPad for UK

Apple has said how much the iPad will cost Brits when its 'magical' device goes on sale on 28 May. The Wi-Fi only version will be priced at £429, £499 and £599 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models, respectively. Add 3G to the package and you'll pay an extra £100 for each of those storage capacities: £529, £599 and £699. Prices …

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  1. Nathan 13
    FAIL

    Ill take 3

    Netbooks instead :)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      @Nathan is 13

      3 netbooks like carrying 6 iPads around. Have fun with that.

      Your argument will have merit when a netbook comes in the same form factor (with touch) as the iPad, works as fast, has as much battery life and applications specifically designed for the device. When that happens, I'll want 3 netbooks too!

  2. Rob
    WTF?

    Doesn't make sense

    I'd rather buy a laptop with more functionality on it at the same price.

    1. Chad H.
      Stop

      the iPads its not for me, but I do get what its there fore.

      Winging that the iPad isnt more like an Laptop is like complaining that you can't use apples (the fruit) to make Orange juice. Its not supposed to be a laptop

      Yeah, it does some similar things, but its not supposed to be a laptop, its going to do some things better, some things the same, and some things not as well as a laptop - , Apple juice will quench your thirst just as much as Orange juice will, and its one of your 5 a day, but if you want something to go with your Vodka, you probably want the Orange juice.

      If you're looking for a portable web device and your phone is too small, or want something to watch movies on the go, well, its better than your bulky, cant run as long without a recharge laptop

      1. Havin_it
        Alert

        Now look here:

        Vodka & apple is one of the finest mixed beverages on this green Earth, I'll have you know!

        Muddled with a sprig of mint if the day is balmy enough to merit it.

        Back to chap-school with you, insolent whelp.

        1. Steve Evans
          Happy

          Ah-hem...

          Not just any old vodka please... Żubrówka!

          Na zdrowie

  3. BRAINPLAN
    Jobs Horns

    didn't see that coming

    rahahahahahaaa!!!

    Now seriously, think of what else you could do with that money.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Apple never lie...

    The Apple UK website states 'A magical and revolutionary product at an unbelievable price'.

    Well, it's true, it is unbelievable. It's a lovely gadget, but not worth that much. You'll get a full on laptop (not just a netbook) for that sort of money. I'm not just talking Windows boxes either - from the top end, 3G flavour, you aren't far off from buying a Macbook.

    Sounds like the usual shaft the UK buyer business model. A pity, as I'd have bought one were it, say, £100 or so less.

    1. joe_bruin
      Thumb Up

      Shaft the UK buyer?

      "Sounds like the usual shaft the UK buyer business model"

      In California, the sales tax is 9%. At that rate, a $499 iPad costs $543 dollars. If you're paying £429 (VAT included), you're getting it cheaper than we are ($536 according to el reg).

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Flame

        £1 != $1

        Only if we are talking about a £1 = $1 ratio which is not the case.

        $536 currently equals £365 which is what we should be paying (including tax), so it's almost £100 overpriced for the entry level model.

        The top end 3G should cost £564 but costs £699. For £100 more you could have a new MacBook.

        Rip. Off. Britain.

        1. Ian Collier

          £1 != $1

          Only that isn't quite how it works out. You have to take VAT/sales tax into account.

          For the entry level model in the UK the price will be £429 INCLUDING 17.5% VAT. That is £365 before VAT. Which at the current exchange rate (according to xe.com) is $540.

          This is just $41 (or 8.25%) more that the price before sales tax in the US. The same differential applies more or less across the range.

          That is a premium, but hardly a complete rip off. (Compare for example with Adobe's European pricing.)

          --Ian

        2. Dr Richard

          Steve is right when he says ...

          "Please educate yourself. UK prices must by law include VAT, which is around 18%. US prices do not include tax."

          So says Mr Jobs to two emails about price differences.

          As other people have said when you allow for £/$ variability, add in duty (if you are lucky Customs will say its a laptop/PDA with 0% duty or if you go for the 3G one then it might be classed as a PDA with GPS and hence attracts 3.7% duty) and VAT and then there is very little difference in real prices.

          I've noticed that Apple have got better with their UK/US pricing over the years with closer alignment, once you take in to account VAT and currency exchange.

          What is a rip off is VAT regardless of its %age - blame the EU for that one.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Seriously?

    I mean, I'm sure it's a lovely bit of kit - but it's an awfully extravagant expense for me, even if we're talking the bargain-basement model.

    Which is a shame, as I've been waiting on a handheld that offers a naturalistic reading method without reducing my eyes to pin-holes.

    At that price though, I'll be sticking with my trusty old '06 Macbook.

    Paris, because you can probably trace your fingers over her for less.

  6. scottinsheff

    amazing

    amazing just 430 quid for a cameraless. no usb support, no flash support device, but it will get multitasking sometime, and v2 ipad gets a webcam !!

    used to be a fanboi but there a joke these days

    strangely even my htc desire still can manage more than the ipad can !!!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      As the men would have said

      If they need to publish a compatible list of web sites, they blew it.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      @scottinsheff

      Enjoy your HTC Desire, then - I'm sure it's screen is adequate size, and battery life is equivalent.

      FFS - it's a phone you're comparing to this device, why not pick a refrigerator or a toaster, then the iPad will suffer incredibly in your comparison.

    3. Andus McCoatover
      Pint

      Totally agree.

      My Asus (Think "On the beach") 701 works, multitasks, got 3 USB sockets, runs flash, wireless built-in, Finnish keyboard, plus, a freakin' webcam...Does Skype work on the "Jobsworth"?

      The eeepc cost me less than £200. I love it!!! Use it daily in Finnish class as a dictionary/google translate tool/email, Never once crashed, and I never travel - even to the pub - without it.

      So, on that basis what jobsworth would buy a, er, Jobsworth? Frikking thing hasn't even got a real keyboard, FFS.

      One born every minute, I guess.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Down

        @Andus Mcwhatever

        You're right, it doesn't have a separate keyboard, but I wouldn't say it doesn't have a *real* keyboard, because that would be false. It also doesn't suffer the extra hardware that is a keyboard, so this one wins hands down in form factor (small and thin always win in my book, but that's my criteria).

        BTW, I tried the keyboard on the iPad Friday evening - at first I rested my fingers on the keys (like I normally do) and immediately realised I'd inadvertantly typed several characters. Once I realised this isn't how you hold your hands, I proceeded to type quite naturally without any errors. It actually amazed me how easy it is to type with the onscreen version - something I hadn't really expected.

  7. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. jai

    not really a rip off is it?

    36 quid isn't exactly a rip off

    it's less than 10% of the total price, so it's going to be quite close to the sales tax price isn't it?

    also, if you're bringing one home from the states, you're probably buying from a store on the street. but even if not, all apple stores add sales tax anyway don't they? i was under the impression that you had to claim it back afterwards if it wasn't applicable.

    so at most (assuming only 4% sales tax), the UK price is only 18quid more

    not even RyanAir offer a flight to NYC for less than 18 quid do they?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      Think someone has their sums wrong

      Price of US 16GB Wifi iPad - $499 - add, say, MA tax = $531 = £361 at today's exchange rate.

      Price of UK 16GB Wifi iPad - £429 = $630 at today's exchange rate

      So the UK iPad is approx $100, or £68 more. Enough for some semi-decent headphones, or a snazzy carry case.

      1. Jon Green
        Stop

        Think someone else has their sums wrong

        £361 + 17.5% VAT = £424.18. So you buy your iPad in Mass.*, bring it back home, pay your VAT at the border (you _did_ remember, didn't you?), and it's about the same as Apple are charging here.

        Actually, for once, we're not being ripped off.

        (* Good luck getting a sales tax refund at Logan airport...)

      2. chr0m4t1c

        Except

        UK VAT is 17.5%, so $499 + VAT = $586 = £397 at current exchange rates, so the £429 price allows for about a 10% drift in exchange rates (currently it's about $1 = £0.68, it can go to $1 = £0.74, which it may well do in the current political climate).

        Yep, prices are rubbish, but unfortunately it's the fault of HMG. Whoever that turns out to be in the end.

  9. James Hughes 1

    Tried one on a recent USA holiday

    Quite impressed, but not impressed to that level of cash expenditure.

    There will be much cheaper linux based ones out soon. I hope.

  10. Ralph 2

    Falling pound

    With the way the pound is falling against the dollar, by Monday it'll be cheaper in the UK than in the USA.

    1. Dr Richard

      That would only be true if ...

      the pound tanks and Apple DONT update their prices on either side of the Atlantic.

      Judging by the markets at the moment .. that could actually happen next week. Apple have a tendency not to change prices except when they update products, so fingers crossed!

  11. Mark_W
    FAIL

    How much?

    Nah. Too costly on a rip off $ vs £ level. Comedy pricing from Apple again forcing us to be second best in the queue and still charging us loads more.

    I've a macbook and an iPhone 3G, but I'm not getting a 3GS and I definitely won't be getting an iPad. In fact, I'm tempted more and more by moving to Android almost entirely.

    1. ThomH

      Suggest you reread the article and comments

      Apple are charging very close to the same price, though it ends up seeming to be more because VAT is quite a bit more than most US sales taxes. Apple are not treating UK consumers appreciably worse than US consumers.

  12. Wang N Staines

    Come on...

    These are chicks magnet!

  13. Adrian A. Baumann

    In Switzerland...

    We pay a rather unbelievable US$582 for the lowest level model... Or rather, we would - I fully intend not to.

    In fact, I'd probably spend less flying to the UK and buying one there - That orange airline doesn't fly to yankeeland yet.

  14. Uk_Gadget
    FAIL

    Two Words....

    EPIC FAIL

    I for one will not be purchasing this...

    1. Dr Richard

      Three Words

      BUT MILLIONS WILL

    2. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      @Uk_Nobhead

      Thanks for that comment. What else will you not be purchasing and informing the rest of the world who cares not one iota whether you will be or won't be?

      I won't be buying the new tampon in the store, but I'm not motivated to run to the nearest tampon manufacturer's website and post that on there because it would be stupid.

  15. Ben Rosenthal

    can I have some...

    from Stevo's personal stash? That is some really good shit!

  16. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Just buy an Etch-a-Sketch

    and pull the wheels off.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Cars

    Could all those who've made the point that a laptop or netbook does sooooo much more for sooo much less please post a follow-up stating the car they drive? I'm sure you're all driving Mondeos and not Audis, BMWs, or Mercs but just want to check.

    1. david bates

      well, if it helps...

      Its a ten year old Toyota Corolla with 160k on the clock. Happily does 70 and returns 47mpg.

      What was your point?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        My point...

        ...was that these forums, when it comes to all things Apple, are infested with hypocrites. You, sir, are the exception that proves the rule.

    2. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
      Jobs Horns

      Re: Cars

      As far as I know both the Mondeo and a BMW 3 (for example) can use the same roads, run on the same fuel, transport the same number of passengers and basically perform the same task (with a difference of luxury and speed)

      can the iPad navigate the same web pages as the netbook? connect with the same (ubiquitous) portable devices? work on the same files?

      Thinking about it, what *can* it do? besides making my wallet $500 lighter, of course...

    3. Andus McCoatover

      Dunno what you're 'driving' at...

      But:

      A bicycle. Or the bus.

      (Bike was sold to me by a bloke in a pub for a tenner...whose monicker I can't remember. Bubba something, if memory serves. Fantastic condition, just had to drill the lock barrel out . Had it donkeys years. Quicker than a Merc in a traffic jam.)

  18. Matthew Anderson

    Insane Prices For Insane Devices

    1 laptop of mine - £700.

    1 Mobile phone - £400 / 35 PER MONTH.

    1 Netbook - £350

    1 Desktop PC - £750

    3 Games consoles - £550+

    Peripherals for all - £1000+ (controllers, mice, hard drives, memory cards......etc)

    Broadband connection/Mobile broadband connection - £65 per month

    I renew most of these every year and can see NO real incentive for me to add the iPad to the list, especially not at those prices. It's a gadget and one which falls somewhere between a mobile device and a netbook but offers NOTHING new.

    If I was to lay out all my communication and media devices on my desk it would be full. Where on that desk I put an A4 slab of marketing hype I have no idea and neither do I have a clue about for what purpose it would serve that my other devices nicely laid out on my desk do not.

    I'm not saying I wouldn't have fun playing with it but as a day to day device it would gather dust where my other devices get used regularly.

    They have pulled off a great marketing stunt with the iPad by offering something of no value or useful function and brainwashing the geeks and fashionistas into thinking it is a must buy.

    If I got an iPad would I throw out my Nexus One? No. It's not a phone.

    If I got an iPad would I throw out my laptop? No. It's not a work device.

    If I got an iPad would I throw out my desktop? No. It's not a work device.

    If I got an iPad would I throw out my netbook? No. It is compatible with my phone/desktop/laptop.

    If I got an iPad would I throw out my games consoles? No. It's not a dedicated gaming device.

    Quite simply, no thanks Mr Jobs and at those prices the potential UK buyer may well be a little more sceptical than those across the pond.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Stop

      You've got too much money then

      For me:

      No laptop - netbook does it all.

      1 Mobile phone - ~£15/month

      1 Netbook - £0 (paid for by work)

      1 Desktop PC - £0 - used but good, labour cost to repair==value, so got for nowt.

      1 Games console - ~£100 (bought 2 faulty and made 1 good)

      Peripherals for all - ~£30

      Broadband connection - £0 (paid for by work)

      Mobile broadband connection - ad hoc; 30p/day

      Still, I guess the type of people that throw money away like that are the people apple are targeting!

  19. Sean Timarco Baggaley

    The £ / $ exchange rate...

    ... isn't likely to be stable for some time. Apple—like any other multinational—are naturally hedging their bets. There are also the rumours suggesting the iPad may be available with subsidies in the UK, which would affect Apple's own-store pricing.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Cue the usual responses...

    ...just wait for it:

    - I can buy a netbook for less

    - But I can get a xxx with yyyy more features for that money

    - But I've got xxx & yyy - why would I need one?

    - It will be too locked down to practical

    Marvel as Apple proves you wrong, as it sells by the container-load to wide acclaim.

    Just because *you* think they're rubbish doesn't make it fact, or make's everyone else stupid for buying one. And no - I won't be buying one, but I won't be forcing my opinions on others.

    So cue the down-voters, who will vote me down regardless of whether my point is valid or not, because they think I'm a fanboi. To you, I say FU in advance.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      Re Cue the usual responses... #

      The usual responses are right.

      I don't believe people are forcing their opinions on others, just expressing their disgust.

      We are supposed to be techies - not fanbois or trendy rich kids.

      This week it's Ipad - but by next year it's last year's model - what use is that.

      Just because it sells well does not make it good - eg The Sun is the best selling newspaper in UK.

      All Apple sales prove is that are a lot of people who lead shallow cash rich lives.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      @AC

      You should view downvotes (of which you have several) as a good sign - nobheads abound on this forum doing nothing more than blindly downvoting anyone who disagrees with their juvenile rantings consisting of statements like, "I won't buy one of these, and anyone who does is an idiot."

      BTW, I'm one of your upvotes! :-)

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I trust that El Reg is not advocating tax dodging

    by importing electronic equipment into the country and not declaring it for VAT purposes?

  22. uhuznaa

    Hello?

    Everyone who has a desktop, a laptop, a netbook, three consoles and a smartphone and now complains about the iPad not being "computer" enough should try and get a life. Or buy an iPad anyway, use the other crap a bit less and try to find out how many of these devices he really needs in the long run...

    I mean, I will probably not get an iPad but I can fully understand the lure of a device that is exactly not another computer. There are too many computers in our lifes anyway. Some people seem to have a serious addiction going on with them, they react to the iPad like a heavy boozer to a cup of tea...

  23. This post has been deleted by its author

  24. Jimmy Floyd
    Troll

    Only £699

    Why so low? Apple's customers are far richer and far dopier than that. I say make it an even £999 (and 99p). We all know they'd still buy it.

  25. alistair millington
    Thumb Down

    It will still sell

    There are too many fanbois that can't get hard with an iphone anymore. It just doesn't do it for them for whatever reason and they need something to get them pumped up.

    Still nice to see rip off Britain and technical ignorrance is surviving the credit crunch.

  26. Professor Tinklepants
    Happy

    HAHAHAHAHAHA...

    .........HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

    That is all.

  27. Wheaty73
    Stop

    As a Mac fan, may I be the first to say...

    How much? Bugger that. Way out of impulse buying range!

    Rip off Britain indeed.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Break down the price...

    At current rates (1.47 $ --> £ @ 15:53 GMT 07/05/10) the US list price (don't forget that this *doesn't* include any form of sales or other tax) of $499 is £339.46. So, £429 less 17.5% VAT (Mr Brown/Cameron will want their cut after all!) is £365.11, so before tax there is a difference of £25.65--I wouldn't be surprised if Apple were calculating VAT at 20% which is actually common practice. Still 25.65 is not an awful lot of difference, but a difference none the less. So lets consider shipping, duties and other costs that Apple (or any other business) pass on to the consumers. Whilst these probably won't equate to the £25.65 difference, they will account for a significant proportion of it. So are they ripping us off? Possibly. Is it much? Not really, though if it sells in similar volumes here, that's quite a tidy profit! Are they the only ones that do this? No, have a look at how much extra (my computer wanted to change that to extort--freudian?!) Adobe charge us vs. the cost in the US. Software downloads aren't subject to shipping cost or export/import duties either *and* they'll assume a VAT rate of 20%--fine if you are a big business, not so fine if you are a small business of freelancer! The truth is that *all* US companies rip us off in Britain...

  29. John McGee
    FAIL

    UK Bend over..

    Yet another UK price shafting for iPad... shocking. iPad is meant to be a threat to netbooks, no chance at those prices. I'd rather buy another macbook.

  30. Matt.Smart
    Jobs Horns

    Absolutely

    Ridiculous. If you're considering paying that, you're crazy. Crazy, I say.

  31. Si 1
    FAIL

    Epic Fail

    Why bother when you can have a netbook that does so much more for a lot less money. I know the iPad is a nice looking device that's very shiny, but surely there's a limit to people's stupidity?

    Although after last night's election 30% still think Labour were worth voting for, so maybe not...

  32. jubtastic1

    Massive savings

    "Prices include VAT. At current exchange rates, the £429 iPad is priced at the equivalent of a sales tax less $536, so you may still be better off buying in the US - it costs $499 plus sales tax"

    Which would be $543.29 (New York City). a saving of minus $7.29, and I guess you'll also get to save a further minus £50 in import duties when you fail at petty smuggling.

    Want one, can't afford it, hopefully later in the year I'll have more cash to be easily parted with.

  33. Nic 3
    Thumb Down

    wow

    That is a shame. I was hoping for less. I can see a real place for the iPad with the gray pound. But at this price maybe not so much. Time will tell.

    I'll still get one but then I have a deep addiction for gadgets and a company credit card...

    Being a web developer I have to see how my clients sites render on all devices possible.

    / I pretend i have never heard of emulators... shh!

  34. magiccow

    Of course you can't buy in the USA

    Items over the magic £390 are subject to duty and VAT, so of course you should march through the Red Channel and pay up.

    1. Steve Mw

      Re: Of course you can't buy in the USA

      Except of course that $499 (before tax) is about £338.42 so would not liable for duty or VAT (I'm assuming you can reclaim US tax on departure which may not be true)

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Sod off from a "fanboi"

    Even as an Apple desktop user, this just just freaking reeks!

    It's not huge, but getting sick and tired of like for like pricing..."Yeah, but it costs more to sell in Europe!" bleat the manufacturers. Yeah well Europeans have ton of expendable income and will happily spend it on more gadgets, so why not drop the prices and you might find yourselves making more money in the long term!

  36. BeefStirFry
    WTF?

    Rip Off Britain?

    When you say Rip Off Britain, are you talking about VAT being substantially more than the local taxes in USA, or that the Apple pricing is a rip off?

    I think its a pretty good pricing myself, as after a straight conversion and VAT on top, its the standard Apple Tax of 7%.

  37. Giles Jones Gold badge

    Price

    Contrast the price of the 3G version at £529 with an unlocked iPhone.

    E.g

    http://www.superetrader.co.uk/apple-iphone-3gs-32gb-ukblack-sim-free-mobile-phone-p-4308.html?gad=CMDIu8kDEgg-s_Nh2Zr1URiY3OT-AyCY9p4z&

    £787!

    Or with a PAYG iPhone:

    http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone?mco=MTAyNTQzMTI

    £449!!!

    I think the iPad is pretty cheap compared with a sim free mobile. It is more powerful in terms of CPU and the screen is higher res.

  38. Wibble
    Paris Hilton

    Yippee, at last

    At last. Can't wait till the end of the month. On Monday I will be ordering the £700 one plus the cover. Been looking forwards to this for ages.

    I personally couldn't give a toss what the tatty netbook brigade think. For me the iPad will be an excellent device for commuting, home browsing and reading in bed or on the bog. For that I don't need all the accoutrements that come with normal format computers. I'm also delighted that it'll be immune from viruses, will be a doddle to install applications -- all of which have been tested and approved -- and will be perfect for my needs. If I want to do programming, design, development, writing large documents or anything else, I'll simply use my full-sized MacBook Pro as per normal.

    FFS why do some people have to whinge on about the damn thing. It's just a new format device that's been designed from the ground upwards for a specific task. If you're not going to buy one, then feck off and stop bothering all the people that can afford to buy one and who appreciate it for what it is.

    And I'll be upgrading my iPhone 3G next month.

    Paris as she too won't be whinging about an iPad.

    1. Wibble
      Thumb Up

      The deed is done...

      Only another 18 days to wait for the shiny new 64Gb 3G model to drop through the letterbox. It's like waiting for Christmas:-)

      Is there anything wrong with liking quality kit that does the job?

      1. Nic 3
        Go

        me too

        Not at all. Although according to a previous poster this somehow makes me shallow? I can't work out why but hey.

        Oh and I AM a techie and I AM buying an iPad. Quick call the press!

    2. Alan Bourke
      Alert

      Whingeity whinge

      I think the complaints here are about the usual Apple price gouging outside the US, rather than the kit itself.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Designed ... for a specific task?

      And that task would be...?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Happy

        @Christopher Martin

        Creating loathing and disdain in those who will hate anything released by Apple and those who envy (but mask it in loathing and disdain) every lovely product Apple releases. That's the specific task that it shines at performing, at least according to all the nobheads that blindly downvote anyone disagreeing with them.

  39. Dick Emery
    Joke

    Think of it this way.

    It's the size of 4 iPhones stuck together so in effect you are only paying around a quarter the price of 4 iPhones. Possibly less :)

  40. mt1
    Thumb Down

    Shame

    I was really interested in teh ipad but its just way too expemsive for what it does

  41. Suburban Inmate
    Pint

    Rip of Portugal! (for comparison)

    A £20 DVD player is a €50 DVD player here. Anything electronic or electrical (e.g. household extension leads or circuit breakers) is a rip off here. Still, just means we have to plan ahead for shopping during visits to the UK, no big deal.

    Beer... Because there's no wine icon! (70p/litre here FTW!)

  42. MrJase
    Thumb Down

    Would love to get one... but...

    I would love to get an iPad, really would but.... THE PRICE! Who has that kind'a cash ready to spend... come on get real! I love apple stuff I really do but damn Steve! I wonder if I could sell my wife?

    1. mrweekender
      Thumb Up

      Hmmm...

      ...can she cook, if so I'll give you 2 camels and an iPad for her sir.

  43. Graham Lockley

    the news is ?

    Overpriced bling hits Uk stores...and now the weather

  44. J 3
    Coffee/keyboard

    £100...

    £100 for a 3G modem, really? Or do those models have something else besides the 3G compared to the non-3G?

    Anyway, quite insane. I finally played with an iPad at an Apple store a couple of weeks ago. It is fun to use, from the ten minutes I messed around with it. Playing with Google Maps on it is great. Displaying photos is nice too. And there were other cool apps there, like a cool looking "planetarium" one, for example, or an F1 information one. It is a little heavy to hold up for longer periods, it seemed like, so I guess it would be better to use it propped on your lap or something.

    The problem is that it seems like it's just... a very nice toy, that's all. I might be proven wrong by time, but that was my first impression. And at those prices, that's too much for a toy -- unless you got a lot of superfluous money, let's say. If I was rich, sure I'd get one to see if it would grow on me. But as it is, forget about it.

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Why buy a Merc whena Tarta Nano will do?

    Comparing literally apples with oranges. Find me a netbook with a clean, usable touch screne interface, and for that matter, a decent multi-touch display a decent media graphics card that can decode HD video, has a 10 hour battery life, and yet is thin and light, and has SSD...

    You wont. The nearest I could find is a HP Touchsmart Windows 7 laptop, and that costs over a grand.

    Fine, if you cant see a use for an iPad in your life, dont buy one, it's a simple decision. But many will, and for them, £429 is a reasonable prie to pay.

    You could get a pretty low end Dell laptop, just about, for that, with an hour or so of battery life a poor quality LCD screen and no touch capabilities, or a underpowered net book with a piddling amount of RAM or HDD space - but they are not the same.

    (Windows notebooks need a lot more storage space than an iPad - windows is a few GB, the pagefile, the apps are always much larger, and so on. Try getting away with 16gb SSDs on a Windows 7 laptop with Office installed....)

    But then your all Apple haters who will bash it at any cost. It could cost 50p and you'd still say it's too much.

    1. JEDIDIAH
      Linux

      Crippled one trick pony

      > . Find me a netbook with a clean, usable touch screne interface

      Yeah, but can it print from it or save from it when I find something interesting on the web?

      Or will I be running back to the PC or laptop once I hit a roadbump?

      Does it integrate with the rest of the home network and can I play stuff that happens to be sitting on my other machines? Can it play or open what it happens to find there?

      Does it have a decent amount of storage so I won't be SOL once I'm away from home or that expensive 3G plan craps out on me?

      The ipad makes a spiffy toy. Don't try to make it into something it isn't.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Stop

        "Yes, but can it wipe my arse like my netbook can?"

        First, and most importantly, the iPad is not a 'netbook' (or to use the original phrase, a Small Cheap Computer), It's more akin to a much more functional Kindle if anything.

        "Yeah, but can it print from it or save from it when I find something interesting on the web?" Let's consider the utter stupidity of this question. First printing. Why would you need to print a web page when the device you are browsing from is instant on and a much better medium for viewing information presented on web pages*? As for saving, you do know that you can "bookmark" a webpage? Just in case; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_bookmark . In fact, I'm sure that's been a feature pretty much from day one of the web browser. Need to save for offline browsing? There's an (actually extremely good) app/service for that called Instapaper.

        "The ipad makes a spiffy toy." I'll respond to that by quoting Ghandi; 'First they ignore you, then they laugh at you...' We're at that point now. '...then they fight you,...' That's starting with the strawman arguments ("Can it print?') '... then you win." See the iPhone.

        "Don't try to make it into something it isn't." Why not, you are. Or are the rules (as ever) different for you?

        It's not everybody's cup of tea (it's not mine), but the neither are SCC's. Deal with it.

        *There are, I believe, apps for printing...

    2. markp 1
      FAIL

      oh, come on. you mean that?

      Wow, I hope you were trolling. Let's deconstruct.

      Decent multi-touch: on its way. There are several devices with Mtouch already and it'll only be a matter of short time before it trickles down to lappies cheaper than the iPad.

      Usable touch screen interface: needfulness is debatable, but XP can already sort-of work with it, and Win7 certainly can.

      Decent media graphics card that can decode HD video: well, as it's only going to output to XGA, I put forward the intel 945 card that's in my 4-year-old laptop, which manages 720p-to-XGA admirably. Hopefully most current netbooks have something more advanced.

      10-hour battery life: HP'll do you one of those.

      Thin and light: Well, as much as it needs to be. And certainly, as light, if not as crazy-thin.

      SSD: again, moot point of needfulness, but there's stuff like the EeePC.

      If I'm going to be spending serious cash on a pad-like device, I think I'd probably have the touchsmart, because then I'll have a proper, fully flexible laptop AS WELL, in the one device, and know it's going to be good for about five years, rather than being obsolete, out of warranty, dreadfully uncool and possibly unsupported by the manufacturer and peripherals (etc) within two. But I'll bet you can get something of equivalent performance and featureset for less.

      Windows apps OF THE SAME TYPE as iPhone/iPad ones are about the same size - there's no special magic that means Apple i-platform programs are automatically a whole lot smaller. They're just rather simplistic. When you add them all together you probably get as big a combined data load as one Windows one that does all those functions at once (let's call it for the sake of argument "Firefox"). I wonder how much of the internal SSD is actually taken up by the (pared-down) OS etc?

      Windows needs more because it does more. But XP runs just nicely - with Office and a few other major apps plus a host of freeware ones covering the iP* gamut, and a good few user files - inside of 32gb. Been there, done that, repeatedly. The OS, if you don't install absolutely every needless option, is only about a gig, and that's for what these days is a very refined, powerful and comprehensive system. Swapfile, can get away with about 1-2gb, if you don't have enough RAM to just leave it at 512mb for the few programs that DEMAND it's there even if they don't touch it. Office comes in under half a gigabyte, and that's for a do-anything, full productivity suite. We're not talking your happy crappy bash-a-word thing here; windows apps tend to be larger because they do a lot more. Comparing "Win7 on a 16Gb SSD" is just not a fair comparison - and I'll bet we'll find they offer 2x and 4x size options because people will start running out of room very fast on the base models.

      And if we're just talking getting any laptop of any type, without touch, £429 will get you quite a nice one - not "a low end Dell with 1 hour of battery and poor LCD" (it'll have a better LCD than the iPad for a start, and no-one makes a 1 hour laptop) or "an underpowered netbook with little RAM or HDD space" - a £400+ EeePC will have a gig or more of memory and over 100Gb of storage. In fact, this is the sort of range I'm looking in to suggest what my mother buys as a much superior and long-lived replacement to her cramped but otherwise perfectly good EeePC when she retires. I don't know what shops you're buying from, but I suggest you go elsewhere as they're ripping you off badly. £200-250, now that'll buy you some crap, but I don't see the Pad being offered at that price.

      And hell, I'm SURE I've seen some kind of finger-touch HP convert-a-tab in PC World for under £500.

      Final words.... 1. We're not comparing Tata Nanos to Mercs here. For a start, the iPad is hardly a Tata. The £150 Linutops being sold in my local supermarket better fill that bill. And any kind of PC that could be described as Mercedes-like, e.g. an Alienware gaming rig, would be a very unfair comparison. Instead we're more comparing a top-of-the-range Fiesta, bought on HP, that's missing its back seats and with a welded-shut tailgate being driven on a restricted learner's permit, to a paid-for, unmolested midrange Vectra that only costs slightly more, in a land where much is made of the small car being easier to park, but 99.5% of the parking slots are actually quite large anyway. And there's a fingerprint reader on the Fiesta's passenger door that won't let anyone in that Ford haven't pre-vetted.

      2. I don't WANT to be an Apple hater, really. I like the ideas behind their stuff, of making it aesthetically pleasing and easy to use without sacrificing performance, and I'm taken by the possibilities that better use of instant-on, multitouch devices like the Pad open up. But they ARE massively overpriced (make it £200, and we'll talk), and the reality never matches up to the massive hype, particularly once you start finding they're just as full of embarrassing flaws as anything else - but the makers aren't as apt to own up to design or manufacturing oversights, or to fix them, as their rivals.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @markp1; I hate to point out the bleedin' obvious, but...

        XP is coming up to 9 years old. Yes it works, but so does my Grandad's Marconi wireless (radio)! For a comparable device, ie one that is touch enabled, fast and instant on, XP is utterly pointless. It was designed for a completely different interaction paradigm, with previously attempts to shoehorn it on to the tablet format failing spectacularly. A better comparison will be Android, but that has it's own set of problems that are beginning to become apparent, like the myriad different UI's that are appearing--that's not to say that it won't be any good, I'm sure it will be brilliant.

        The reported (GIYF) *component* cost of the base iPad is approx. £175, this doesn't include the shell of the device, the base suite of software that runs on the device (yes, you have to pay for the iPhone OS!), manufacture, packaging, R&D, marketing, PoS, distribution and logistics etc. Add to that various import/export/IP duties and sales tax/VAT, your plucked-out-of-your-arse £200 is a completely unreasonable price. Selling it for £200 would actually *cost* Apple money, the VAT on £175 would make it cost ~£205 before any of what I have mentioned is taken into account, let alone a profit margin! Even £300 would be a stretch. So to pre-empt the "How do the netbook manufacturers do it?"; simple. Much cheaper components, materials and manufacturing techniques; much, much lower margins using much, much, *much* older technology. Hey, if these guys want to run their businesses like a charity, then that's up to them!

  46. A B 3
    Thumb Up

    Competition?

    Competition usually drives prices down. We know that the wise to that and will try to lock you onto their hardware. Here's a tip: Nobody (and I mean nobody) buy it when it comes out. Wait a short two months and they will freak out seeing the units pile up from the factory. They'll knock 50 off the price it and be very apologetic about charging so much initially.

  47. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Expensive toy

    I'd like to buy one as a nice toy. I like gadgets but I'd only pay maybe £150 tops for one. I'll wait until they release the proper version 2 one with USB and a camera then the version 1's will flood onto the market at a bargain price.

  48. gurner
    Jobs Halo

    Why...

    ...is anyone surprised at these prices? My guess for the base model was about £420, so £429 is within my expectations.

    If you compare Apple store prices at $499 (an iPod Touch) and $699 (a MacMini) with the equivalent UK prices, a UK price for a $599 device comes in at just under £410. Bung on a few quid as it's new and shiny and - hey presto - £420~£430. Besides, wasn't the HP Slate going to be about the same price?

    Will I buy an iPad? Yeah, probably. Been a Mac user for four years or so, recently got an iPhone and am pretty impressed with the app store. Looks like a really neat device that the whole family can just pick up and use.

  49. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hrmm

    I am on the fence about them still. We have a couple of iPads at work, and they're very nicely built, as you'd expect, the screen is decent and they are insanely quick.

    However, there isn't yet a killer app for them, they're a niche that is yet to be filled. The killer app could come in time, and they are indeed nice- but not a "must have" by any stretch yet.

  50. Efros
    Megaphone

    Of Course

    Did you expect it to be priced down?

  51. Kevin Reilly
    Thumb Down

    + £100 for a 3g connection what a waste of money.

    I have a 3 Mifi. these cost about 70 quid on prepay 40 quid on a £7.50/ 1GB pm contract. mine is unlocked so I use a Vodafone top up & go sim from a 3G dongle in it. But 3 mobile broadband sims with 3 GB preloaded valid for 3 months can be picked up for under a tenner if you google, or just top up for 10 quid per GB/month online or at the supermarket. The modem is a little gem that fits into a shirt pocket or the condom pocket on a pair of jeans. Then it happily connects me to my Mac Mini, an iPod Touch, Toshiba NB200,an Asus X59GL Laptop,or a T-Mobile Pulse Android phone where a five day internet pass on prepay would cost £2.50 otherwise. I dont plan on buying an iPad anytime soon but I would never buy a 3G model at that price premium over the Wifi model.

    1. Dr Richard

      You get A-GPS as well though 8-)

      Agree that £100 for the addition of 3g (oh why the micro sim considering the space on the inside) and Assisted GPS [that is pukka GPS + cell triangulation] and that slightly dodgy looking plastic "window" (equals less aluminium cost) is a huge markup based on what is probably around £20 (max) component costs.

      Still .. I'm tempted ... but I'll hold off until I actually handle one and then I'll decide.

  52. Lars Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Joojoo

    I find much more interesting.

    http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2010/04/28/joojoo_offered_to_brits/

    1. Dr Richard

      Yep .. for the hackability

      but I'd also get an ipad for the usability and to develop to and make money from 8-)

  53. Stuart Halliday
    Grenade

    Extras you'll need to buy

    If you buy a US version then you'll need to fork out for a UK mains adaptor or a US to UK mains transformer which isn't pretty, light or cheap.

    IIRC the US Wi-Fi system uses different channels to the UK so it'll be illegal to use.

    Just wait 6 months and the Mk II model will be out by then or at least they'll have fixed the current problems.

    Remember Golden Rule of modern life - Never buy version one of anything!

    1. Kevin Reilly

      Re USA to UK

      Unlike mobile phones Wifi works worldwide as it is an international standard. Does apple include a charger with the iPad (gasp) cos they don't with iPods & both use the same dock connector. So you just need a USB charger to juice it up. Apple usually charge extra for them but if they supply one you can usually take it apart & plug a UK figure of eight mains lead into the USB bit.

  54. Jared Earle
    Jobs Halo

    Eh?

    I thought most Register readers said they weren't going to buy one of the fanboi's Jesuspads, or whatever derogatory terms they decided on in the end. What does the pricing on something you were just going to sneer at anyway matter?

    Besides, others have done the maths and have shown that unless you're smuggling them, the Taxman makes it about the same cost, wherever you buy it.

  55. markp 1

    Holy crap

    That's almost as much as I paid for my convertible tablet PC, with similar core CPU/mem/screen specs (but with, yknow, ability to plug in a decent range of USB devices, a keyboard, a relatively open OS (XP! and the ability to install Linux), SD card reader, etc), almost as much battery life, and barely any heavier (though, ok, slightly thinner, but I already have beef with Apple over the importance of that*) back in 2006 ... anyone care to explain how a jumped-up smartphone can possibly cost so much?

    * See that laptop of mine? Also fits in a manila envelope. Before the air launched. And after 4 years of use, one criticism that's never come up is "OMG, it's far too thick to carry around comfortably or easily transport".

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      @markpee'd on 1

      Almost as much, so what's your point? The iPod Touch 64GB is £306. This is 4 times the size of that screen.

      BTW, you can connect a keyboard, an SD card reader to the iPad (which you imply you cannot). Your comment about "open OS" means nothing if this OS does what its users want it to do, and faster. How fast is your boot up?

      Oh, another price comparison - the iPhone 32GB PAYG costs £549, since you claim the iPad is a jumped up smartphone.

      Hmmm.

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