The Apple iPad is launched in the UK at the end of this month, but what those wooed by the shiny touch screen, laptop-ish appeal of this new species of device may not realise is that it will come with ongoing costs.
We take for granted paying for our mobiles on a monthly basis and for our laptops once, at the point of purchase. The iPad might look more like the latter, but in fact it’s a ‘phone without the ability to make calls. It will require an ongoing spend to do what it’s designed to – downloading emails and surfing the Internet on the move – with 3G.
For this, O2 plan to charge £2 per day, with a 500MB data allowance. More frequent users can pay £10 pcm for 1GB or £15 pcm for 3GB – I suspect most will fall into the former category.
Orange are offering a rather measly limit of 200MB per day also at £2. Beyond that, they are clearly targeting users with more data – a weekly package of 1GB for £7.50, 3GB for £15 pcm, or a generous 10GB for £25 pcm.
Vodafone is proposing 1GB for £10 pcm, or just 5GB for £25 pcm.
What might catch on though, is the deal from 3. They have a SIM-only data deal that offers 1GB for just £5. You get a normal sized SIM card for that, not the micro-SIM that fits the iPad.
Nothing a pair of scissors can’t handle though.