iPad arriving late April, but will it break the bank?

by William Maher on Mar 8, 2010

Tags: ipad | apple | kindle

12 Comments

With the much-hyped touchscreen device going on sale in Australia in late April, the question remains. How much are we willing to pay?

"Late April" is now the official launch date for Apple's iPad, with the company confirming both the WiFi and more expensive 3G version will go on sale at the same time.

While much criticism has been thrown at the iPad, including its lack of Flash, USB ports, and multitasking, there's no doubt that for many people, this will be the device that convinces them to brave the waters of tablet-style computing.

The big question is how much people will pay, and whether the most expensive iPad - the 64GB, 3G version - will break the $1,000 mark.

US pricing for the device starts at US$499 for the 16GB WiFi only version, which seems reasonable, if you're treating the purchase as an alterantive to a $500/$600 netbook.

At the top end though, US pricing for the iPad hits the US$829 mark for the 64GB, 3G version. That's easily more expensive than many netbooks, many of which will have both WiFi and 3G, plus a enough processing grunt to tackle much more than the mobile apps the iPad is intended to run. At that price, you're in full size laptop territory. A Core i3 -equipped Dell Inspiron 15 starts at $949.

Of course, the whole point is that the iPad isn't a laptop, and doesn't have a keyboard - something we've discussed here.

Given the difference between US and Australian pricing for other Apple products (for example, the entry level MacBook is $300 more expensive in Australia), we wouldn't be surprised to see the iPad costing at least $100 more in Australia. This would take the 64GB 3G version to the $900+ mark.

Therefore the WiFi-only iPad would seem the more financially sensible choice, but complicating matters is the Steve Job's apparent ruling out of iPhone tethering for the iPad (something you can do with the iPhone, though it's not always cheap).

What about the Kindle?
Also complicating matters is the news that Australian iPad owners won't be able to download eBooks using Apple's iBooks app when the device first goes on sale here. All we know at this point is that the bookstore will be available sometime later this year.

If you're looking to make the iPad your first eBook reader, Apple's bookstore will potentially be a make or break factor. Until we know more about this, Amazon's US$489 Kindle is still looking like a strong alternative, even if it is a dedicated eBook reader only.

Based on your previous comments, we already know many of you were underwhelmed by the initial specs, though some are interested in the device. For those of you who would be willing to own an iPad, what would Apple need to price the device to convince you? Add your comments below.

12 comments in this discussion

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Comments: 12

Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.

Melly71 Mar 8, 2010 5:58 PM	$650 to $700 maximum, and that is for the WIFI/3G Model, 64gb. Otherwise as you said, you'd buy a laptop. APPLE are being greedy, and this will be a disaster for them if they try and flog it for a $1000 in OZ! Even their US price is too expensive! When you add internet costs, I may have to reconsider my purchase. Dam you APPLE!! Comment made about the PC Authority article: iPad arriving late April, but will it break the bank?? With the much-hyped touchscreen device going on sale in Australia in late April, the question remains. How much are we willing to pay? What do you think? Join the discussion.
oztabletpc Mar 8, 2010 8:46 PM	Would be very surprised to see the top version under $1k. I'll be buying one to see how it compares to my other tablets... so I hope l am surprised!
moldor Mar 8, 2010 9:10 PM	Prediction: The iPad will be a major failure for Apple IF they release it as locked-down as the iPhone is. I've jailbroken my iPhone so I can install the apps I want, not what Apple deems "acceptable". If I'm going to pay $1000 for a tablet (which, on the face of it, seems like a cool idea), then I want to put MY apps on it, MY documents, MY PDFs, MY audiobooks - without undue interference from Apple.
firewuff Mar 8, 2010 11:29 PM	buy one a that price, unlikely. buy one and then have to wait an indefinite time before I can get books onto it, hell no.
RandomWookie Mar 9, 2010 9:31 AM	even if it was not free, the lack of multitasking is a deal breaker for me
gnome Mar 9, 2010 10:09 AM	Max $700, based on known capabilities. It will obviously be priced well above that, so apart from the Apple true believers its hard to see a large market.
wbeasley Mar 13, 2010 1:02 AM	these will multitasking important system processes. the ipods already do too. it's crap when people repeat the nonsense that these devices don't multitask. what they MEAN to say is that third party apps don't multitask. there's a good reason for this - trust. if these apps ran riot, chewed up battery or crashed the environment, who would the user blame? there are already rumours OS4 will allow at least some form of multitasking. making it work and play nice is the challenge. haven't Microsoft also taken Apple's lead on this and said no to multitasking and Flash on their new Win7 phones? anyway, life's too short to be multitasking... what else do you want running when you're playing a game? you know you can be immersed in something without the need to be IMed even 20 seconds with updates on meanless shite your friends are up to... :)
wbeasley Mar 13, 2010 1:10 AM	also, don't be too hard on Apple for higher Oz pricing. mostly it's been pretty good when you add in GST (the US list price doesn't include their variable state taxes). if only Sony were as reasonable... PSP Go: US$249, A$450. Netbook: US$499, A$999. now that's a joke of the worst kind! Apple should look hard at their higher priced devices. the extra memory is way too expensive. 16g iPad US$499, 32g iPad US$599. when did so little extra memory cost so much? at an extra $50 they would be doing well. the 3G is also too expensive. US$130 for something you can buy retail here for under A$100. it won't stop people buying them, it will just make some people wait (and whine) about the costs until the next version comes along...
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. Mar 13, 2010 3:02 PM	wbeasley wrote: haven't Microsoft also taken Apple's lead on this and said no to multitasking and Flash on their new Win7 phones? Yes, but that's a phone, not a tablet device. That, and they haven't really released many details about it. Rumours say that there will be multitasking where background apps are 'paused', which seems like a good idea to me. Flash will be on Windows Phone 7, MS just said that they can't guarantee it will support it out of the box. It'll most likely be a 3rd party plug-in from Adobe.
totoaus Mar 20, 2010 11:52 PM	I have avoided entering this debate before now, becasue there has been too much criticism of Apple for the iPad, much of it below the belt (i.e. iTampon). I cannot say if it will burn or bust (not all Apple products succeed), but I wish them well. I have long wanted an iPod Touch to replace my Classic, but I am waiting for it to have 256 GB FLASH storage. I have heard people criticize it's battery life, but I think that is due to inadequate research. I looked into the specs of the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad on the iPad's first announcement and found that they all appeared to have the same battery life if you looked closely. One product was quoted as x hours of music and y hours of video; another was quoted as x hours of music and z of web browsing; while the iPod seemed to be quoting about 9 hours web browsing. I put on my thinking cap and came to the conclusion that Apple had shot itself in the foot with inconsistent specs, and it appears that all 3 have similar times, i.e x hours of music, y hours of video and around 9 hours web browsing. Soon, we'll have them in our hands and time will tell what they really mean though.
oztabletpc Mar 22, 2010 7:32 PM	@totoaus 9 hours web browsing? I'm lucky to get 1 hr of browsing out of my iPhone...
Mad Scientist Apr 20, 2010 10:48 PM	I see the iPad as a revolutionary product. In its first version, it lacks far too much. But its potential is enourbous. But it needs to combine other things, like LED display that works in bright sunlight. Integrating other applications like, camera, scanner, GPS, phone, flash, stylus. Also, as a two handed typists, I would like to see the raised bevels where the letter F and J will appear in both portrait and landscape mode. Also add the ability to multi task, as well as the ability to read and create, Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDF files, not to mention text to speech converters and vice a versa. Also, great drawing and movie creation/editing packs would be excellent. Combine all of these things, and it will start to replace netbooks, notebooks, etc. Just imagine being able to work on the go, expecially while commuting on the train or the bus? Imagine being able to phone your family and seeing their video on A4 size, then displaying it on the bedside table to display photos like a digital photo frame. Combine all of the devices we are using today to work really well in one device, and you won't need anything else. Then produce an A5 size for those who don't want to lug around an A4 size, and I think Apple will corner the market. And have you ever tried typing on a touch screen compared with a keyboard? It is a lot faster on a touch screen, but those bevels on the "F" and "J" key need to be added. And please, several USB (version 3 ports) would be helpful and so will a connection to accept a 2nd Monitor and/or TV connection. Also, a super huge flash drive will also help. Think in terabytes not gigabytes. I think the iPad will revolutise the way we do things now, but I would like to see the 3rd or later generation and a huge price reduction before I would buy one. Something else that would help is if the iPads were made from flexible material.