Apple have announced UK prices for the iPad and a release date!
The iPad will be released in the UK on May 28th. THis is fortunate for me as I will be presenting at the at the JISC CETIS Mobile Tech Meeting at The University of Bolton on the potential impact of the iPad in education.
So what about prices?
Well the WiFi models are
£429 for the 16GB model
£499 for the 32GB
£599 for the 64GB
As for the WiFi + 3G
£529 for the 16GB model
£599 for the 32GB
£699 for the 64GB
Apple have also said that the iBooks App will also be available in the UK allowing e-books to be downloaded and read on the iPad.
Pricing may seem expensive when you consider that the US price for the 16GB WiFI model is $499. However the US prices don’t include Sales Tax that has to be paid in many states, and the UK prices do include VAT!
So… if you take off VAT the 16GB WiFI model in the UK is $536 so about $37 (£25) more than the US model.
The WiFi + 3G 64GB model in the US costs $829, whilst the UK price (excluding VAT) is $874.
So UK prices are more expensive that the US prices, but the difference is not as bad as it first looks.
I have been asked about education pricing, well nothing has been announced, however I would expect to see no difference. The education pricing of the iPod touch is no different to the standard prices. Next year we may see a cheaper iPad when a new model is released.
Another question I was asked was about the 3G models and if they would be subsidised by the mobile phone companies. Again nothing official has been announced so at this time we don’t know what will actually happen. I suspect that later we will see subsidised models, but certainly won’t see this on the 28th May.
The iPad is a premium product and can command a premium price. Early adopters will (and are willing) to pay “extra” to ensure that they have the iPad on day of release. We certainly saw that with the iPhone and quite a few people in the UK have paid a premium to get an iPad early. So don’t expect to see cheap iPads, well not for a while. I do expect to see subsidised models on 3G contract at some point.
So not long now till the iPad arrives in the UK and I do wonder about the impact it will have on education.