Apple doesn’t plan to actually start shipping the iPad internationally until May 28th. But starting today customers in Europe, Canada, Japan, and Australia can pre-order the iPad.
While we already knew that the base price of the tablet was going to be £429 in the UK and €479 in other parts of Europe, Engadget has a good roundup of mobile broadband prices for customers who opt to go for the 3G enabled iPad.
Basically if you’re in Canada, you’ll end up paying about the same amount as US iPad customers, but there’s no unlimited service. Instead you get a 5GB data cap each month. In the UK, several carriers will be offering plans ranging from £10 per month to £25 per month, and German customers will pay up to €29.95 per month for a 5GB data cap.
Pricing in Japan is much more complicated, but basically you end up paying between $16 and $48 per month depending on your plan, with the best prices actually coming to customers who sign up for a long term unlimited data service contracts which costs $32 per month.
This is all semi-wonderful… I just wish that A) these pricing structures would all be unlmited and B) that they would start trickling down to other devices… Or better yet, that someone will come out with a plan where I can have one plan with multiple devices on it for possibly a small nominal charge so that I don’t have to have several large expensive data plans potentially draining my bank account each month…
After that I’d like world peace, free universal internet access, and a pony. 🙂
around the globe… hahaha… around 8 countries is a best title.