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Subsidized iPad Sales Off to Slow Start in UK?

Anyone who signs a contract for any kind of Apple product is mental IMO.

I bought a 3G when they came out for £450ish and have a £15 a month to month contract that gives me 1200 minutes unlimited texts and 1GB of internet.... I then sold that for £300 when the 3GS came out and bought that for £450ish... then I sold that for £360 and bough the iphone 4 when that came out for £499.

So, the yearly upgrade cost for me is around £150, and a years tariff costs me £180.... and I get to change my iPhone every year the minute it comes out.

Some people I know are paying £200 for the phone and £40 a month with less minutes for 24 months contract - £680 per year.
 
scotty321 said:
My biggest purchasing mistake was buying a 16GB iPad WIFI+3G for $629 when I could have bought a 32GB iPad WIFI for $599.

I consistently run out of space on my iPad so I'm always deleting apps and videos and photos and music, but I've NEVER used 3G even once in almost a year.

For LESS MONEY, I could have had twice the space which I really need, and could have ditched the 3G which I never need.
Click to expand...

Ya know I bet you could post it on craigs list / ebay and still get enough for a referb 32g wifi (499). I just orderd one.

Apple referb has pretty serious quality checks and if something slips by you caqn bring it back to the store.
 
The Great Boony said:
Anyone who signs a contract for any kind of Apple product is mental IMO.
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The problem is people are impatient and don't want to wait and save their pennies. They HAVE to have an iPad RIGHT NOW, no matter if the long term contract actually costs them more, the fact that they can walk out with a new iPad for 199 instead of 549 gets people.

This is why Rent-To-Own stores in the US are so popular.

I've been saving my pennies since June for an iPhone, and now I have enough for the phone, the activation fee and the first bill.
 
louis Fashion said:
Do the carriers drop your monthly fee after you have paid for the device?

I would gladly pay for my device during the 2yr time period if - on the 25th month the payment dropped!
Click to expand...

Once the contract has ended you are free to chose your tariff. When the contract ended on my iPhone 3G I went on to a rolling 30 day tariff which was £10 per month cheaper while I waited for the iPhone 4 to be released.
 
We dont like contracts of any sort. We usually pay upfront for the phone and drop in a prepaid SIM/uSIM.

Most just pay the 600-800€ for the iPhone upfront and use a cheap prepaid SIM (usually less than 1€/day for internet with calls for .05€/min).
 
acidfast7 said:
We dont like contracts of any sort. We usually pay upfront for the phone and drop in a prepaid SIM/uSIM.

Most just pay the 600-800€ for the iPhone upfront and use a cheap prepaid SIM (usually less than 1€/day for internet with calls for .05€/min).
Click to expand...

that's more than i pay AT&T for my iphone plan
 
studiomusic said:
Because people don't want to be tied down to a contract for 2 years?!
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That's what I'm thinking.

We'll see the same thing in the US when they release a dual service ipad. No one is going to want to be signed to either ATT or Verizon so that they can switch back and forth between the two and force a price war.
 
?

Quote:
Originally Posted by louis Fashion

I would gladly pay for my device during the 2yr time period if - on the 25th month the payment dropped!

Originally Posted by OilyW:

Once the contract has ended you are free to chose your tariff. When the contract ended on my iPhone 3G I went on to a rolling 30 day tariff which was £10 per month cheaper while I waited for the iPhone 4 to be released.

louis F. sez: Is the rolling tariff available for smart phones in the US?
 
My guess would be that many iPad purchasers have previously had an iPhone contract, or currently have one and do not want another. I believe most people see the Mi-Fi option as giving them a better deal and flexibility.
 
I would buy a wifi version then use my android wifi hotspot if I wanted remote data.
 
Why pay twice - or thrice?

1.I have BT internet at home, which for £30 or so a month includes unlimited broadband and more than enough Wi-Fi hotspot minutes, with as good a coverage as can be expected from any hotspot network (if not better).

2. I pay £35 for my subsidised (24 month) iPhone contract, with unlimited internet access etc.

3. I would not want to pay £25 more (for 24 months) to access the net on my £199 subsidised iPad, not with the Wi-Fi I already pay for with my fixed BT broadband and the mobile internet I already pay for with my iPhine

If I did I would have monthly telecoms & net bills of £90 per month. There's no way I can see any but the rich or foolhardy choosing to access tie internet in three separate ways, with three separate bills!

If Orange etc could produce an iPhone + iPad + Broadband tariff then they may sell their products to those of us who can count!
 
Last edited:
Off topic, but...

I pre-ordered my iPad when they first offered it so I've had the thing for about as long as you could have one. I have loved every minute of it. If you're sitting on the fence about getting, don't -- just get it.

Perhaps the only regret I have is getting the 3G model as I have only activated the monthly service twice. Those were on vacations were I felt it would nice to have internet while we traveled. But I will probably get Wi-fi models from here on out. I do have the 64GB model which is not a regret and I only hope that the next model has even more space -- I have the content so, bring it on, Apple!
 
BertyBoy said:
why have they sold so bad ? Because Orange is awful.
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Its not just that they are awful, try going over your data plan and see how much extra you will have pay. Instead of cutting you off, they let you continue using more and then sting you on the bill.

I stopped being an Orange customer 10 years ago, when I was spending £200 a month on call charges and they refused me a free upgrade.

Never again....
 
The biggest Bonus of the G3 Model is that it comes with A-GPS.

I got no iPhone and i am happy with my very smal "only a phone" phone. I realy love the idea of being able to use my iPad as a Navigation Device.


In germany we do have a smaler PrePayed servic for the iPad. It´s called "blau" i belive. Just like with a prepayed cellphone you only pay if you use it... it gets very expensive if you use it every day. But for 24 houres/300MB you pay 4€ wich is very good if you only use G3 once every other month. (just like you guys i am living in several wLan networks at my flat, my parents house and uni... so it realy only is interesting to travel/navigate or surf on a train ride)
 
alent1234 said:
that's more than i pay AT&T for my iphone plan
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doubt it. i also don't get charged for the day if I don't access the web :D

also, don't forget 25% sales tax (sweden) or 19% (germany) which is where I get my prepaid SIMs from.

also, also, I don't have to pay every month, on vacation I don't pay because I don't use it (which is 8 weeks/year).
 
Phone companies don't get data.

alent1234 said:
people don't want another monthly payment. sell a data package you can share between all family members and devices and people will buy it
Click to expand...

This will be the winning combination in our household. We would buy two iPads to share about the family.
Two year contracts are non starters for the vast majority of folk (18 months is stretching it). The tech is moving too quickly and the prospect a camera in the iPad 2 will kill off much interest in the iPad 1. :rolleyes:
I have a Wifi only iPad and rarely do I have any need for 3G...Wifi is just about everywhere I need to use it. Mifi contracts with 3 are simpler deal I've been told, so thats where I'd go anyway as I can the Mifi for any device; iphone, laptop or iPad. :)

Phone companies just haven't the hang of selling data to punters. Why should we pay for it over and over again ? Sell me a chunk and let me use it where I want to. :mad:
Got so annoyed that I couldn't tether iphone and ipad, that I dropped my iphone data tethering contract and went wifi only.
 
Maybe this is a sign that people are finally getting their fill of these monthly recurring bills?

Cell Phone
Data Plan
Cable/Satellite
Hulu
Netflix/Blockbuster
Internet access

??
 
They want to charge £1399 for an iPad with a two year data-plan? No wonder no-one's buying, for £1200 in contract charges I'd expect to get the iPad for free!
 
Why in God's name would I take out ANOTHER contract just because I have two different devices that I cannot possibly use at the same time?!

I already have a 16 month (iPhone) unlimited data contract that I should be able to use for any device. What are they trying to sell me another contract for? The privilege of owning the other device?!! There's nothing additional (data-wise) that I would be getting to pay them for.

That's why it's not selling well...
 
Some calculations... also 1st time I ever use the title tag.

In short: You are better off with an external dataplan if you only pay up to 10 pounds per month, based on a 2-year base.

The cheapest is to buy an iPad without dataplan at all. But why would you buy an iPad with 3G built in then? Anyways, without anything, it costs 529 pounds.

Some further calculations:

WITH APPLE'S DATAPLAN
= 799 after 24 months (199 initial + 25 for 24 months) (270 pounds more expensive than without any dataplan at all.)

WITHOUT APPLE'S DATAPLAN, EXTERNAL DATAPLANS:
5 pounds per month:
= 649 after 24 months (529 initial + 120 from dataplan)

10 pounds per month:
= 769 after 24 months (529 initial + 240 from dataplan)

12 pounds per month:
= 817 after 24 months (529 initial + 288 from dataplan)

15 pounds per month:
= 889 after 24 months (529 initial + 360 from dataplan)

-- Calculations made with Spotlight, your light-hearted yet powerful Command-Space calculator.
 
Three Mobile offer a really good deal on subsidised iPads. £799 for total cost of ownership which works out as £11 a month for 25GB of data a month.

Another cleaver thing is that they're locked in the UK to that network, but unlocked to other networks outside of the UK.

The only problem is that I've not seen ANY advertising other than the webspace and some stores. The carriers only have themselves to blame
 
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The same thing would be true of iPhones if they were offered unlocked and without a data contract.

I think people holding off because gen 2 is coming off is overstated, it has an affect just not that huge of one.

I do think many people look at it and recognize that IF they buy a gen 2 iPad in 6 months the gen 1 iPad might still be useful to a family member or around the house but not necessarily need an expensive data plan.

Overall I think people are just sick of contracts that ate marketed as "saving you money" when in reality your saving $200 today and spending $1000 over the next year.

If I weren't typing this on an iPhone I'd do the math to figure out what the effective interest rate is on the "money saved"...
 
one simple reason

just a thought.. maybe this has to do with the fact that the holidays are traditionally a big sales time is because they are a big gift-giving time. not a time to buy stuff for yourself. and while contracts might seem like an ok deal if you are buying an iPad for yourself, they might have less appeal to gift givers.

maybe the Santas giving iPads as gifts were hesitant to burden the recipients of their generosity with a two year contract, especially when buying it outright is a lot cleaner and makes them look like less of a scrooge.

i'd be interested to see how the sales statistics go for these carrier subsidy iPads during a time when people are more likely buying for themselves (e.g. most of the rest of the year...)
 
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