UK Carriers Slash iPad Prices Ahead of Expected Refresh

[cyclotron451]

it's not just UK telco's with iPad 1 reductions

I noticed that the UK Refurb Store has iPad WiFi 16GB @379 GBP (60 pounds or 13%discount)
whilst the Refurbished iPad, 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G is 499 GBP with £42 or 7% discount) these discounts have improved overnight.
http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/ipad

I've also been tracking the Italian Apple Refurb store where the discounts are slightly higher , now up to 15% (iPad ricondizionato 16 GB Wi-Fi € 429,00 Risparmia € 70,00 14% in meno)


looks like a general 'clear the decks of rev.1' is underway!

 

[aegisdesign]

Interesting. Most people are quick to point out how cheap the phone service is the what mr. Chaney calls the "Old World". No contracts and the such, but apparently they've adopted the US cellular model for the iPad while the US companies use the European cellular model for the iPad.

Not really.

This is just one way of buying an iPad. You can also buy them SIM Free and add your own monthly data plan or just buy a PAYG SIM and pay for data when you need it.

You'd be pretty mad to buy an iPad for £99 and lock yourself in to a £27 24 month contract (total = £747) when you can buy an iPad SIM Free for £529 and then a PAYG SIM for a tenner when you need it and have the flexibility of not being tied to a contract.

If you've a phone that runs as a hotspot already (any Nokia Symbian phone or Android 2.3 phone) then save yourself even more and just buy the wifi version at £439.

 

[Phil A.]

Buy iPad on this plan.
Sell for £299 to someone who just wants an iPad
Keep sim
buy new iPad at discounted rate using profit from sale.
Insert sim from 1st iPad into 2nd gen iPad.

^Is this a solid plan?^

I don't think so:
Assuming the iPad 2 costs the same as iPad 1, your total costs are as follows:

1) iPad 1 (discounted rate): £99
2) Service cost for 2 years: £648
3) "profit" from sale of first iPad: £-200
4) Cost of iPad 2: £541

Total cost for iPad 2 over 2 years: £1088

Of course, that includes service (which is 1GB a month + 1GB for overnight use)
You can get 1GB a month on PAYG from O2 (and you only pay when you need it) for £10.21 a month so that would cost you 245.02 over 2 years, or a proper 2GB (i.e. you can use all of it when you want) for £15.32 per month making a total cost over the 2 years of £367.68

If you went with either of those with the iPad 2 it would come to a cost of either £786.02 or £908.68, both substantially less than the subsidised cost.

Of course, if you assume that iPad 2 will be on 4.3 as a minimum, you could just get the WiFi version and tether it to your phone (4.3 also supports bluetooth tethering) and save a further £100 on the cost of the iPad + whatever less a tethering plan would cost for your phone.