A slim $170 markup over Wi-Fi models plus low-cost prepaid 3G plans make the 3G iPad a sell-out success. Also: iPad customers cancelling Apple preorders to buy over the counter.
Apple’s $629 entry-level iPad has been a hit, but even more so for the 3G versions.
Apple stores and resellers have reported an unexpected rush on the 3G models, which are only $170 more expensive than their Wi-Fi cousins (as well as packing a GPS receiver).
That relatively small price difference has no doubt played a large part in the eager adoption of the iPad 3G, which starts at $799 with 16GB of storage and tops out at $1,049 for the 64GB model.
But the availability of affordable prepaid mobile broadband plans from all four carriers – unlike the US, where the iPad 3G is available only with AT&T under just two plans – is also an undeniable factor.
Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Three all offer a range of highly competitive plans starting as low as $10 and including a variety of data use-by dates, provision for rollover of unused data and in the case of
Vodafone (quickly followed by
Optus) an $50 ‘unlimited’ pack.
As of Saturday morning, just one day after the iPad’s Aussie launch, the Apple Store in Sydney’s Chatwood Chase mall had sold out of all 3G stock, leaving only the Wi-Fi models on the menu.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Apple’s flagship store in Sydney’s George Street as well as the Melbourne suburb of Chadstone were in a similarly 3G-free state, along with several Apple resellers. Apple’s newly opened Bondi Junction store had sold out of all 3G models bar the premium 64GB model.
Meanwhile,
delays for delivery of iPads pre-ordered through Apple have left some eager iPad fans frustrated. Some have even cancelled their orders through the Apple store, preferring to buy an iPad over the counter at a nearby retailer rather than wait for delivery sometime this week.