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- iPad Available Internationally May 28, Pricing Announced
If you live outside the U.S. and you’ve managed to avoid the urge to pay too much for a resold unit bought in the States, you won’t have to wait too much longer before you can get your hands on some sweet, sweet iPad action. May 28 is the newly announced international availability date, but it won’t be a worldwide release.
Nine countries will get the iPad on the 28th, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K. An additional nine will get it sometime in July, including Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore. Further release dates will be announced later.
Apple’s staged release means either that it planned on selling far fewer iPads than have gone out the door, or that negotiating deals regarding content licensing and 3G wireless provision is taking longer than expected. A third possibility is that Apple is just making countries wait in order to drive demand up, but at this point I would think demand is well-stoked in most areas.
Pricing for certain areas was also announced, including Europe, the U.K., Australia, and Canada U.K. prices start at £429/£499/£599 for the Wi-Fi only models, and £100 more each for the Wi-Fi + 3G models, making them £529/£599/£699 for the 16, 32, and 64GB models respectively.
In Europe, pricing will start at 499€ for the 16GB Wi-Fi, 599€ for the 32GB, and 699€ for the 64GB. Add 100€ to each for the Wi-Fi + 3G price of each model. Australia‘s pricing starts at AUS $629/$759/$879 for Wi-Fi models, and AUS$799/$928/$1049 for the Wi-Fi + 3G. All Australian prices include GST. In Canada, pricing for Wi-Fi models is CAD $549/$649/$749, and $679/$779/$879 for Wi-Fi + 3G.
All international launches will also be accompanied by launches of the official iBooks app, as well, which will be available on the 28th as a download from the App Store. This is great news, considering all of the preview pages for the iPad on international Apple sites had the iBooks app curiously absent, leading many to believe licensing issues were preventing its availability anywhere outside the U.S. The shipping delay due to hardware shortages might even have been a boon in this regard, giving Apple time to set up international licensing rights with publishers and writers.
Pre-orders are still set for Monday, May 10 for international customers, which is only a few days away, so start your engines. Let’s hope continued high demand for the iPad doesn’t throw this release schedule off the rails. No word yet on international data plan pricing, but that’s sure to follow in the coming days.
Related GigaOM Pro Research: Hot Topic: Apple's iPad
Переслать - Verizon Customers Want iPhone, Can't Have It
ChangeWave Research has released a survey (PDF) of some 4,040 customers of U.S. cellular service providers that is rife with opportunity for the iPhone, if only Apple would seize it.
According to survey respondents, more than 40 percent of Sprint/Nextel and T-Mobile customers would seriously considering buying an iPhone were it available to them, as would just over a majority of Verizon customers. Unfortunately, despite strong demand for a Verizon iPhone, at least one analyst is now asserting that won’t happen until 2011.
Computerworld spoke with BroadPoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall concerning an evocative theory regarding the iPad, the iPhone, and AT&T. According to Marshall, “AT&T was able to negotiate a six-month extension on the iPhone exclusive.” This was accomplished as part of a deal whereby AT&T would offer data plans for the iPad at breakthrough pricing of $15 and $30 without any contract or commitment.
If that scenario sounds like a dubious conspiracy theory, it probably is. Marshall has previously asserted that AT&T’s exclusivity agreement would expire this June, and that it was a “certainty” that Verizon would be offering the iPad. Setting aside the rationalization of analysts, looking further into the ChangeWave Research survey makes it seem inconceivable that Apple would continue the exclusivity relationship with AT&T at any price.
Of those surveyed, AT&T customers reported the highest rate of dropped calls among the four carriers, three times that reported by customers with the best-rated provider, Verizon. Of course, AT&T disputes this data. From DailyTech, AT&T counters the ChangeWave Research survey is based upon respondent “recollection,” while “quantitative results” from research firm GWS put AT&T “within just two-tenths of a percent of the industry leader.” Even if you are Luke Wilson and accept AT&T’s explanations along with the company’s checks, there’s another problem with the iPhone being exclusive to AT&T.
The iPhone no longer generates “switchers” like it used to. Last year, the iPhone 3GS received, at best, a slight bump in bringing people to AT&T. Worse, it appears the Verizon Droid may be the new iPhone when it comes to luring customers to a different carrier. It will be interesting to see if the rumored iPhone HD can reverse that trend, but it seems unlikely, which means it’s time for Apple to switch, or at least add.
Verizon, with more than 90 million customers, more than AT&T, would mean at least an additional 10 million iPhones sold per year. Those sales would have a cascade effect on development, too. As more people bought more apps, the combination of sharply rising hardware and software sales could help turn back the surge of Android phones like the Droid.
A month from now the next iPhone will almost certainly be introduced at WWDC. Let’s hope we hear about a new U.S. carrier, too, otherwise it may be another year of listening to Apple executives talk about the “significant progress” AT&T has made with its network.
Related GigaOM Pro Research (sub req’d):
Why Apple Should Choose Sprint Before Verizon Wireless
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