Newtonian Rock shop leaks iPad prices
Neither welcome nor believable
Updated Apple has announced that it will reveal international pricing for the iPad on May 10, but that hasn't stopped one Gibraltar-based mart from jumping the gun.
If that outfit, Newton Systems, is anywhere near correct, and if its pricing parallels that of more-northerly UK outfits, picking up a 'Pad in Blighty may be a pricey proposition, indeed.
That said, we would advise prospective iPad purchasers not to worry too much - Newton Systems' projected iPad pricing is, not to put too fine a point on it, bizarre.



The entry-level Wi-Fi-only iPad, weighing in at 16GB, is listed for £599 ($920) - that's a hefty 84 per cent premium over the $499 (£325) for which you can bag that model in the States. But from a Gibraltarian perspective, that premium drops significantly as you work your way up the pricing ladder.
The 32GB Wi-Fi+3G model is listed at £679 ($1,040) - the US price is $729 (£475) - and the good folks at Newton Systems will sell you a top-of-the-line 64GB Wi-Fi+3G iPad for at £749 ($1,150), which you can pick up in the States for $829 (£540). The premiums for those two 3G iPads are 43 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively.
Of course, the US pricing doesn't include the shipping costs to that far-flung outpost of the empire.
But an 84 per cent premium for the low-end that drops to a 28 per cent premium at the top end? Something smells fishy here - and we're not referring to low tide at Europa Point. ®
Bootnote
The Reg is duly amused by the name of the Gibraltar retailer, seeing as how the iPad is Cupertino's second attempt at a tablet. That first attempt didn't end happily.
Update
On Wednesday, Newton Systems issued a press release which said, in part: "On Monday 19/04/2010, the page on Newton Systems' website that lists the specifications of the forthcoming iPad products from Apple mistakenly included a price in sterling. The page has now been corrected with a price to be announced at a later date."
COMMENTS
Wow, cheap at 10x the price...
... plus an arm and a leg.
I love you Steve.
You are truly the savior of mankind with your glorious devices.
Our lives will be incomplete without the life changing iPad - the device we never knew we needed until you told us we did.
Hoorah for his Jobness! Hoorah!
For something I don't actually need...
...it's still expensive at $100.
Expensive
Expensive for a type of pad thingy that you plonk on your lap aint it! It better be really absorbent and not just exorbitant!
Nice PR work from Apple as usual!
The cynical amongst us (i.e. most of the Reg readership) might wonder whether this "leak" was engineered to make the real UK price seem reasonable by comparison?
So when we see the real UK prices, instead of thinking "Holy Mother of Jeebus, are they insane?!?" we'll think "oh thank Jobs, it wasn't as bad as we thought".
I'm sure no-one in the Apple PR/marketing department would be that evil though ;)
Mistake
This price posting on our web site was a mistake. It has now been corrected to TBA.
We have no UK prices for the iPad.
