Confirmed – iPad to ship in Europe in March
by Mike Butcher
on January 27, 2010

Apple’s European PR team have confirmed the impending arrival, inside two months, of the Apple iPad to European shores.

A spokesperson told me that the Wi-Fi version will ship worldwide in March but she added, “Watch this space for Wi-Fi plus 3G.”

In other words it’s clear Apple is still in negotiations with mobile carriers over which will stock the new device.

Unfortunately there is no word yet on international pricing.

However, normally Apple devices are more expensive than a straight dollar to Euro conversion would suggest, so the base Wi-Fi-only model is quite likely to come in at over €400.

Meanwhile, tell us what you think of the iPad. Love it? Hate it? Will Europeans like lugging this device around or will you your stick to “normal” laptops, netbooks, whatever.

Leave us your comments below.

Update: Apple’s PR people are getting a little antsy – coming back to us saying that “international pricing and worldwide availability will be announced at a later date.” In other words they now say the above wasn’t an official statement about shipping the iPad specifically in March.

However, it was official enough when they told us last night, so we’re keeping it here. Typically, all of Apple’s PR is run like a Stalinist bootcamp from the US, so anyone in Europe deviating even slightly from the party line tends to be subjected to the ducking chair. I forgive them. They’re just following orders.

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  • Bob

    Love it. Been waiting for something like it ever since the Newton. Far better than both an iPhone and an ordinary laptop in meetings, for taking notes, calendar, quickly gathering information, finding contacts and what not.

    Don’t really need it for personal leisure use but definitely for business.

  • http://twitter.com/peterc Peter Cooper

    I did some surveying of $->£ prices on the respective Apple Stores and it seems to wobble a lot between a nominal 15-30% difference (nominal, not actual currency conversion – and this also is no-sales-tax->VAT).

    Going for a nominal 20% on $499 gets us £399.20.. so I’d be surprised if it didn’t come in at £399 on the entry level. Goes up to about £649 on the high end one though :-)

  • http://mcsearcher.com/ipad Tyson

    No multi tasking, no real GPS, no camera, no flash, no love

  • John

    I really want it. But… Depends how much it’s gonna cost in England.

    Probably $ > £ conversion. It’s ridiculous.

  • http://www.brynovation.com Bryn Morgan

    Looks great (like all Apple products), Will it bring a larger market share to Apple (by taking people from other devices) maybe, will it be the death of the laptop, defo not, will this form factor be the potential end of the laptop, not the end but may cause a “netbook” effect and shift a lot of people.

  • NKLV

    Its alright, but I am not going to be an early adopter. 1 Ghz? 64 GB? Clearly Apple are setting up an update cycle, and I am not going to get played over specs now – especially since the UK version will be more expensive, (although more than €400 euro sound unlikely).

  • http://paulmwatson.com/ Paul M. Watson

    I like it and as an iPhone developer it is a no brainer to develop for. $499 even in Euro terms shouldn’t be too bad. Close enough to lure Kindle buyers away (I was waiting for this announcement before deciding on buying a Kindle. No more.)

  • Tom

    ditto

  • http://twitter.com/jtsd JTSD

    so if I get this right the best way to multitask on iPad is to load Gmail in Safari with chat, calendar and todo widgets. kinda sad

  • http://www.spoilersguide.com/ Matej

    Pass on this one, the first version of any Apple product tend be outdated soon.

    Not to mention that the product is a big let down overall. iPhone OS ? please …

  • bob

    im sorry what is this device again?

  • http://www.ramiromarques.com ramiro marques

    I love it. I am from portugal and I will buy one as soon as it is available in Europe.

  • http://www.Tom.de Jobs

    Great News, we will give one away to our users at http://www.tom.de after EU launch for free. Great product for media.

  • Eduardo

    I really want a Kindle DX. I hope this announcement will bring the price down!

  • http://www.idiotsingracia.com Jo_Idiotsingracia

    I don’t think it is the revolutionary gadget we were all waiting for… It doesn’t seem to run on e-ink or similar, so it is not really a competitor for kindle, it is just a different thing…

    And i don’t feel that the iPad offers anything really different from the iPhone or a regular netbook…

  • http://www.volksjobs.de Jobs

    iPad is a #strongbuy

  • dave

    I will buy 2 iPad asap.

    Why the iPAD is a Winner and the bigger Game Changer :

    1)It’s the final convergence device
    2)Battery it’s critical for such pervasive device (10h outstanding)
    3)Price was the show stopper : 499 is amazing
    4)Camera could be an accessory
    5)Flash will be dead in 24 months (HTML5)
    6)iPad complements perfectly the iPhone, iPod, any Smartphone and any Laptop/Desktop
    7)Semi-multitasking to come with OS 4.0

    It’s a NOBRAINER, will change the way we read, browse, learn and collaborate or work…

    And that’s just the beginning of a new era.

  • http://darrenstuart.com Darren

    Normally apple convert the dollar to pound and then add on 20%

    I hope they release that 3g version in the 90 days they promised.

    I also hope they don’t try and make me get a data contract for it when I already have one.

  • http://robinkoenig.com Robin

    The ipad is already listed on Amazon germany (amazon.de) Price starting at 499€ (as usual a bit more expensive than in the states)
    greetings from germany!

  • http://fiftyeggs.co.uk Andrew Hawken

    Look at the last few seconds of the official video, just as it fades out. Apple haven’t got FCC approval. That’s why there is a delay on 3G version. Nothing to do with carrier negotiation. Do pay attention Bond!

  • browse

    TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile) already offers a pay-as-you-go 50MB/day service for 10EUR per month.

  • http://www.abctribe.com Jerry

    Another subscription is crazy .. too expensive … I already pay the one of my iphone …
    It’s a terrible error not to allow a connection through phone !!!!

  • http://twitter.com/mikebutcher Mike Butcher

    I meant carrier negotiations *in Europe*.

  • http://www.viabasket.fr vinceslas

    Just wait until you get a couple of Ipad specific applications that will change the you work and communicate. Its more handy than a laptop while on the move and you can do a lot of things that the small iphone screen doesn’t allow. Entering data on the fly will be made much easier.

  • Eamonn

    Vodafone Ireland offer 50mb per day for 99c -anywhere there is a Vodafone network in Europe!

  • Eamonn

    The 3G version isn’t a deal-breaker for me. I have a MiFi in my pocket and that is all I need.

  • Paolo

    I carry my netbook on trains to keep on working (writing software) so the iPad won’t be a replacement for that. It could replace the netbook and the screen of the phone for all non work related activities and surely it’s good at home for casual browsing but:

    - it’s larger than a phone: this is good for some applications but useless for others (I read books on my phone) and bad for fitting into pockets
    - there is a limit to the number of data contracts one can pay for.

    Conclusion: I’m still undecided about this class of devices. Well, maybe it’s ok for the people that use a computer only to browse the internet (but no flash is a big con) and to play games because they’re trained to play on consoles anyway.

  • http://www.levelofindirection.com Mr Cubes

    Good to hear it’ll be here in March.
    For my take on it, including a teaser for the app I’m working on for it, see my blog at: http://www.levelofindirection.com/journal/2010/1/27/what-is-the-ipad-for.html

  • geoman

    iDon’t know what could be more worse than not to add a GPS capability like the ones from garmin on this model, I mean its 2010 already, right? GPS should be a part of our normal lives. GPS details: http://bit.ly/diy-gps-guide

    I concur that this one is not a necessity, neither a must have…

  • http://mojemusli.pl Paltrawke

    Natural thing for apple is to convert $ to € as 1:1. So pricing in Europe wil start from 499€. better to travel to us to bring it.

  • lachs

    as expected they will do the same thing they usually do in Germany: convert $ prices 1:1 into € prices – resulting in 499/599/699€ for WiFi and 629/729/829 for 3G (whereas the term UMTS is more familiar for us ;-) see amazon.de http://bit.ly/bspLsu

  • http://www.iwikiphone.com alex grant

    I hate TIM. Recently I spent 120 in credit in one week because everytime I would go online with iphone it would suck the credit dry in minutes even though i was on the 50MB a day deal.

    What was TIM’s answer – We don’t know and you are not getting you money back. Total ripp-off.

  • michele Anenberg-Poma

    Love it, love it, it’s the tool of the century! read, take notes, email and just plain, wow!

  • igzkap

    i will probably get it but i am not too excited about it either , i was really hoping for multitasking ( and yes on the iphone as well) as for the thing it self it will server great as a news/book/tv guide reader in my living room but thats about it
    P.S. I am sure by the end of the year we will have numerous “iPads” from other HW manufacturers with full win7

  • http://www.netflora.co.uk Flower Girl

    lachs, it’s something that happens in the UK a lot as well, 1:1 conversion from Dollars to Pounds whatever the rate, hopefully this will reach the UK soon at a sensible price as I definitely want one.

  • xboxnang

    What’s the point in the iPad?

    Spend a little more and but a MacBook! Then you have portability and flash support etc!

  • http://www.ge3k.co.uk Matt Auckland

    HTML5 and CSS3 still aren’t fully supported in ALL major browsers. I even find it patchy in Chrome which tends to run most stuff ok.

    Not including Flash is narrow minded, and it made me giggle a little when Steve scrolled through the web pages during the demo, seeing the place holder where the flash should be.

    Surprised they didn’t learn from the backlash stemming from the lack of flash support on the iPhone. Possibly a fix for the future? I hope so.

  • I win.

    True, flash might be dead in 24 months. Chances are your ipad will be dead around then too though

  • Ralph

    I like it – but I´d like to see its performance. And I´m not sure if I am willing to pay a 1:1 $ price in Euro!
    If that should be the case, I think I´ll better buy an eee T91 convertible tablet pc or something similar! And that one has a sd slot AND a keyboard – something that lacks on the iPad….

  • NQ Logic

    With the launch of the iPad tablet, Apple has managed to become the ultimate digital go-between company for high quality and high price content in a small yet very affluent segment of the population … NQ Logic encourages you to check out why Apple’s iPad is the final digital puzzle for their ultimate connected consumer strategy at http://www.nqlogic.com

  • Roger

    The distance between apple and others is getting smaller; I’m writing this with a pen on my IBM tablet that I have had for a few years – think sony reader with a week or more battery life, netpads for £200, and blackberrys amazing connections ….What apple is in front with is the merger of technology and the style of the product. But their their not in front by much and running on the fumes of good will ….. are they going to rip off / discriminate against europeans with pricing again? Is the life actually 10hrs or 7hrs? They want you to be loyal, but will they be loyal to you, what concession will they give to existing customers paying £35 per month?

  • Roland

    Certainly with a MiFi on the 3 network the cheaper version of the iPad might not work out too bad but this is certainly not a laptop replacement. I’d be more likely to use it around the house for showing friends photos,, etc but would stick to my iPod for watching movies and playing games on the train to work.

  • daniel

    realy something I wnt to have. it’s like all the basic elements from a computer in a realy small package. when it is intoduced in holland (where I live) I think I am going to buy one immedeately.
    but when exactly is it introduced in holland?

    with regards, Daniel

  • Jim

    They are unlocked devices so what is to stop me buying a US version at 499 dollars and having my cousin in the US post it me in Europe, that will only cost me 320 Euro…

    They have to price it at the conversion rate or others will also do this though not all through my cousin.. :)

  • Antonio

    I don’t see what’s so hard to get about the ipad. Plenty of tasks have become so routine now (web surfing, email, consumption of music and video etc), that someone is finally suggesting that perhaps a fully-fledged computer doesn’t need to be the only way to do these things anymore. Makes perfect sense to just have a convenient, slim and sleek object that you just switch on and use, wherever you like. People seem to be getting furious for no reason, as if Apple is suggesting that Notebooks are stupid and should cease to exist.. uhh.. no.. Maybe it’s just a bit silly to be taking a supercomputer with you into bed every night just to send off a couple of emails and read a book, so an appliance that you just switch on, do some stuff with, and plonk it down on the bedside table when you’re done is possibly a half decent idea.
    What I don’t get about all the hate out there is, the netbook market is _enormous_.. so if you really just want an actual computer that happens to be small and convenient, we are so spoiled for choice right now that it’s not even funny. But for me, I kinda like the idea of a thingy that I can use for a bunch of useful stuff that _isn’t_ another fully-fledged computer to manage, look after, keep updating and keep in good shape. My iphone already covers this up to a point, but the ipad looks like it hits a sweet spot in screen size and overall dimensions that will make it exactly the kind of useful thing around the house that I could use.

    As for european pricing.. It will annoy me a great deal if they try to pretend there isn’t a big difference between the euro and the greenback right now. Today’s exchange rate – $US499 is about 370 euro.. so if they try to ship this thing at 499 euro here in France, I’ll be getting my cousin in LA to buy one and bring it over next trip, that is for _sure_. In fact it would still work out cheaper if I got her to Fedex one over, so I’ll be very curious to see if they try to shaft europeans on this product..

  • Mads Denmark

    Hi outthere … Believe me its gonna be a major succes with this new apple product!! … F.ck flash … You Got your pc for that and other stuff that ipad cant handle … Remember its not a pc but a device that always in reach of your hands to go browsing web and stuff … Trust me … Buy it!!

  • Mads Denmark

    ….. I’m gonna buy two…otherwise my wife Will be using it All the time

  • http://www.joenelumal.com Joenel Umal

    According to rumors the 16GB WiFi Only iPad will be priced at around 500 Euros.

    Source: http://www.machoe.com/4538/french-site-reveals-european-ipad-prices.html

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