Guessing Apple iPad UK Pricing And Availability

The countdown to the official release of the iPad started yesterday as Steve Jobs said that customers will have to wait for 60 days for the WiFi version and an additional 30 days for the 3G model to be shipped in North America.

One can expect, as it was the case for the rest of the world, that the iPad will come to the UK between end of March 2010 and June 2010. Why June? Apple will be keen to avoid launching iPad in the UK at the same time as the iPhone for a number of reasons.

There might be an overlap that could be detrimental to both products, sales and support staff will be overstretched and Apple needs to keep its marketing messages clear enough to avoid any unfortunate confusion.

Obviously, the iPad will be launch on a Friday to allow punters to buy it, head home and then buy and install mobile apps.

As for the pricing, we used the iPod Touch, rather than the iPhone as a benchmark and the average exchange rate used by Apple was $1.297 per £1. That's a quarter lower than what you could have expect on the money market.

In other words, the iPad is likely to be 25 percent more expensive here. Obviously, you will have to account the 17.5 percent VAT rate.

The price of the 16GB iPad with WiFi only is likely to be £385 while the most expensive one £639, both prices include delivery.