Orange unveils cheaper iPad plans

iPad

Orange has confirmed a drop in price for customers to get their hands on an iPad.

The company revealed last week it would be releasing new deals onto the market, but kept the prices hidden.

Now it has confirmed the flagship tablet device from Apple could be purchased for 199 for the 16GB model, 249 for the 32GB and 349 for the 64GB.

However, users will be trapped in a 24 month contract, offering 1GB anytime data, 1GB quiet time' data between midnight and 4am and up to 3GB of BT OpenZone Wi-Fi.

The monthly contract cost will come in at 25 for existing Orange customers or 27 for those new to the provider.

It is expected this deal will also become available on T-Mobile as the two companies have signed on the dotted line to merge and are currently working on strategies to combine the firms' offerings.

The iPad has roared to success since its launch in May, dominating the tablet market. However, this week saw Gartner analyst Ranjit Atwal blame the device for a revised forecast of PC shipments for the year, down from 17.9 per cent to 14 per cent.

"These results reflect marked reductions in expected near-term unit growth based on expectations of weaker consumer demand, due in no small part to growing user interest in media tablets such as the iPad," said Atwal.

"Over the longer term, media tablets are expected to displace around 10 per cent of PC units by 2014."

Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.