Depending on your outlook, you may be relieved or dismayed if you’re contemplating purchase of Apple’s (AAPL) iPad, unveiled last week, to learn that after Verizon Communications (VZ) this morning said it will start selling the device on Friday, it posted on its Web site a pricing plan that is the same as the existing iPad 2 unit, even though the new model comes with higher-speed “long term evolution,” or LTE, wireless technology.
Apple had not announced pricing of data plans when it unveiled the device on Wednesday. In the breach, most assumed the pricing would be the same. Today’s plan information from Verizon is the first formal confirmation that such is the case.
The new iPad, which lists for $629, $729, or $829 with an LTE connection, depending on the NAND capacity, will cost $30 for a 2 gigabyte-per-month plan, $50 for a 5 gig plan, or $80 for a 10 gig plan.
That’s the same amount as the plans offered for the 3G connection on the iPad 2.
On the one hand, there’s no premium for faster data. On the other hand, whether that’s a good thing depends on whether you expect to get the same work done faster for the same money or whether you find yourself sucking down more data and blowing through that plan faster with LTE.
Update: Apple’s pre-orders for the iPad appear to include a 1-gigabyte plan for $20, which is not mentioned in Verizon’s materials. I have requests in to Apple and Verizon to clarify the situation.
Update 2: A Verizon spokesperson confirms that the 1-gigabyte option for $20 per month is still available. It appears the difference is that the options cited by Apple when ordering from its online store are for the “pre-pay” option. That is, you activate the LTE connection from your iPad once ! you acti vate the iPad. You give a credit card and are billed instantly. With the plans mentioned on Verizon’s site, you are paying on a “post-paid” basis. That is akin to a monthly cell phone contract: You pay an activation fee, you are sent a bill each month to pay, and you are charged overage fees automatically (of $10 per gigabyte) if the monthly allotment is exceeded. (Unlike a cell phone contract, however, with the post-paid deal, called “month-to-month,” you can still drop your service at any time, just as with the pre-pay option.)
Verizon says that most customers using cellular connections with the iPad 2 so far have opted for the pre-pay deal, and that most use less than one gigabyte per month. �Large enterprises, however, may want the post-paid option as it does not have to be tied to a specific credit card from the outset.
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