I am currently living in Madrid and Last night, I was drinking with a Spanish buddy who works at Telefonica Spain and is pretty high up in the organization. He was in charge of the roll-out of the iPhone into Spain (Telefonica is the unique provider). He is not directly involved with the launch of the 3G iPad in Spain but has played with it (Telefonica are testing it on their system) as a lot of the senior managers have done. I asked him a few questions, about the 3G as I am interested in buying this version of the iPad, as you do before talking about family, etc.
The most interesting answers he gave were from the following questions, however, remember it is only what he has gleaned from the Telefonica team:
1. Can you use the iPad with different telecom providers?
He said that theoretically yes you can but the Telecom providers are looking to tie you to their system through Longterm contracts using discounted iPad's or with high premiums on US prices but with 1 years free 3G access on pay as you go. The latter is the case of how iPhones are sold on pay-as-you-go in the UK with Orange and O2.
Further, as pricing has not been given out by any provider and won't be given until the end of May, it is theoretically possible that you may not be able to pre-order the iPad 3G in Europe and distribution will only be done at the Telecom's stores. Remember, it is easy for Apple in the states becuase AT&T is the only Telecom that can use the iPad (Verizon and Sprint are CDMA and T-Mobile uses a frequency not detected by the iPad). Therefore, they can pre-order with the AT&T micro-sim already installed. That is not possible when you are talking multiple vendors and without prices being given out until after May 10th pre-order date.
They are not particularly happy about the AT&T contract and are trying not to be forced into such contracts because they know that iPad internet usage per person is potentially much greater than iphone downloading and do not want to be forced into contracts that will potentially lose them money. If they are forced into AT&T style contracts they are still trying to negotiate provider locked versions with Apple but are not sure Apple will allow it.
He also said that he did not believe that any of Europe's providers will provide a contract as attractive as that provided by AT&T. Telefonica currently charge upto 10 euros a day for unlimited internet access on pay-as-you-go.
To put this in perspective the smallest iPhone contract is 15 euros + vat per month for unlimited downloads. However, after downloading 250mb during the month the download speed drops from 3G to Edge level.
On normal 2 year contracts, unlimited internet access is 1 euro per day.
But it should put a question mark over those thinking about buying one in the States because the cost of using a US purchased one on 3G maybe far greater than the cost of purchasing it in your own country. This could be done via the telecoms not issuing micro-sims unless you buy an iPad package or if they do forcing you to pay prices that are greater than iPad contract prices for data downloads.
Afterall, it is probably only one month difference in launch dates and it will take a couple of weeks to get it in Europe. Also, as no firm date has been established for the launch in the states, there is no guarantee that ordering a 3G ipad now will to sent out by Apple on launch day, if demand has been large.
2. Will you be able to use a micro sim from a different country than you purchased the iPad in?
He said he believed that would not be possible and some form of a country lock will be placed on the iPad. It is only a requirement in Italy and Belgium (I think) that requires that a phone needs to be unlocked and sim free. The rest of the countries in the world can require that Apple places both a carrier sim-lock and a type of country lock on the iPad.
He believes the reason that you will not be able to interchange micro-sims from different countries was the way that you topped up money on the iPad. He is still not sure how the you pay for the AT&T contract when you want to use 3G. He is not sure whether when you turn the contract on the payment goes directly to AT&T or it is made via iTunes and your iTunes account and then to AT&T with Apple taking a slice. A bit like the proposed iAD system.
If it is via iTunes, then you will need to pay via a credit card with billing address from that country like you do with apps and music. If this is the case you will be limited to paying roaming charges from the country you purchased the iPad.
Remember, this is what he has picked up from the iPad team at Telefonica and may not be what is finally offered. But he says the Telecoms are not happy with what AT&T have done and feel they are being forced into it by Apple's announcements.
Hope this helps
