Orange announces new cheaper iPad plans

Orange has announced its price plans for the new subsidised iPad model it will be offering – and predictably, it's still pretty expensive.

The iPad will come in a variety of storage capacities still, with the 16GB costing £199, the 32GB coming in at £249 and the 64GB offering costing a whopping £349.

But Orange is also rewarding its existing customers for staying loyal to the brand as well, with the monthly price plans costing £2 a month cheaper.

Slightly cheaper chips

£25 a month (or £27 for new customers) will get you 1GB of anytime data, and a further 1GB allowance from midnight to 4PM – Orange's so-called quiet time data.

On top of that you'll be allowed unlimited *cough*3GB really*cough* Wi-Fi through BT Openzone when out and about – so the upshot is you shouldn't really ever run out of data unless you're streaming the entire internet or something.

However, it's predictably not cheaper than buying the iPad outright: for instance, the 16GB 3G version costs £499 to purchase, and £7.50 a month will get you 1GB of data on Three.

This works out at £589 over the course of the deal, should you want to sell and upgrade your iPad when a new one emerges (which it obviously will). Compare this to the nearly £900 the Orange deal will cost, and you can see the cost saving.

However, we know that many people will just see the lower price tag and get into bed with the fruity network as fast as possible – and for you people, it's good news: pre-ordering has just gone live.