It's the hardest decision an Apple fan can make: Pick up a discounted iPad or splurge for its slightly more expensive successor, the iPad 2. And it's not like Apple's made the dilemma any easier: The company discounted its original iPad models by a cool $100 upon the announcement of the iPad 2, adding an even greater incentive for those looking to score a tablet on the cheap.
And now, that decision just got a whole lot harder.
Not content to let Apple be the only tease on the block, AT&T has since followed up with a price discount of its very own. Customers looking to purchase a first-generation iPad can now do so via the mobile carrier, which will slap an extra $100 discount on top of Apple's.
The $200 reduction, in total, drops the final price of the original iPad (3G) to $429 and $529 for the 16GB and 32GB versions respectively. In addition, AT&T has slashed the price of the 64-gigabyte version of the iPad 3G to $529, a $300 savings beyond its original purchase price, which you can pick that up via AT&T's official website.
So what's the catch? Well, as you've noticed, AT&T doesn't stock the Wi-Fi-only iPads, so you're stuck with a more expensive device that throws 3G connectivity into the mix. And, to that, AT&T demands that you subscribe to the company's DataConnect Personal Data Plan if you're looking to take advantage of the online discount. The bare minimum DataConnect plan AT&T offers is 250 Megabytes of data per month for $14.99.
Crafty users could likely cancel the plan after the first month of service, as there's no indication that AT&T would try to recoup the costs of the discounted iPad after-the-fact—a practice familiar to those who have ever purchased a discounted smartphone and service agreement, and then cancelled the latter prior to the full period of the contract.
However, AT&T's current promotion is such that the first month of one's DataConnect plan is entirely free—it's a trial. Those purchasing discounted iPads via AT&Ts site will be required to sign up for the trial data plan, but Internet users who have already taken advantage of the deal report that one merely has to remember to cancel the plan before the 30-day period has elapsed, lest AT&T charge for another month's worth of service.
And there you have it. A super-discounted iPad from AT&T with few to no strings attached.