Apple

Weak. I thought it would be a higher amount of subsidy similar to the iPhone considering it's a two year contract.

Yeah that's weird a iPhone not under contract is like what 700 bucks? And it's 199 WITH a contract well hopefully other carriers will offer more off and drive the price down....lol maybe

So here is a quick question, can't AT&T make some kind of deal for unlimited users?

I prefer to just pay full retail price for an iPad.

Originally Posted by Feanor64

Yeah that's weird a iPhone not under contract is like what 700 bucks? And it's 199 WITH a contract well hopefully other carriers will offer more off and drive the price down....lol maybe

I have a theory that the reason for the low subsidy is because the monthly costs to add a phone to a plan is a lot more than a tablet. They subsidize phones more cause they will end up making more from phones with data plans rather than data only devices like the iPad.

The iPad would cost less to add onto an account ($10/month minimum if one's on a shared data plan) vs a iPhone ($35/month minimum on the same shared data plan, or the even better for revenue $70+/month on standard plans). That's probably why the subsidies don't really match.

To be honest, I don't expect any carrier to subsidize an iPad for any more than $100 (off), just because the data prices for tablets don't also include voice or texting. For most carriers, the lowest tablet tier is $10/month on postpaid. That only amounts to $240 in revenue for the contract period. It wouldn't make sense to increase the subsidy...

Has anybody put the mini in this picture? This might actually make a data-enabled mini look like a decent option for some. The initial cost only slightly higher than the wifi version (basically) and have a data option when away from home or whatnot. Especially around Christmas time, it'll look enticing.

att---is a very good research company..think about it,,,all these things att does..they do it with a lot of research, campaigns ..of-course they loose money on some but hey its a billion$ company--they can afford to.

Originally Posted by GenesisDH

I have a theory that the reason for the low subsidy is because the monthly costs to add a phone to a plan is a lot more than a tablet. They subsidize phones more cause they will end up making more from phones with data plans rather than data only devices like the iPad.

The iPad would cost less to add onto an account ($10/month minimum if one's on a shared data plan) vs a iPhone ($35/month minimum on the same shared data plan, or the even better for revenue $70+/month on standard plans). That's probably why the subsidies don't really match.

To be honest, I don't expect any carrier to subsidize an iPad for any more than $100 (off), just because the data prices for tablets don't also include voice or texting. For most carriers, the lowest tablet tier is $10/month on postpaid. That only amounts to $240 in revenue for the contract period. It wouldn't make sense to increase the subsidy...

Has anybody put the mini in this picture? This might actually make a data-enabled mini look like a decent option for some. The initial cost only slightly higher than the wifi version (basically) and have a data option when away from home or whatnot. Especially around Christmas time, it'll look enticing.

Well stated, tablet data can't bring much income to AT&T. When you look at an iPhones pricing its at minimum $60 a month with a 300mb data plan and pay per use texting. When you throw texting in the mix you are looking at $80.

Thanks for answering the unstated unlimited plan question.

Doubt they would ever give in to the unlimited plan, even to current unlimited customers. They lose out on that deal big time. There is a reason they don't offer it any longer.

Originally Posted by rcm

So here is a quick question, can't AT&T make some kind of deal for unlimited users?

AT&T is trying as much as possible to get unlimited plan users onto a tiered plan. It's highly unlikely that they'll create something for the 'lucky ones' that got in while it was good.

I'm switching to verizon just for FaceTime and hotspot.

Very interesting - cellular subsidies for tablet devices... Wonder if they'll give me a few hundred bucks off a future mbp if said mbp has an embedded cellular antenna? This is really a first...

I have unlimited Data for my iPhone5 & the ONLY thing i can see that' different is the ability to do face time over LTE WHICH i can Do when the Jailbreak comes out for 6.1. So i'l keep my unlimited.

Who came up with the idea this was a subsidy? As far as I know this is a *temporary* promotion on all tablets running from now until Dec 31st.

Originally Posted by AKCHRIS

I have unlimited Data for my iPhone5 & the ONLY thing i can see that' different is the ability to do face time over LTE WHICH i can Do when the Jailbreak comes out for 6.1. So i'l keep my unlimited.

I fought it forever. I finally did the math on Thursday and made the change. Screw it. You get throttled at about 2.5-3 gigs anyway.

2 phones, 2 iPads and an iPad Mini. One of the iPads was on a $30/month celluar plan.

Now I have unlimited minutes talk, unlimited text, TETHERING that CAN'T be turned off so I have data for ALL my iPads, and 6 Gigs/month. All for virtually the same money.

You guys keep fighting the man if you want to. It just wasn't worth it to me. I would a LOT rather have what I have now.

Has anybody figured out why every time you log in from any browser, all the comments other than the first one disappear? Safari, Chrome, IE. Doesn't matter for me.

Originally Posted by LearningMan

I fought it forever. I finally did the math on Thursday and made the change. Screw it. You get throttled at about 2.5-3 gigs anyway.

2 phones, 2 iPads and an iPad Mini. One of the iPads was on a $30/month celluar plan.

Now I have unlimited minutes talk, unlimited text, TETHERING that CAN'T be turned off so I have data for ALL my iPads, and 6 Gigs/month. All for virtually the same money.

You guys keep fighting the man if you want to. It just wasn't worth it to me. I would a LOT rather have what I have now.

Has anybody figured out why every time you log in from any browser, all the comments other than the first one disappear? Safari, Chrome, IE. Doesn't matter for me.

I'm debating to switch or not..... As far as dropping comments it's been this way for a while, for me anyway.

Originally Posted by luvmytj

Weak. I thought it would be a higher amount of subsidy similar to the iPhone considering it's a two year contract.

That would make no business sense for them to do. Adding a tablet is $10 a month. They get a total of $240 over the lifetime of the contract. Subtract the $100 they discounted the iPad, and they are left with $140 in potential profit over the two years you had the device. That IS a pretty bold move. They are making MUCH more off of every other device they decide to subsidize.

Forget "adding" the tablet just pay $50 for 5 gb data which includes tethering and tether the ipad That saves you 10-20 month!!

I picked up an iPad 3 friday under this offer since I was looking to upgrade my iPad 2 (didnt want a 4 since I have TONS of 30 pin accessories). Im still debating if Id rather pay the extra 100 bucks to not have a contract but $10 bucks a month isnt enough to worry about.

I will say this about the data share plans. This past month they saved me a fortune. I have 3 iphones, a blackberry and now an ipad on my account with the 10 gig plan. This past month 3 of those phones went over 3 gigs. One was at 200 meg. Had i been on the previous plan my bill would have been $260 plus $30 in overages and tax. My bill came in yesterday and it was total $236 with tax. Now that was a totally uncommon month of data due to being stuck in a hospital for a relative and streaming hulu and such.

The only thing Im worried about is since LTE is insanely fast here (29 down 8 up) Im worried about getting careless and going over my 10 gigs. The 15 or 20 gig plan is looking very interesting.

After LearningMan's post, I'm starting to look into dropping the unlimited plans (I have 2). Currently pay: $180/month *after taxes* w/ 25% discount.

It 'looks' like for $90/month (6GB) I get everything (except the $20/month for two lines)! I'd also throw in tethering ($15/month).

Total=$125/month
w/ 25% work discount= $93.75/month
*before taxes, of course

Am I reading this right or am I confused? Might need to call AT&T...