Hutchison Austria to offer discounted iPad with 2-year contract for i-Mo 3G modem

Coveting an iPad, but not willing to pay full price? If you happen to live in Austria and don't mind committing to a two-year data contract, Hutchison's got you covered. The carrier's offering a 333 Euro (approximately US $455) discount if you sign up for a 29.90 Euro, 5GB monthly data contract. Sounds great, but frankly we still don't know how much it's gonna cost outside of the US -- the foreign sites still list American prices, as far as we can tell. The other catch is that instead of offering the integrated 3G version, you're getting a Huawei i-Mo 3G modem to create a personal WiFi cloud with the iPad. Elegant? Not really, but it's still quite the deal (short-term, at any rate). No indication when Apple's device will hit Austria, but we gotta imagine they wouldn't set up such an offer without a short-term plan.

[007 Posted Feb 5th 2010 4:44PM]

Lucky iPad owners!

[Jaylittles531 Posted Feb 5th 2010 4:52PM]

I smell Verizon cooking up a scheme.... iPad and MiFi

[frank da tank Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:12PM]

@Jaylittles531 That would be Kick Ass!

[TMC Posted Feb 5th 2010 4:55PM]

Jailbreak the damn thing and use bluetoot.

[haskili Posted Feb 5th 2010 4:56PM]

omg, i cant belive it

a post about the country i live in and the carrier i use?
AWESOME!

[Ducman69 Posted Feb 5th 2010 9:38PM]

@haskili G'day mate, put some shrimp on the barbee!

[Federaly Posted Feb 5th 2010 10:10PM]

@Ducman69
It says "Austria" not "Australia".......

[Ducman69 Posted Feb 5th 2010 10:24PM]

@Federaly I know, I'm german and australians call em prawns neways, just playin'. xD

[Asherlc Posted Feb 5th 2010 11:57PM]

@Federaly
Never seen Dumb and Dumber?

[Chris7197 Posted Feb 6th 2010 4:12AM]

@haskili

Fellow 3 user here, albeit in the UK - awesome network over here :)

[thunderbollock Posted Feb 6th 2010 10:13AM]

@Asherlc
What's the soup de jour?

[GeoHot Posted Feb 5th 2010 4:57PM]

We all no that dedicated 3g modems are on there way out, Since the iPad can run iPhone apps then once jailbroken the ipad should be able to run cydia apps so if yoiu get this thing with 3g you'll have your very own 3g mifi as well

[SolidSnake Posted Feb 5th 2010 7:39PM]

@GeoHot
I don't think you are GeoHot, he certainly has better grammar...

[groberts1980 Posted Feb 5th 2010 4:57PM]

I keep wondering if/when AT&T will offer to subsidize the cost of the iPad with a 2 year data contract. Or will the fact that $30/month isn't enough for them to subsidize? With the iPhone they're getting $30/month plus whatever your voice plan costs, maybe that makes subsidizing worth it?

[kefek Posted Feb 5th 2010 4:58PM]

Just a little note:
Austrian prices allready includes sales-taxes (20%).
so the price without taxes is 266,4€ (about 362$)

[kefek Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:05PM]

and btw this "discount" is afaik available to anyone who buys a net/notbook and who commits to a two year contract.
Maybe I should also mention that "Drei" also offers a real flatrate for 24,9€, 15GB/month for 15€ & 3GB/month for 9€

[Wolfticket Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:02PM]

"Give me all your money. I've got an iPhone"
"That's not an iPhone... This is an iPhone"

[OrsonX Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:44PM]

@Wolfticket

LOL! very good!!

[GadgetGeezer Posted Feb 5th 2010 6:52PM]

@Wolfticket
Brilliant!

[GadgetGeezer Posted Feb 5th 2010 6:53PM]

@Wolfticket
...but wrong country

[Ducman69 Posted Feb 5th 2010 9:40PM]

@GadgetGeezer that fact doubles the funny. :D

[geekthree Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:02PM]

Hopefully for the austrians... 3 isin't quite as crap as it is in the UK (unless you live under a transmitter).

[kefek Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:29PM]

@geekthree
Drei/Threes coverage in Austria (especially 3G) is great. They also allow their customers to "roam" in austrians biggest mobile network (A1-Vodafone) in areas without coverage.

[mschmidler Posted Feb 6th 2010 7:15AM]

@geekthree It is great, I can confirm that.

[Original Nosebleed Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:03PM]

jailbreak then teather to a iphone through blueooth?

[frank da tank Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:15PM]

@Original Nosebleed Yeah, tether your mobile device to your mobile device to connect your mobile device... to the "best" web experience your fist device does?

[Dale P Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:05PM]

Sprint's $100 Overdrive does 3G and 4G for $60/month, and can take up to 16GB memory cards that appear as network storage. If I thought I would use more than 250MB/month on an iPad, I would choose that over 3G.

[Alexandertron Posted Feb 5th 2010 10:02PM]

@Dale P

Hey man. thanks for the info. So 250 mb is going to get me how far???

i don't know much about mobile data usage.

[GadgetGeezer Posted Feb 5th 2010 11:23PM]

@Alexandertron
Depends on how much time you'll spend on wifi. If you'll mostly be using it on home or coffee shop wifi, then occaisional 3G usage won't amount to much. If you're a hard-core traveler that needs 3G most of the time, you better go "unlimited".

[icas2 Posted Feb 7th 2010 12:29AM]

@Dale P But have you read the reviews on the Sierra Overdrive. Not good at all, mostly because it uses Sprint's network. It is interesting to notice that you are calling the Sprint/Clearwire network "4G". Not really. That was a marketing ploy they chose. The Sprint/Clearwire network is a WiMax network. Calling it 4G is a real stretch. In fact HSPA and HSPA+ (both considered supercharged 3G networks) are both faster than Sprint's WiMax. Well, for that matter, even the Novatel MiFi 2200 operating on Verizon's 3G network has proven to be faster than the Sierra Overdrive on Sprints WiMax network. Bottom line is don't believe everything that Sprint (and Sierra) tell you. They are not ready for prime time yet. Go with the "street ready" brand.

[Oli D Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:07PM]

Lol read that Australia, was about to bash Miller. Silly me.

[Kendrol Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:09PM]

I've got one of thos i-mo things and they are really great. Battery lasts forever. Connects up to five devices from quite a range. I'd already thought of matching the two up, it works a charm with the missues iPod Touch when she's out and about. If we get a currency converesion that's better tha 1 - 1 then this could be a real winner

[Timmmmmm Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:10PM]

Gah, I wish engadget would wise up to the fact that contract-related "discounts" aren't really discounts.

[frank da tank Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:18PM]

@Timmmmmm werd

[GadgetGeezer Posted Feb 5th 2010 6:55PM]

@Timmmmmm
Some people use them as a kind of payment plan.

But, those people who can't afford to buy it upfront probably shouldn't buy it anyway.

[krizoitz Posted Feb 5th 2010 7:08PM]

@Timmmmmm If you are planning on getting the device, and planning on getting data service for the device, and signing up for a contract gets you the device + service for less than you would have paid seperately then yes, it IS a discount.

[GadgetGeezer Posted Feb 5th 2010 9:53PM]

@krizoitz
Unless they contract service is like T-Mo or others that give you a price break on the plan if you BYO device.

[Ducman69 Posted Feb 5th 2010 11:15PM]

@krizoitz you're both right, as it is technically a discount, but it is also the industry norm that such a subsidy is always included to some extent when purchasing a dumbphone, smartphone, or netbook with a dataplan.

The title is fine, although "subsidy" would be better wording.

[SgtR Posted Feb 6th 2010 4:19AM]

@GadgetGeezer

You bought your house up front? The world runs on lending money.

[mtnDewFTW Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:12PM]

Yeah, I can see a lot of wireless companies making chips for the iPad.
I REALLY hope that AT&T isn't the only one in U.S. They're service is... terrible.

[PhoenixFox Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:21PM]

...Doesn't do UMTS? What?

[nothlit Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:29PM]

"iPad doesn't do UMTS"?

Apple begs to differ... http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

[Ross Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:31PM]

@nothlit Misspoke there. Unintentionally bad phrasing. Fixing, thanks!

[Corvi Posted Feb 5th 2010 6:26PM]

Lool muuuch to expensive. I got 3 gig date here in austria for 7 euros a month. And thats the standard price tag. The discount is nice, but data plan is ways to expensive.
I wait half a year, they will throw the ipad after you for 1 euro, like they did with the iphone.

[GadgetGeezer Posted Feb 5th 2010 7:04PM]

I think I would prefer the pay-as-you-go and pay full price over traditional contracts. At least I only pay for what I consume when I want to consume it, kind of.

Same goes for the Nexus 1. Unless Apple comes up with some amazing updates to the iPhone hardware and UI by this summer, I can getting an Ni contract-free.

I guess toting an N1 and iPad will make me a walking contradiction. But it'll be nice to have the best of both worlds!

[Alexandertron Posted Feb 5th 2010 10:03PM]

@GadgetGeezer

I too plan on having a similar set up. I am going to have a N900 and a 32gb ipad.

[TareG Posted Feb 5th 2010 7:57PM]

Whatever happened to Huawei? Shouldn't they have already launched like 2 Android phones? Vaporware....

[crowl Posted Feb 5th 2010 9:55PM]

Seeing a carrier (particularly part of 3) doing this combination isn't unexpected, 3 in the uk have been offering an ipod touch and a mifi for a while.

[iPad Posted Feb 5th 2010 10:22PM]

Nice

[Cactus Posted Feb 5th 2010 10:50PM]

Consistent with a common practice in many parts of Europe... the biggest electronics store chain in Switzerland, for instance, will give you up to 600 Francs (=$600) off virtually anything in the store, depending for what monthly rate you sign a 2-year contract. My aunt used it on an LCD HDTV... I'm sure they'll let you use the discount off an iPad when it eventually rolls in.