iPad Prices Announced

Its a momentous day today in the UK. No, not the hung Parliament. Today Apple have announced the release date and prices for the iPad in the UK.

Pre-orders will start on the 10th of May, for the device to ship on Friday the 28th of May. Prices for the UK as confirmed by Apple below.

"iPad will be available in the UK for a suggested retail price of £429 (inc. VAT) for 16GB, £499 (inc. VAT) for 32GB, £599 (inc. VAT) for 64GB for Wi-Fi models and £529 (inc. VAT) for 16GB, £599 (inc. VAT) for 32GB and £699 (inc. VAT) for 64GB for Wi-Fi + 3G models."

I'm still not entirely convinced this is as an exciting release as it would've been had it been closer to the release date in the States. Nonetheless I will be pleased to get my hands on one of these at the local Apple Store.

UPDATE:
Of course already there has been some (much) discussion in the blogosphere of how much of a rip off those prices are. Alot of people struggle with maths, myself included. However, lets break it down.

Mid range Wi-Fi 32gb model

US $ - 599 (exc. Sales Tax) is £408.13 at current exchange rate
UK price £499 (inc. £87.32 VAT)

UK Price £411.68 ex VAT
US Price £408.13 ex sales tax

So for the middle range model its 3 pounds more than a straight US$-UK£ conversion. Not that much of a rip off.