Earlier, I wrote a reaction piece to Apple’s announcement of the iPad. My reaction seemed to parallel many of the opinions out there: It does a few new things in kind of cool ways, but it’s not the revolutionary gizmo Steve Jobs made it out to be.

Apple iPad

With this article I’d like to add more of a Canadian reaction to the iPad from the point of view of the mobile communications industry.

Yes, the iPad 3G is coming to Canada, reportedly in June. Expect a slight USD -> CAD markup on the device and more expensive data rates. Also, the iPad won’t be coming to all Canadian carriers.

What Will It Cost?

This is not a difficult question to ballpark. Extrapolating from the the ~10% markup on the lowest of the line in iPods (the 8GB iPod touch is $199 USD and $219 CAD), and Apple’s affinity for “nice” numbers, we’ll probably see prices similar to the following.

Predicted Canadian iPad Prices

iPad 16GB 32GB 64GB
WiFi $549 $649 $749
WiFi + 3G $699 $799 $899

As for the cost of the data plan, look for Bell, Telus, and Rogers to be fairly predictable and parallel each other. I’ll hazard a guess of $45/month for the unlimited* plan and $20/mo for the reduced usage plan of around 250MB. Asterisk may mean whatever caveats you suspect.

Now that I think about it, unless you go to youtube quite a bit on the device, you should be able to get away with 250MB of bandwidth. Sync it at home, take it out for browsing/email. Maybe a 1GB plan would be better.

Who Will Carry It?

The WiFi-only version should be available through normal channels – Apple Store, online, big boxes. As for 3G service, look at Telus, Bell, and Rogers to offer plans.

Do not expect to see the iPad with Wind/DAVE/Public Mobile.

Unfortunate as it may be, the 3G capabilities of the iPad do not allow it to be used on the 3G AWS band. If you visit the iPad specifications page, you’ll come across this information:

Wi-Fi + 3G model
  • UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
  • GSM/EDGE (850, 900,1800, 1900 MHz)
  • Data only2
  • Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology

The 3G AWS band that Wind Mobile operates on, and that DAVE and Public Mobile will operate on is known as UMTS IV. It uses the 1700 MHz band for device-to-tower and 2100 MHz band for tower-to-device for communications. Notably missing is the 1700 MHz capability of the iPad, so no 3G AWS, so no Wind/DAVE/Public. At least for now.

VOIP

The iPad is not a phone, and probably shouldn’t be thought of as such, even with VOIP apps. The iPad would still have access to the full lineup of app store apps, including skype, fring, truphone and the like, and the mic input would allow one to use the iPad as a VOIP device. The always-on 3G data connection, combined with push notifications in some apps would make the iPad quite usable from a connectivity standpoint.

But do you want a 10″ phone?

Maybe with a handsfree bluetooth connection it makes sense. See the push notification pop up, put the bluetooth earpiece in, hit accept, put the iPad down and away you go. It seems like a good option to test on, but really this is just using a sub-optimal device when what we really need is something to happen on the iPod touch/iPhone front.

Either give us an iPhone on data only, or make a 3G-capable iPod touch.