Sprint, the nation’s third-largest wireless carrier, wasted no time following Apple’s quiet announcement of the 128GB iPad 4 earlier this morning, with multiple blogs confirming the telco will be carrying the newly announced gizmo.
Sprint’s been selling iPhones and iPads since last year and today its SVP confirmed plans to sell the fourth-generation iPad with LTE, Retina display and 128 gigabytes of storage – likely beginning February 5, when it’s scheduled to hit the Apple online and retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers…
Update: AT&T and Verizon both confirmed to MacRumors they will carry the 128GB iPad when it launches February 5.
Fared Adib, Sprint’s senior vice president of Product Development, told iMore:
Sprint is delighted to confirm that we will be offering our customers additional iPad options with the new 128GB iPad with Retina display.
Apple did not name any carrier partner in a media release, but if Sprint gets to carry the 128GB model, we’re expecting other carriers to follow suit soon. The 128GB Wi-Fi-only iPad 4 is priced at $799, a $100 more than the 64GB model.
The Wi-Fi + Cellular 128GB model is a $929 value – that’s $70 cheaper than the entry-level $999 11-inch MacBook Air. Some 68 percent of you voted that the 128GB model is indeed a tough sell, though a memory upgrade should appeal to corporations, educational institutions and other organizations.
Apple’s largest iPad now has same storage as the base model 13-inch MacBook Air.
— John Paczkowski (@JohnPaczkowski) January 29, 2013
Apple’s release quotes marketing honcho Phil Schiller as saying that customers are finding more great reasons to work, learn and play on their iPads “rather than their old PCs”.
128GB iPad arrives at market just as Microsoft begins shipping Surface Pro, which starts out at $899 for 64 GB dthin.gs/117pbhL
— John Paczkowski (@JohnPaczkowski) January 29, 2013
That’s an interesting way of putting it, to say the least.
Of course, Apple has been spearheading the post-PC revolution with its iOS devices. On the flip side, Apple is now finding that yes – the revolution often devours its own children.
@dujkan I think a lot also has to do with people waiting for the new iMac (it was announced ages ago), and extremely low stocks.
— Stefano Scaglione (@stefstefs4) January 29, 2013
Mac sales in the fourth quarter were down by 700,000 units to just 4.1 million Macs amid iPad cannibalization. Another reason: lots of people were waiting for the new iMac which faced manufacturing issues so the all-in-one was in low stock pretty much throughout the quarter.
Signing off, it’s funny how on the day Apple announces a 128GB iPad Microsoft saw fit to admit that the 128GB version of the Surface Pro has just 83GB of free space out of the box.