Is This The First Carrier Subsidized iPad?

If you live in Austria (Yes, you read that right. Austria.) and you’re looking for a solid discount on a new Apple iPad with 3G then look no further than Hutchision. The carrier is offering a discount of 333 Euros (about $455 USD) in exchange for your loyal commitment  to a two-year contract.

That sounds great, right? There are a few quirks with this deal, though.

First, there’s no indication of what the the iPad is going to cost outside of the U.S., making any promise of a discount sound a little hollow at this point.

Second, the iPad in its current variation doesn’t support Hutchison’s high-speed data UMTS protocol. Hutchison’s not worried about that, though: when you sign up for a contract, you’ll also receive Huawei i-Mo 3G modem (the equivalent of a Verizon or Sprint MiFi) that will enable you connect to the Hutchison 3G network over WiFi.

Eh?

It’s a bit of a kludge but either way, that’s a pretty sweet deal as you can use the i-Mo with any WiFi-enabled device.

[TamsIJungle via engadget]

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