[Note: This pricing is entirely speculative. It is based on comparisons of product pricing between USD/ZAR Apple stores]

We currently don’t know what the iPad will cost when it lands in South Africa, but if past experience is anything to go by, it’ll probably be more than you initially think. I’ve seen R5000 quoted as a potential price, but that’s more than likely a best case scenario on an entry-level iPad. So rather than speculate wildly, I thought I’d speculate wildly based on some actual data.
So the massively scientific method was simply to take the same product on the US Apple store and the ZA Apple store and work out the ratio between the two. This would be true for the current exchange rate and would include local markup, import duties, shipping, US taxes and whatever else get’s lumped onto it. I looked at the iPod touch, Mac Mini, MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro and got ratio’s that ranged from 10.03 through to 11.6. The top end of the ratio’s were for the Mac Mini’s, but overall the ratio tends to average out at about 10.06. If you look at the pricing, they also enjoy ending prices (where possible) with 999 or otherwise 99.

So taking the US pricing of the iPad, multiplying by 10.06 and rounding up to end in 99, we get the following prices:

with Wireless:
iPad 16GB – R5299
iPad 32GB – R6499
iPad 64GB – R7499

I’ve had an iPod touch with just the wireless, and while it seems like a great idea at the time, more often than not you’re not within range of a wireless network that you can easily access, so to be honest, you really want the iPad with 3G.

with Wireless and 3G:
iPad 16GB – R6999
iPad 32GB – R7999
iPad 64GB – R8999

As I said at the beginning, this is all speculative, so we will have to see what the actual pricing is when it lands. It’s still quite an outlay for something that has the functionality of the iPod Touch without the portability, but until I’ve actually used one it’s unfair to judge. It’s going to be interesting to see the uptake and how it defines how we use the internet.