Japanese carrier to give away iPads — with strings attached

Japanese carrier Softbank is promising to subscribers starting early next month — but there's a two-year catch involved.
Softbank's "iPad for Everybody" promotion begins December 2, reports MocoNews, with those who sign up set to get their very own 16GB iPad 3G, which retails here in the U.S. for a cool $629. (The 16GB Wi-Fi-only version of the iPad sells for $499.)
That's not the end of the story, though. Users who sign up for a "free" iPad through Softbank will also have to sign a 25-month contract that involves a 4,725-yen monthly 3G data fee, which, based on the latest exchange rates, comes out to about $56 a month.
Do the math ($56 a month, times 25 months) and that comes out to about 118,125 yen — or $1,400 — over two years. Yikes.
On the other hand, 25 months of AT&T's 2GB, $25-a-month iPad 3G plan would cost you $625 (not counting taxes and other fees, of course), while a 16GB iPad 3G goes for $629 — bringing the 25-month total to $1,254, or nearly $150 less than the Softbank deal.
That's not an entirely fair comparison, though. For one thing, Softbank is offering unlimited monthly 3G data for its iPad subscribers, while both AT&T and Verizon (which is offering the Wi-Fi iPad bundled with a MiFi wireless hotspot) are capping their no-strings iPad 3G plans. There's also the relative strength of the yen to consider, which complicates straight-ahead currency conversions when it comes to comparing international products and services.
Still, as with the steeply discounted smartphones sold by wireless carriers here in the States, there's no question that a "free" iPad from Japan's Softbank isn't really free — and indeed, it may end up costing users about as much as they would have paid for an iPad up front.
Softbank isn't the first carrier to offer the iPad 3G at a discount, as MocoNews points out. Both Orange and T-Mobile in the U.K. are offering £200 iPads (about US$320) with two-year contracts, while Orange France will serve up a two-year-contract iPad for 279 euros.
Neither AT&T nor Verizon Wireless are offering discounted iPad deals yet, although it's worth noting that the iPad's newest competitor — the 7-inch, Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Tab — recently went on sale on Sprint and T-Mobile for a subsidized $399 with two-year contracts. The full retail price of the 3G-enabled Tab: a hefty $599.
Competition with the Tab could be one reason that overseas carriers are offering the iPad for a discount in exchange for a two-year service agreement, although MocoNews has another theory: an effort by Apple to boost the iPad's user base in Japan before its iAd mobile advertising platform makes its 2011 Japanese debut.
What about you — would you rather pay full-price for an iPad (or the Samsung Galaxy Tab, for that matter) up front, with no strings attached, or at a discount with a two-year contract?

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