Apple’s iPad is making a big impact in the world of mobile broadband and with its April launch date set, many UK customers will be interested to see whether the new tablet computer will make a difference to the way in which we use the internet whilst we are at home and on the move.

The iPad will initially be available with built in Wi-Fi connectivity, although the major networks are more interested in how it will fare when 3G compatibility arrives with a subsequent release.

With 3G on board, mobile broadband providers will be able to ship the iPad to consumers without the need for a dongle and allow them to connect anywhere that their 3G networks are available.

Apple executives are arriving in the UK to meet with the management teams behind the mobile broadband networks and lengthy talks followed by the possibility of a bidding war for the mobile broadband enabled version are likely to ensue.

There is a chance that wireless broadband prices for the iPad will be a little different than for other mobile broadband offerings.

Firstly it will have to be offered as part of a long term deal in the same way that free laptops are currently bundled with mobile broadband. Secondly, Apple may well demand up to 30 per cent of the revenue that the networks derive from data usage charges, as it currently does this with its iPhone handset.

At the moment there is no news in regard to which mobile broadband providers will actually offer the iPad when it arrives, but all of the major UK networks have expressed interest in the technology.

Simple Broadband’s Communications Manager Simon Gerrard said “The iPad will make an interesting alternative to mobile broadband deals which include free laptops, but its impact on wireless broadband prices remains to be seen.”