Orange launches its first combined Iphone and Ipad deal

MOBILE OPERATOR Orange has launched a tariff that combines Apple's Iphone and Ipad starting from a £99 up front charge with a £65 per month contract.

With the 'Connected' plan, existing Orange customers can get their hands on two of Apple's latest gadgets, the Iphone 4 and the Ipad 2 3G, in one go. The tariff covers minutes, texts and data across the two Ithings and will set you back the small sum of £1,659 over a 24 month contract.

You'll need to be an existing Orange customer to get the deal, otherwise there's an additional charge of £50 added to the one-off payment. The £99 deal will get you only the 16GB versions of the Iphone and Ipad, and rises to £299 for the largest capacities of each - see the table below for full pricings.

We've crunched the numbers and a non-Orange customer who is after a 32GB Iphone and a 64GB Ipad will have to pay £1,909 over two years. This is broken down into a single payment of £349 and a £65 per month contract.

The combined deal is, as you'd hope, cheaper than getting the two separately. On Orange getting both separately will cost you over £2,000 for a deal similar to the cheapest combined plan.

The tariff comes bundled with 600 minutes, unlimited texts for the Iphone and a shared 3G data allowance for the two devices of 2GB per month with unlimited BT Openzone WiFi. Unlike most of Orange's plans, the combined deal is available only in stores or over the phone, currently.

So for all your dosh you'll get uncapped allowances only on texts and BT Openzone WiFi, which is subject to fair usage, of course. The fact that the contract spans two years means that by the time it comes to an end, or even half way through, your shiny Igadgets will be well out of date. µ