So did you order an iPad yet?

Yesterday Apple started accepting pre-orders for the iPad to be delivered in the US on April 3. Yes, it’s supposedly only for the US and you need a credit card with US billing address but there are ways around that as has been discussed at length in many other places.

Did you pre-order an iPad yesterday? If so, which one did you go for?

There are, as I’m sure you know, a Wi-Fi only iPad and one model with Wi-Fi and 3G data connection. The Wi-Fi iPad, which is the one that will be delivered on April 3, is $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB) and $699 (64GB). The 3G model, delivery end of April, is $130 more for each model.

Yesterday via Twitter I received a question about what size of iPad someone should select if they were pre-ordering a Wi-Fi iPad. It’s of course a tricky question to answer if I know nothing about what they are likely to use the iPad for. On my iPhone 3GS 32GB I currently have some 8GB of audio – music and podcasts – and a few more gigabytes of photos. Then apps take up a few gigabytes but I’m really nowhere near the 32GB limit. The only time I come close to that is when I travel when I fill it up with movies.

Personally, if I was pre-ordering one today I’d go for the 16GB model. I suspect that’d be good for me most of the time and it would allow me to invest the least in a new technology at the moment. As much as I want an iPad, it’s new and unproven technology at this point, so caution is prudent.

I should add that official availability in the Middle East is not yet known. Neither Arab Business Machines, Apple’s distributor in the region, nor their PR company, have said anything on that matter.