Apple iPad Financials: How Much Does Apple Make Off an iPad? [Apple iPad Pricing Details Unveiled; What iPad Should I Buy?]

Apple has sold to date 250 million iPods and 75 million iPhones and iPods. Sure these two categories overlap but I still have a couple of points to make.

First off Apple already has a clear fan base that will pretty much go for any Apple product. Most of these products are good but once in a while you get hit by an Apple TV idea or a 27-inch iMac that doesn’t work as it should.

Secondly Apple has already sold way more iPods than it has ever dreamed of. The company has pretty much cashed in on that market and the iPod sales can’t keep going up since so many people have one. Same thing goes for iPhones but I imagine Apple will sell plenty of those at least for a few more years.

So that’s why Apple needs to keep profits up with a new product. Will that product be the iPad? While nothing is official so far it looks like a first estimate on Apple’s profits on every iPad unit sold has been made. And Apple looks like it’s going to be making a very healthy profit on each iPad sold.

This unofficial bill of materials says that Apple pays $270 to make each iPad Wi-Fi while the iPad 3G should cost around $306 to produce. That means that for a 16GB iPad Wi-Fi Apple makes $230 while each 16GB iPad 3G would send Apple around $324. Pretty nice numbers wouldn’t you agree? While we’re waiting for the official BoM you can calculate yourself how much profit Apple makes off the other four iPad versions. Multiply that with a couple of million units sold in the first year and you will get an impressive final number.

So what iPad should you buy? Well, let’s face it, the device is pretty interesting and worth exploring. But since we’re talking about iPad 1.0, a machine that lacks various hardware specs and software features, you could always go for the cheapest version. At $499 the 16GB iPad Wi-Fi is definitely affordable. In fact if you’re thinking about getting a netbook you might want to try the iPad first. Whether you like it or not you could always sell it later and get some of your cash back which in turn you would invest either in a netbook or in the iPad 2G (that’s second-generation of iPads of course.)

Should you get a 3G version? Ask yourself if that’s worth it. Ask yourself where you plan on using it and ask yourself if you still like AT&T as your 3G data provider. Also ask yourself if you shouldn’t tether your iPhone instead of getting an iPad with 3G on board. And that’s how you will save $130 on the spot, not to mention the additional monthly fees you’d end up saving. As a matter of fact, with all the money you’d save you could go for a netbook too!