TORONTO - Canadians should get a crack at Apple's new iPad by March but some industry watchers warn that while the tablet computer is priced right, the ongoing cost of using it in Canada may be a major turnoff.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs ended months of rumours, intrigue and speculation Wednesday by lifting the veil on the iPad, a one-button, keyboard-free mobile computing device billed as a cross between a laptop and a smartphone, offering the best of both worlds.

There will be six models available, ranging from US$499 to US$829 depending on storage capacity and whether they have Wi-Fi or 3G wireless connections. The Wi-Fi models will be available internationally in 60 days while the 3G models will be available in 90 days, Jobs said.

The reaction after the launch was somewhat mixed, with many praising the pricing but feeling a let down by the list of features, said Derek Szeto, founder of Redflagdeals.com, an online deal-hunting community with more than 270,000 members.

"I remember the iPhone launch and they showed the screen with no keypad and everyone went, 'Wow!' We didn't get that same level of `Wow' with this one," he said.

"But, what people really like and the reaction I'm seeing, is it's a lower price than people were expecting so, in that sense, I think it's definitely a positive."

Some Canadian shoppers are skeptical they'll be offered an iPad at the same price and are leery about how much it will cost for a 3G data plan through a Canadian carrier, he added.

South of the border, Apple has teamed up with AT&T to offer no-contract data plans of 250 megabytes a month for US$14.99 and unlimited data transfers for US$29.99.

Jobs said he hopes to secure deals with international mobile carriers by June or July to carry the device and supply data, although he did not specifically mention Canada as a target market.

Jobs also hinted that because the iPad is not locked to any particular carrier, it could potentially work with consumers' existing SIM cards to access data right away.

Don't expect similarly priced deals in Canada, said Tony Olvet, vice-president of research for IDC Canada.

But no-contract data plans may be available here too, since the carriers are not subsidizing the price of the iPad as is typical with mobile phones, Olvet said. The iPad may end up opening the door to more unlocked devices being sold directly to consumers without being tied to a specific carrier, he added.

"This turns the corner a bit in the nature of how mobile devices are sold, there's probably an open-mindedness now that unlocked open devices are coming and it's not such a big scary thing," Olvet said.

"Eventually, the user is going to require data services and that's going to be on a carrier's network and that's extra revenue."

Olvet thinks Apple will probably seek an exclusive agreement with one of the three big mobile companies to offer the iPad.

"I have a feeling that to encourage good marketing Apple will want to negotiate with one carrier in Canada at the outset, but I don't think that would be an exclusive for as long as we saw with the iPhone, maybe it'll be a shorter-term scenario," he said.

Rogers (TSX:RCI.B), Bell (TSX:BCE) and Telus (TSX:T) refused to answer questions about Apple's announcement.

The most-basic iPad is US$499, for a model that connects to the Internet only through Wi-Fi and has 16 gigabytes of storage. That's a little more than C$530 with today's exchange rate.

A 16-gigabyte model that can access 3G mobile networks sells for US$629. The priciest iPads are US$699 for a 64-gigabyte Wi-Fi model and US$829 for a 64-gigabyte 3G model.

Szeto said some Canadians shoppers will likely cross the border to get their hands on an iPad if availability is limited or introduction delayed.

"For the really early adopters who want to have it first . . . I think they are going to buy it and at $500 it's not an unreasonable impulse buy," he said. "I think they'll see pretty good value at that price point."