Are the new iPads (iPad 3) for sale in the US unlocked for the UK?

Solution 1:

If you bought the device without a contract, it's unlocked!

The information about AT&T and Verizon is important when talking about LTE availability in the US. Only AT&T and Verizon provide LTE networks in the US that work with the iPad.

4G LTE is supported only on AT&T and Verizon networks in the U.S. and on Bell, Rogers, and Telus networks in Canada. footnote no.3 - iPad specs

This is important to note as LTE frequency bands used in Europe, Australia and probably most of Asia are not supported by the iPad. You will use DC-HSDPA, HSPA+ or UMTS instead for fast internet access.

Solution 2:

Yes the iPads are unlocked with respect to international (non US sim cards) so you are not tied to a contract and free to use whatever carrier you choose internationally.

It's not clear why Apple is mentioning that UK iPads will work only with AT&T LTE here. The 3G networks between VZW and AT&T are even less compatible than their LTE implementations, but if you went with the AT&T model here, I would be extremely surprised if it's not identical to the ones sold in the UK with exception of the initial carrier settings loaded on the device (and that it will always be known to Apple as an AT&T iPad.)

You can see that the iPads sold in the UK explicitly call out that they will work with AT&T's LTE only and not with Verizon's LTE.

This could simply be a agreement or modem driver delivery choice rather than something physically different with the models. Again, until someone tears apart the various models and posts the differences, we can only go on the Apple marketing information calling out which carriers work with which other ones across the pond. I could see the verizon one being special to take better advantage of verizon's 3G (and slower) network footprint here in the US so you might avoid that one until more is known for sure.

Again, those of us buying the Verizon iPad should get coverage in europe, but perhaps not as good as the AT&T or the UK specific models.