T-Mobile

In celebration of adding 16 new music streaming sources to its Binge On and Music Freedom services, T-Mobile is offering up to $200 off the purchase of a tablet when you buy a smartphone from the same manufacturer. Anyone who purchases a new Apple, LG or Samsung smartphone can also buy an additional tablet for half off.

T-Mobile customers can now purchase an iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 3 at T-Mobile.com or at T-Mobile retail locations. All models are available, except the 128GB iPad Air 2, for zero dollars down with 24 monthly payments starting at $26.24 for the 16GB iPad Air 2 and $22.08 for the iPad mini 3. T-Mobile is also still offering its double your data deal. For just $10, the deal allows users to add one tablet and match the data on their Simple Choice voice plan.

Correction: The 64GB iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 is $100 down and the 128GB iPad mini 3 model is $199 down.

If you rather pay for your iPad upfront instead of making monthly payments, or want a Wi-Fi-only model, both the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 are available through Apple.com starting at $499 and $399, respectively. The iPad Air 2 is also available at Bestbuy.com, AT&T.com and Verizonwireless.com.

It has been difficult keeping up with all the different T-Mobile promotions since the company re-branded itself as the "UnCarrier" and changed the way other mobile providers, such as AT&T, do business. The magenta company has pulled all kinds of stunts in the past like paying off its users' early termination fees and even offering BlackBerry users money to switch devices. And now T-Mobile has rolled out two new plans to help customers "avoid the old-guard carriers’ shared data schemes and overages".

T-Mobile today announced a new $10 Family Plan, plus it is now offering its customers double the data if they add a tablet to their Simple Choice smartphone plan. Here's how the tablet upgrade works, according to T-Mobile's press release:

"A customer with a Simple Choice smartphone plan with 5 GB of LTE data can add a tablet with another 5 GB of data set aside for use on that tablet, for just $10 per month. That’s a total of up to 10 GB of LTE data. And that’s all on top of the 200 MB of free LTE data every single month for the life of your tablet."

T-Mobile has announced the second part of its new Un-carrier mobile initiative called "Operation Tablet Freedom". Phase one was the company's all new Simple Starter plan that offers unlimited talk, text and up to 500MB 4G LTE data for only $40. The magenta carrier eventually plans to roll out three "initiatives designed to advance the Un-carrier consumer revolution on multiple fronts".

Operation Tablet Freedom is a "full-on assault against the restrictions and pain points that keep tablet owners from experiencing life beyond the Wi-Fi zone," according to John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile.

T-Mobile customers can now upgrade their Wi-Fi tablet to a 4G LTE-enabled model for zero down and pay no more than the original Wi-Fi-only model price. For example, you can nab a 16GB 4G LTE iPad Air for $499, instead of the normal asking price of $630.

If Apple's iPad mini with Retina display is on your holiday shopping list you better buy it right now. The 7.9-inch tablet is heavily back-ordered and shipping times could grow longer as the holidays get closer. As of right now most Apple stores are not offering the cellular model for in-store pickup, and individual carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile are quoting up to 6-8 week delivery times.

Verizon has also pushed its iPad mini shipping date back from November 25 to December 2, and Apple's online store is estimating cellular versions will ship in 5-10 business days from all five major US cellular providers. Meanwhile the Wi-Fi only models are more readily available.

T-Mobile announced its "un-carrier" pricing plans for both the iPad Air and iPad mini 2. The carrier will offer the new Apple tablets on November 1 staring at zero dollars down. T-Mobile will also give every new iPad user 200MB of free 4G LTE data every month for as long as they keep the device.

iPad owners who require more monthly data will be able to choose from T-Mobile's other data options starting at $30. T-Mobile voice customers will have access to T-Mobile's "always-on" iPad plans which start at just $10 a month. You can visit T-Mobile.com for more information on pricing plans.

Back in August, T-Mobile CEO John Legere told AllThingsD that the carrier was looking forward to carrying a "whole array of Apple products" in the future. At the time most people thought Legere was just referring to the unreleased iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, but some speculated that the CEO was also talking about the iPad, and it looks like those people were right.

Legere recently tweeted a link to an article about Apple's upcoming iPad event being held on October 22. Apple is expected to announce the iPad 5 and iPad mini 2 at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco on Tuesday, and Legere's tweet seems to suggest that T-Mobile will carry the next-generation tablets.

After posting its strongest customer growth in 4 years, T-Mobile CEO John Legere told AllThingsD that more Apple products are coming to the T-Mobile network.

“I think there’s a whole array of Apple products that we look forward to carrying,” Legere said. “We will expand what we offer from them.”

Legere is most likely referencing Apple's rumored iPhone 5S and low-cost iPhone 5C, but the second part of his statement could mean a T-Mobile iPad is in the works. T-Mobile was one of the last major U.S. cellular providers to carry Apple's iPhone, and it has worked out well for them. T-Mobile added 1.1 million customers after its iPhone 5 debut, and it also sold 4.3 million total smartphones, with the iPhone making up 29 percent of the sales. Of course a lot of T-Mobile's growth also had to do with Samsung's Galaxy S4, and its new Jump and Simple Choice plans.

T-Mobile announced its plans for the iPhone on Tuesday in New York, but did not mention the iPad. The carrier's "Uncarrier" event was mainly focused on the company's new pricing plans for smartphones rather than upcoming devices. However, T-Mobile did mention it would be offering the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One and BlackBerry Z10 on its newly launched 4G LTE network.

T-Mobile also announced a release date and pricing for the iPhone 4, 4S and 5. Customers can buy any iPhone model without agreeing to a two-year contract. This is how it works: Qualified customers can make a small down payment for an iPhone, then pay off the remaining balance over a two year period. For example, the iPhone 5 from T-Mobile is $100 down with 24 monthly payments of $20. The $20 is added to a person's normal monthly service charge for data. T-Mobile is offering monthly data plans starting at $50/month for 500MB, up to $110/month for 12.5GB. Unfortunately all models are locked until the phone is paid off, however, users can upgrade a device whenever they want by trading it in for "fair market credit".

We know one thing for sure, Apple is going to announce the sixth-generation iPhone tomorrow, September 12, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at 10:00 am. What we don't know is what the new iPhone will be called, and if Apple will also announce the rumored iPad mini or new iPod touch. Here's what we think we know: Judging from the press invite (below) Apple will call the new device the "iPhone 5", not the "new iPhone" like it did with the third-generation iPad. Several reliable sources claim Apple will hold a special iPad mini event a few weeks after tomorrow's announcement, but they will announce a new iPod alongside the iPhone 5.

The new iPod is expected to feature a 4-inch display with a resolution of 1136 x 640, and a more powerful A5 processor. The iPhone is rumored to be 2mm thinner than the iPhone 4S, and to also feature a 4-inch screen. It's unclear if the phone will be powered by a new A6 chip, or the same A5X processor found in the iPad 3. All three devices, and all future Apple products, will feature new smaller dock connectors. Apple will reportedly sell their own branded adapters individually for $10, or three for $29. The iPhone 5 should also be 4G LTE compatible in the US, Canada and in parts of Asia and Europe as well.