Think this is the world's cheapest 3G tablet

I always found it interesting to see how carriers attempt to take existing products from other (well known) vendors and market them as their own.

So this is not a Lenovo tablet, despite saying so on the back. It's the Vodaphone Smart Tab II.

I would never consider buying electronic gadgets from a company which has no track-record making them, like a cellphone network operator. I want stuff made by Samsung, Asus, etc. People I know have made hardware I like in the past.

Why do carriers persist with this meaningless rebranding? Am I the weird one here?

So why do I buy this over say an iPad mini 3G?

And this is on HN...why?

We are never going to know the tablet's honest-to-goodness price point since it will never be sold without a data plan, so qualifiers such as "cheapest" don't apply.

Does anyone know how much a similar, not-rebadged tablet costs in a Lenovo store?