“Apple Inc. isn’t acting worried about competition for the iPad,” Adam Satariano reports for Bloomberg.
“Even as rivals such as Amazon.com Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. and Google Inc. introduce tablets at lower prices, Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook went in the opposite direction yesterday,” Satariano reports. “He unveiled a new iPad mini with a high-definition screen that starts at $399, $70 more expensive than last year’s model. Apple also introduced a lighter and thinner design for its larger tablet, renamed iPad Air, starting at the same price of $499.”
“The new iPads follow the debut of the iPhone 5c last month at a heftier price than analysts expected, underscoring how Apple is appealing to the higher end of the market where more profit is made. The Cupertino, California-based company is betting customers see its products as a unique mix of hardware, software and services that are more valuable than lower-cost alternatives,” Satariano reports. “‘You can see from the pricing decision that Apple doesn’t really fear much competition,’ said Benedict Evans, an analyst at Enders Analysis, who attended Apple’s event in downtown San Francisco yesterday.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple products are the gold standard. You get what your pay for. Apple’s prices separate the wheat from the chaff.
Related article:
Newsflash: Apple sells premium products at premium prices to premium customers – October 23, 2012
Most iPad users will no doubt by both models.
I’m considering doing just that. iPad Air for work and ipad mini with retina for leisure and travel.
Me 2……
There are plenty of analysts and pundits who are willing to “speak for Apple” in terms of what the company should or should not do, or to quickly trumpet the “mistakes” that the company has made or is making (or will make). I like to speculate as much as the next Apple enthusiast and is is fun to debate the merits of Apple’s products and design decisions. But at least we veterans do that on this forum with a reasonable clue as to what the company is all about.
Where was I wrong leading up to the latest Apple announcements?
1) I expected Touch ID on the new iPad models. As has been pointed out, this was very possibly a matter of component supply constraints and/or cost of implementation. I believe that the former is more likely because I suspect that Apple wants to propagate that technology (and its associated commercial functional potential) across iOS devices as widely and quickly as possible. I doubt that the cost of the Touch ID sensor alone is large enough to deter Apple from pursuing that goal, even at the sacrifice of some profit margin.
2) I expected the new camera design in the iPhone 5s to make its way into the new iPad models.
3) I expected Apple to hold the line on cost even while upgrading the iPad mini to retina, et. al. I am not saying that the new iPad mini is not worth the higher price, but the narrowed cost delta ($100) certainly pushes me towards towards the new iPad Air very strongly.
4) I expected some different iPad case options rather than just a white/black bezel with silver or grey back.
5) I expected Apple to discontinue the old iPad mini since the design was already somewhat dated (generation behind in the processor) when it was originally introduced last year. In addition, I have seen a number of comments that iOS 7 does not look that good on the old, non-retina iPad mini.
On the plus side, Apple made a lot of other great announcements including a free major OS X update. As far as I am concerned, it is still great to be a Mac (and iOS) user!
Good post that merits discussion.
1. Touch ID is obviously the biggest omission, but I think there is obviously room for an iPad Pro. Touch ID will be a distinguishing feature along with something else. I also wonder if the screen size will be larger. If so, it will require Apple to work on a new SDK
Oops. Wasn’t done.
Apple hasn’t done fragmentation much in the past, but they could conceivably do something like this if they really wanted to. The iPad could be compatible with old iPad apps. They’d just use the extra real estate as a bezel-like black space. I could see them doing something with a larger iPhone as well, although right now the iPhone 5S is the best consumer electronics product ever.
As far as pricing goes. The refurbished prices for the old iPads go really low. Can’t seem to find the old iPads on the iOS Apple Store app though…
They did not mention that the old iPad mini is now being sold at a lower price. With the new iWork and iLife included you would have to pay a lot to get that in Android tablets. Also the pice increase for the new mini is not just for the Retina Display it also includes the 64 bit A7. That is a significant boost in power, and future proof. The fandroids can keep calming the iPad is overpriced, but when you do real comparisons on included apps and performance iPad is a better deal.
Wall Street would still prefer Apple to sell tablets in the Kindle Fire HD price range. They claim that most consumers don’t care whether the case is aluminum or plastic as long as it’s cheap. There isn’t going to be any investors on Wall Street who think a 64-bit processor is of any value to consumers if it costs $50 more and they’re probably right. Only tech-heads care about that sort of stuff. Wall Street only cares about how cheap a product is. Quality and customer service never come into the picture at all. To me, an extra $50 for a decent, trouble-free product over a three-year period is insignificant. I guess investors think that those tablets are going to be replaced every year, but that’s just being short-sighted. When a company is running a solid paid-content ecosystem, the longer the product stays in use the more money the company can make through after-market purchases. I don’t quite understand Wall Street’s attraction to quickly disposable products from an ecological standpoint.
Do I think the iPad is overpriced compared to a Kindle Fire HDX? I’d say yes. However, Amazon’s business model is different and I understand how different businesses are run. The Kindle Fire HDX is nice but I simply like owning Apple products. Of course, in my case, paying a $100 more doesn’t affect me at all. My Apple dividends easily take care of that sort of decision. But possibly for the average consumer it may make more sense to buy a Kindle Fire HDX and use the money they saved for content or food or whatever. Besides, not everyone needs the power of an A7 processor.
The thing is, that A7 processor will soon have some very interesting Apps that will change the way people look at iPads.
MacDailyNews said it best:
“Apple’s prices separate the wheat from the chaff.”
Are you the wheat or are you the chaff?
you are the chaff, just wait and see now that your lot has alienated themselves from the general population after duping them into believing the drivel about government
Go 2014! Go DEMS!