“Apple, by and large, likes to float above price wars. When people tell Macbook users that they could get a great Windows laptop for half the price, they just sort of stare at them,” Dave Thier writes for Forbes.
“But Apple is trying to extend its tablet dominance into budget territory with the iPad Mini, and price, suddenly, becomes the vital factor,” Thier writes. “The Nexus 7 retails for $199, and the Kindle Fire as low as $159 — $199 for the HD version. Apple wants to be cheaper, but not that cheap. The iPad mini is arriving at $329. So as we get into a tablet buying kind of mood, the question becomes – is the iPad mini $130 better than its competition?”
MacDailyNews Take: It’s worth more than $130, which makes iPad mini a great deal.
Thier writes, “The iPad mini does have LTE support at a higher price point, which the Nexus and Kindle lack. The app store remains a serious advantage – techies may bemoan the walled garden, but others take comfort in a degree of protection from malware. And the sheer quantity of apps specialized for the iPad can’t be beat.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As always, Apple is correct to let the also-rans deal with the market’s bottom-dwellers. Cheapskates do not make great customers. In fact, skinflints make awful customers; they certainly don’t purchase content and apps like Apple product users do.
Let the undiscerning riffraff wallow in crap as usual.
Related article:
Apple debuts 7.9-inch iPad mini; unveils new 4th gen. iPad with 9.7-inch Retina display – October 23, 2012
Yes.
The niggardly do not deserve Apple products.
Is it possible that I could find a strong enough WipeAll and clean you off this planet?
Why would you say such a thing?
Certainly, the niggardly do not deserve Apple products. It’s self-evident.
Would you say the word out loud in “polite company”? I think not and if you did you would feel real uncomfortable with the silence that follows.
Of course I would. Why wouldn’t I?
I pity the niggardly. The niggardly are not worth one second of my time.
Political correctness, especially such wrongheaded, uneducated political correctness as you are displaying, is a cancer.
In closing, fuck you hard. Stop being so niggardly about what you deign to allow others to express.
@Superior Being,
I salute you and your fearless ways!
Thank you for not being niggardly with your praise!
LOL… damned with faint praise.
Yep, a throwback to the 19th century. A mint julep in hand and a plantation full of slaves.
I really doubt if you would. As a matter of fact, it is what I would expect from members of the aryan nation in a group.
Political correctness my ass. Nobody even talks like that any more. I guess you are old school.
Sheesh.
@Karen
Your salute isn’t very becoming.
You shouldn’t be so quick to espouse ignorance… Nobody talks like that anymore? Notice the date of the story in the link I provided? March 2012. Not too long ago.
Also, have you ever had a mint julep? Don’t knock it until you try it. While you are at it, try some boiled peanuts!
http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/democrats-sherrod-brown-uses-the-word-niggardly-on-msnbc-no-outrage-from-the-left-video/
I never espoused ignorance. Thank you for that backhanded slur.
I am 60 years old and have NEVER heard anyone use that word in normal conversation.
Let me say this. I have heard “code words” used by some. Words that “normally” do not have negative connotations.
Based on “history”, how often the word is really used, my perception of how it would be received in “polite company”, I made my comment. That does not make me ignorant.
LOL… crazy white people.
@ CitizenX
look up what the word means, before looking ignorant. It’s not a racist word! However, with your own comment about White People, you here are the racist one.
I know what the word means. Crazy white people. Do you even know what it means? I thought not. It is no more offensive that niggardly.
You are a racist and ignorant prick. But thank you for sharing! 🙂
And you are a c**k whore. How does it feel to trade unbased slurs against one another?
Oh wait. Yours is based on your all encompassing intelligence and logic and I am just a racist.
I am glad that you know the mind of those you have not met. Even better you a so wise you can make judgements from afar. You can even ignore the lessons of history to make a judgement of me and my experience.
I salute your command of the English language; people, it’s not an offensive word, look it up in the dictionary first, before complaining !!
Yes Citizen x, it would draw stares and silence, incorrectly of course.
From Wiki.
“Niggardly” (noun: “niggard”) is an adjective meaning “stingy” or “miserly”, perhaps related to the Old Norse verb nigla = “to fuss about small matters”. It is cognate with “niggling”, meaning “petty” or “unimportant”, as in “the niggling details”.
Awwwww, don’t fog the issue with yer etymological minutiae.
@eldernorm
if I’m not mistaken, you’ve been coming here maybe as long as I have, 10+ years now. we all know that this is not the first time Superior Being has trotted out the “niggardly” descriptor. SB knows what happens every time. it’s bait—for when he sometimes feels small and lonely. he knows someone will mistake niggardly as a racial slur. he waits for someone to fall for the trap. then when he corrects them (or someone else finally does), SB is rewarded with the glory of feeling as though he’s a Superior Being? I guess??
people are so funny.
@muddygun: Try looking up the definition before you assume the meaning.
@Bizlaw
I am clear on what the definition is in the Webster Dictionary. But a book doesn’t tell society what to think, the society decides it for themselves.
WTF are you mumbling about? Lemme guess, you’re an Obama-voter?
Give it a rest
f2010, I hope you go back into your hole after the election. Never seen so much hate coming from 1 person
Don’t confuse disagreement with “hate.” You Obama-voters, not too bright, obviously, often succumb to such confusion.
If thoughts could kill, I venture you’d be a mass-murderer. Everything you write says more about you than your targets. It speaks volumes, in fact. Your immaturity is very apparent. Perhaps you might find some model elders within your tribe whom to emulate?
Society is an idiot!
Contrary to popular belief and what is being taught in schools these days, there is a difference between opinion and fact. The accepted definition of the word, as published in the dictionary is a fact. Opinions are of varying qualities. Again, contrary to popular belief, some opinions are better than others. Your opinion about what the word means is interesting, but of little value. You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.
@muddygun
You may not, however, be aware that the two words have nothing to do with each other. They just happen to sound similar.
“In the United States, there have been several controversies concerning the word “niggardly,” an adjective meaning “stingy” or “miserly,” due to its phonetic similarity to the racial slur “nigger.” The two words are etymologically unrelated.”
Let’s not get lost in Romnesia or semantics. It’s clear and obvious by subsequent statements that the intent, the implication gives whatever word(s) used a dual layer of meaning. Using the word and then politicizing the discussion in relation to President Obama surely reveals the person and persons underneath the masks.
Making a non racist term into racism is a typical tactic of the most racist group in my lifetime: the race baiting leftist politically correct Salem witch hunters of the modern era.
McCarthy who was fighting an actual threat that got actual nuclear weapons and actually aimed them at us is a modern liberal symbol of “thought police”. When in fact you, and ignorant and intolerant liberals like you are far more oppressive and terrifying than McCarthy ever was.
Political correctness and turning words like apartment, and ‘binders’ into sexist and racist words is the most disgusting and offensive and oppressive social movement in my lifetime.
The Soviets “got actual nuclear weapons and actually aimed them at (you)” Do you think it would have anything to do with the fact that you already had nuclear weapons and had already used them on somebody? Did you ever think that the rest of the world might rightfully be living in fear of YOU? You are biggest aggressors on the world stage, and the rest of us aren’t even allowed to act defensively without you shooting first and asking questions later.
HUYA….December 7, 1941. Now stfu.
niggardly |ˈnigərdlē|
adjective often offensive
not generous; stingy : serving out the rations with a niggardly hand.
• meager; scanty : their share is a niggardly 2.7 percent.
adverb archaic
in a stingy or meager manner
It’s still Associated with a word that carries a lot of hate…
Say what you will though, that’s the beautiful thing about America, free speech.
It is NOT associated AT ALL. It has middle-English roots and is no way related to the derogatory slang term. Nor does it carry one iota of hate. Ridiculous. Now, you may CHOOSE to make that connection, and most people in the States do, and choose not use the word. But it is entirely wrong to immediately equating a person using that word to a racist/bigot. THAT is a truly ignorant thing to do.
No, in reality, in the real world, it is not. The semantic bullshit arguments being made about this issue are fucking ridiculous. superior being knew how his comment would be misinterpreted, which clearly makes him a total fucking douchebag. please don’t stray into his territory.
In the real world, the phrase “no, in reality, in the real world” is nauseatingly redundant.
SB said:
NiggArdly — meaning ‘tightwad’.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/niggardly
He did NOT say, ‘NiggErdly’.
Get your mind out of the gutter, you racist.
I’m hardly stingy. If I was going to buy one, I’d buy the 64Gb w/cellular, which is $659. I have a 16Gb iPad 2 w/Wi-Fi, and HATE it. (It was a present. I had bought the original iPad at 64Gb w/cell.) 16Gb is NOT enough space. And at that price, what’s the point? Might as well get a full sized one.
No, $329 is too much because it gives Android breathing room. And Android must die.
Now you have hit the nail on the head.
Good points. It does seem that $329 is high. I guess Apple knows what’s it doing? But I think MDN’s arrogant comment about bottom dwellers is rather rude. One’s economic stance in life is not always their own doing. The last thing I ever am is a thin skinned goody two shoes liberal. Having said that, it’s pretty obvious that M D N is using cheapskate and skinflints to justify Apple’s $329 pricing point. MDN is probably as surprised and unhappy as most. But it’s easier to act like Apple does every thing right rather than to be objective.
I always thought ‘bottom-dwellers’ was more a frame of mind/attitude, than an actual social or economic position.
ie:
People who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing!
Now,now, that’s not nice. Besides there is no iPad Mini, because Derek Currie said Apple will not produce it. So you must be talking about all the other Apple products?
Yes, we will all wake up and it will have been a bad dream… 😉
The niggardly are smart shoppers and money wise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_%22niggardly%22
Apparently Citizen X is not a Mac user. If he was, he would of looked “niggardly” up in the Mac dictionary and learned that “niggardly”, while it sounds like the other controversial “N” word, is totally unrelated in etymology, and in root meaning.
Illiteracy rule the day again, unfortunately.
Apparently Necorn99 is not an intelligent human being. There, I made and uniformed comment. Aren’t you proud of me.
Not a Mac user. Well, I met Jobs in 82,83. Gates and Adam Osborne. I was probably the first salesman not employed by Apple to sell more than a Million dollars worth of Apple equipment to the education market. That enough Apple history for you? Maybe you would have liked to be at our Mac introduction the day after the Super Bowl where it was announced. We rented a big screen TV to show the 1984 commercial. Our customers loved it.
You don’t know me punk. You don’t know what I have done or where I have been.
I know what “niggardly” means. Get off of your high horse because it is not becoming with that foot up your ass.
Spare me. The fact is nobody, ok, I will change that to rarely does anyone use that word. There are actually better words that can be used.
Citizen X…
This link connects to an explanation of you:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19
Enjoy, F-wad.
Really? I see what you did there. They call it projection. Or maybe the pot calling the kettle black. After all, you are the anonymous one, not me. Don’t you see how silly, no wait, how stupid you look pretending I am doing what you are doing? After all, I am the one that is registered with a picture and a web page. I don’t really update it or anything but again, I am the one registered.
Pot meet kettle. I bet it has been awhile since you’ve seen the light of day so I’ll let you ignorance pass.
Can you say FAIL? I knew you could. Go back to 4chan and fap your way to some intelligence punk.
You idiot! How dare you use such language.
Still I can’t be too angry. After all, it’s not your fault your Mother and sister are the same person.
When I see someone with a non-Apple tablet, I view them the same as when I see someone lugging around a non-Apple laptop or driving a car with an Obama 2012 bumper sticker: as a threat to the gene pool.
Right there with you, except for the bumper stick bit, which your insufficient brain capacity has managed to interpret backwards.
If you weren’t such a blind party loyalist, and actually used logic and reason to decide the best candidate you’d see that an out of touch women-hating millionaire, with an abysmal business record (albeit a stellar gambling record), with severe flip-flop issues brought about by a healthy dose of Romnesia would be the worst thing to happen to this country since Bush II. You do remember how that administration left things, don’t you?
Woman-hating? Out-of-touch? Seriously?
Do you actually believe that bullshit?
Go ahead now, tell me all about “binders” as you get buried in a landslide.
Well, not believing that would mean I couldn’t believe the words coming out of Romney’s own mouth. I suppose there is some merit to that argument, as he changes his pitch up every other day.
Oh – and his woman-hating goes way beyond the whole binders gaffe. That was merely a punchline to a long, unfunny joke.
Please read this. I’d be interested in hearing what you think of it.
Ok, and while I read that, you read this:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/10/14/david-stockman-mitt-romney-and-the-bain-drain.html
After the last 4 years, I’ll take a “master” in pretty much anything. It’ll be a welcome change.
Romney didn’t create the system and it’s nice to know he’s smart enough to have profited handsomely from it. What did Obama do, except to get escorted into a job he has proven he cannot handle (Libya, Egypt, Iran, unemployment, etc.) by a corrupt media?
And what of Romney’s service to the Olympics? Or his exemplary family life? Of his lack of background in dealing in and taking illegal street drugs, including cocaine?
And Stockman is an indicted fraud.
@F2010 – But you conveniently ignore that Romney and his gang ran Bain & Co. into the ground, requiring a $38mm bailout from the FDIC. Then Romney restructured the debt to reduce it by $10mm using the threat of liquidation if the Government didn’t take the haircut. Out of that mess grew Bain Capital. Not only that, but as Governor of MA Romney increased the state’s deficit by $2.6B and he left the state with over $1B in debt – more per capita than any other state in the country. And he lied about the true extent of the debt during the election campaigns for his successor. Two years into his term his approval rating was 34% – ranking 48th out of 50. The Dem contender beat Romney’s hand picked Republican choice to succeed him by 20 points. And all of this is just about his supposed financial expertise. Nothing to do with his interminable flip-flopping on almost every issue there is. And you call him a “master”??? Seriously!?!?!
joebloggs,
I didn’t call him a “master.” Stockman did. Hence the quotation marks.
Wow, what planet do you live on? There are cold hard numbers to support the position that the economy is in better shape now than it was at the end of the Bush II administration. Obama has done an admirable job cleaning up the mess the neglectful and reckless Mr Bush left. He would’ve accomplished a great deal more had the obstructionist Congress of 2010 not forgotten that their mandate is in looking out for the best interests of the people they represent instead of some imaginary (R) vs (D) scoreboard. Compromise and working together to solve problems are the only way we’re ever going to improve and advance ourselves, something Congress either seems to have forgotten or has intentionally laid aside in an attempt to poison public opinion against the Obama so they can get one of their own back into the Oval Office.
Regardless, it’s a pretty sad state of affairs that so many are so obsessed with party allegiances that they put blinders on, ignoring reality at every turn, wanting nothing more than the (R) or (D) to win without any regard for the merits of that individual.
The sad thing is, the Republicans could have and should have courted a more suitable candidate. The one they chose is an absolute disaster of a human being. He’s contradicted himself at every turn making him come off as a ‘say what they want to hear’ kind of guy. When he has been candid, the things that have come out of his mouth have been horrible. He made his fortune by destroying businesses and milking the carcasses for everything they were worth, costing thousands of jobs in the process. What jobs were left, he shipped overseas. I have yet to hear of a single thing he’s done that was of any benefit to anyone other than himself or his peer group. He is not fit to represent the hardworking backbone of this country.
As for your suggested reading, I think its much ado about nothing. That the man can crack a joke and demonstrate that he is an ‘everyman’ is a strength. Couple that with the fact that the biggest thing you could throw at me as an argument for Romney was an indictment on his sense of humor only speaks volumes to support my position that Obama is a better human being, and by extension, a better choice to lead.
http://youtu.be/_2nupmbvlEo
The symptoms of Romnesia are similar to Fandroid syndrome:
1- Denial of facts.
2- Convenient lack of memory.
3- Poor results.
As with “binders” and other such transparent silliness, the cause of “Romnesia” is desperation as the Obama admin panics over internal polling that has to look at least as bad for them as what I’m seeing over here.
Nope. Romnesia is just a playful term to describe what happens when Romney changes his story so many times that he can’t remember what he said to who. He’s a pathological flip-flopper – he just says whatever he thinks his audience wants to hear at any time. It’s documented that in the last 30 weeks he’s lied or misstated the facts over 533 times. But what happens if he wins and has to make a decision that he has to stick with? Or gets called out by a world leader in his lies?
Landslide…? Now that’s a fantasy…
Agreed, It’s not even in the same league as the $199 devices.. All one has to do is watch the video to discern that..
So yes, It’s $130 more than the cheapest product, but it’s $170 less than the base full size iPad – which *IS* the market leader.
This thing will sell like hot cakes.
Yes… It’s basically the SAME as the iPad 2, except that it is HALF the weight. The screen is physically smaller, but it shows exactly the same content. That is amazing! HALF the weight!
It should be priced at $399, because if an iPad 2 is worth $399, the iPad mini is worth at least as much. Instead, it has a $70 discount. What a deal…!
Next year, I think the pricing will be different and less awkward:
The “latest and greatest” big iPad – $499 and up
Last year’s big iPad (current Retina Display model) – $399
iPad mini (still 1024×768 resolution) – $299
iPod touch (4-inch screen) – less than $299
This year, the iPad mini is sort of caught between the iPod touch and iPad 2, for pricing.
Apple didn’t debut an innovative product. Today they debuted a clone which is inferior to the vast majority of products it’s attempting to copy.
Actually it’s only $70 less than the iPad 2,to which it most closely compares. And it’s somewhat larger than it’s 7″ Android competition. I’m not sure what I think of this yet. Will have to play with one to really see, but right now I’m thinking I’d take the iPad 2 over this. Or maybe even a Nexus 7. Hmmm.
Ummm, in case you forgot.. APPLE CREATED THE PRODUCT AND THE MARKET!!!
Everyone else has copied Apple.
“Is Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad mini too expensive, when compared to a piece of plastic?”
Invest your money, don’t just spend it.
No…it is not about price…just fitting my need.
I’ll bet we really need to hold it to understand how desirable it is. My guess is that the size is going to be extremely sexy for a LOT of people. iPads are fricking heavy. And large. The mini is going to hit a serious sweet spot. Eventually it will go retina, making it even sweeter more irresistable.
My 2c opinion!
May be Apple is holding the release of 8GB for $250.00 depending on the fan’s reaction to the price of 16GB for $329.00!
Who knows?
No, iPad mini is not expensive at $329.
Listen, iPad mini is not a dumbed-down, tiny screen, consumption-only tablet.
“Apple wants to be cheaper” This is what people don’t understand and people like Dave Thier won’t ever get it.
Hey Dave, Apple does NOT want to be cheaper, it’s not part of their strategy.
Apple regularly creates the best product first and then finds the best price to offer it.
Whoever thinks iPad mini is expensive or pricey has no clue of what they get for the price.
It’s easier to lower prices… and wouldn’t be the first time Apple has done so.
The iPad mini will be $235 when the iPad mini2 comes along.
Let the Apple is too expensive bashing begin.
If people are going to buy ipad mini, then who will buy ipad 3, 4????? LOL 😉
Apple is going to lose money. 😉
People who prefer a larger screen and more power, moron?
Yes! You are right Moron !!….LOL
You are an Asshole. You won’t understand.
😉
These apple fans are really assholes. They are going to kill apple’s earnings.
YES!
$299 sounds so much better. They’re $30 away from it. Interesting price point.
Agreed that $299 sounds better but when you say it’s $30 more than that it sounds trivial. Glad i like the full size so the mini hasn’t bearing for me. Tough call though If you just read and email. Not going to win over the basic users.
+1
Agree. $299 would have been much, much better.
$329 just invites anyone on the fence to get an Android tablet and lets the “reporters” as well as the Fandroids bash Apple for robbing people on old technology (the A5 is two generations back and the screen is the equivalent of three generations back).
When you sell 20M units, for example, $30 per unit amounts to $600M gross. That’s money, even to Apple. Over time, the difference could amount to billions.
It is also worth keeping in mind that people like to see prices drop, not rise. At $329, Apple positions the iPad mini as a high-quality (dare I say ‘premium’?) product unencumbered by embedded advertisements and fully integrated into the Apple iOS ecosystem. That price point leaves room for Apple to adjust slightly downward if management sees the need to do so. It will not surprise me if the iPad mini price declines to $299 in a year, at the next release (A6-family processor, etc.).
No doubt it is worth the 329. But 299 would have been much better. A little less for Apple but much better optics. Now some people will buy the terrible Nexus or so because it’s so cheap.
As MDN stated so clearly above: Apple doesn’t want those type of users and neither should Apple product users, as the end result = Dell.
I think Apple cares about every customer.
Yes, every Apple customer.
There are certain types of buyers that Apple has never catered to and hopefully never will as it would degrade the experience for all of us who are smart enough to purchase Apple products.
Really? I’ve been an Apple user for 30 years. Funny, I never felt that I was better than everyone else. You must be special?
Oh come on. If you want to go mountain biking, don’t buy a bike at WalMart. It’s nothing to do with thinking one is better; it’s to do with quality of experience. Apple has no obligation to produce the equivalent of a WalMart “mountain bike” — or a $400 plastic Dell.
They are “Special”. Nudge, Nudge, Say no more!
Macintosh!
The Computer For The Rest Of Us!
Last time I checked, Apple accepts the money of anyone who wants to buy. Take your faux elite nonsense somewhere else.
BTW- Just came from early voting- stood in line about 90 minutes and the Willard RobbedMe voters were sporting Fandroid phones and Focus on the Famdamily Voter Guides.
This sounds like loser talk to me. Don’t worry AP, even though it looks like Obama is going down in flames, everyone, including Obama voters will immediately benefit starting November 7th. Look for oil speculators to start divesting and for gas prices to immediately start dropping with Romney in the WH. Natural as day follows night.
Less oil money going to the Saudis and more to American oil companies and SUV mfgs means more jobs and eventually more people who can afford the iPad Mini. I know quite a few folks (as O likes to call them) who would love to own an Apple device but the economy doesn’t allow it. I look for Apple to start selling these like hotcakes this Christmas.
But the 32GB iPod touch is already priced at $299; the products lines had to retain some distinctions.
Expect that to drop next year to $249. You will notice that Apple didn’t outline the actual sales of the touch. They will keep it a lower-priced entry into the iPhone ecosystem.
A 9% price cut to get down to $299 is not chump change.
Once they’ve sold 40 million, it’ll be easy to sell it for $239 or $100 less than the iPad mini 2.
A year down the line, Mini One might be $50 less then Mini Two, but I do not see $100 less. That is a much larger percentage at this price.
NO. I’m a firm believer of …. You get what you pay for.
But it doesn’t have a kickstand that sounds like an expensive car door….
They said the iPad originally would not sell. And what a deal over an iPod touch which they sell a ton of.
Too expensive for what is on the inside.
However, it is still a far superior tablet to the other wannabes.
Waiting for the next one. Happy with my iPad(3).
I’m with you. I love my iPad three. I don’t need the mini but would have probably picked one up had it been $249. $299 would have really been a sweet spot for sales but apparently not margins. Too bad. Certainly could’ve sold a lot more at $299. I would’ve liked to have seen the mini take a big chunk out of the cheaper tablets. Apparently the street and a lot of reviewers are a little bit critical of the entry price. But in the end all that matters is how many they can sell. We should have a pretty good grasp of that by January. The first couple of months will see sales by the Apple faithful. After that it’s the rest of the world. We’ll see.
Yes x3
No, the pricing is fine. The Nexus 7 and Kindle fire are sold at a loss. That scheme is not sustainable.
I’d be interested to know what the margins are on all these small tablets. I suspect Apple’s margins are in line with their usual, which is usually really good. I also agree that Google and Amazon are willing to sell at break-even or below. However, does anyone know the actual figures on the Nexus and Kindle Fire?
With regard to whether that scheme is sustainable, not sure I agree with you for these two products. Google and Amazon both centrally profit off people using their search engine and store, respectively. Apple does profit from App sales and media sales, but they derive profit more from hardware. However, you could be right that eventually Nexus and Kindles will rise in price.
No but the CUSTOMER wins.
Nope it’s the price for a great product.
If price is worrying you then you’re not an apple customer.
People who buy apple products don’t buy on price. They buy on value.
Value means, great award winning design, intuitive user experience and a technology as software ecosystem that is the envy of every apple competitor around the world.
That alone is priceless.
VALUE? Yeah, that’s what I used to think.
But now my old new iPad that’s not even 7 months old and cost almost $1000 with AppleCare is OBSOLETE! Poof. Gone. Disappeared. Like it never even happend.
Value? Not so much.
Does it still work? Do you still actually need it in the first place? Does it perform as needed for the functions it was purchased for?
Then the value is not zero. Grow up, spoiled first world rich kid!
macaholic, if there’s a spoiled first world rich kid attitude, Petey expressed it, not SuzieQ:
“If price is worrying you then you’re not an apple customer.”
You have got to be kidding! The science of technology moves forward. We would complain if it didn’t. By the way, I have a 2007 MacBook Pro which is far from worthless. I even have an iBook and one of the original iMacs which still work and could be used for a lot of computing tasks if I didn’t have last year’s iMac and that 2007 laptop. If you want the latest and greatest you have to live with innovation.
It passed the wife test.
It’s a go…
I repeat IT’S A GO…
$299 would have been a great price point. I’m guessing Apple considered this and went on with the price they selected. And I agree, the person that would go $100 and not $130 isn’t the customer that Apple is trying to reach.
“Let the undiscerning riffraff wallow in crap as usual.”
Exactly!
Stated perfectly. Thank you.
$329 is too expensive for a model that is meant to compete with something like the Nexus tablets. Yes, the Mini is comparable to the iPad 2 but why would I spend this amount on a Mini when I could spend a little more for a full sized iPad 2?
I was really considering one of these as the tablet I have now (HP Touchpad, I still contend webos is the second best mobile os after iOS) is getting long in the tooth. For $329 though its out of the question. $249-$279 would be the optimal price point for higher end 7-8 inch tablets. Apple missed it here. There’s a whole market available of people who either want a tablet and can’t afford $499 or people who want a tablet but are unsure and unwilling to pay $499. Apple easily could have reached that market with this device. Think about it: a parent gets their kid a Mini at a relatively affordable price point. The parent decides they like the platform and gets a full sized version for him or herself.
I suppose one could wait till next year and pick it up for $229.00
It’s too expensive for the price point it is trying to meet. Sorry, you’re in budget territory here. It doesn’t matter what features are included when you are trying to hit a price point. Needs to be $100 less to make a difference.
I think it’s not just about budget or price here. It’s about giving a strong slap to your adversary to tell who’s the boss here. It won’t bring him down but it will weak his knees, giving you new chances to slap him again and again and again until you’re filled up with so much pleasure or he comes down by his own weight.
Tough call, still leaves a price umbrella. My gut says they lower it to $299 in 9 months
That would be good.
Considering Apple legacy pricing, and not knowing production costs, $329 simply strikes me as an odd number.
$329 is an odd number. $329.00 is an even number, if you consider it to two decimal places. Af course, if Apple was given to pricing in cents, it would most likely be 329.99, which would, again, be an odd number.
NO. If you don’t like the price, don’t buy it, but quit bitching about it. Just go buy a crap android tab instead, whiners. And don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Well ber ordering 10 on Friday.
Ummm… the 8GB Nexus is $199… the 16GB is $249….
Let’s compare the correct prices.
That is quite true. But NO ONE will see that. The big, bold, flashing part of the ads will be “Starts at $199” — with the “Starts at” in small letters and “$199” in large — on all the crappy Android 7 inchers, while Apple will have “Starts at $329”. Doesn’t matter that the $329 model has twice the storage and tons more functionality.
Keep in mind that the $30 deduction to get to the $299 price point is a 10% deduction in margins. That is a game Apple refuses to play.
Yes, but it’s possible that $299 is a sweet spot and Apple could have sold many more…possibly.
Wall Street loves the iPad mini, but hates the price. Stock market wanted nothing over $250, and so AAPL got punished today. Wall Street has been wrong before, frequently.
If Apple sells all they can produce, then the price was either right or too low. If supply exceeds demand, the price is too high. It is that simple. It does not make any difference how many Google, etc. sells or the price they sell at.
Just wait till Black friday when its 10% off
The issue with the iPad mini is how you view it–if you see it as a way to measurably increase the pool of iPad buyers while fitting in with the existing pricing ladder, then it makes sense. The idea is someone looking at a $199 iPod touch might say, hey for $100 more I can get the new touch…but for $30 more I can get an iPad…but for $70 more I can get a full sized iPad….but for another $100 I can get the new iPad 4.
Makes sense, but is just about the laziest, fat, overly conservative marketing department driven decision that could have been made. Not indefensible, just very very lazy, boring, unaggressive and risk averse–the Obama first debate version of what to do.
At $329 the mini slots into the other iproducts but is mainly there to get people in that can then be shunted to the $399 or $499 models.
But the mini doesn’t really do anything to android–in fact, it leaves apple offering a smaller screen than amazon for more money.
At $249 the mini would have ruled the Christmas season and the main question would be how much supply would limit sales through December. It also would have made sure that 7 inch android pads remained a fragmented minority.
At $199 the android tablet market would have no longer existed.
So apple delivered a nice product when it could have unloaded an atom bomb.
Tim Cook is starting to look like the Bernie kosar of CEOs–someone just good enough to make you wish you has someone excellent.
As MacDailyNews stated: “Let the undiscerning riffraff wallow in crap as usual.”
And as SB wrote above: “The niggardly do not deserve Apple products.”
I think they had to price it above the iPod touch to prevent cannibalization. The base iPod Touch costs 299. Compared to the Touch, it’s a huge improvement for an extra $30. Less memory, but better display. It would have been hard to price it below the Touch. I was considering Touches for my kids this Christmas. Now I’ll seriously consider the mini.
Exactly my thought – much better deal than iPod touch and they will sell all they can make of these.. Wall Street does’t know shit…
I say, let’s ask the question again after the 5 millionth is sold, say in mid-December (just guessing here) 😀
I agree Apple shouldn’t go after the bottom dwellers, and I don’t know the pricing / cost models, but it sure would have been nice to see the iPad mini at $299.
Apple will sell out current production in 48 minutes. Price is fine.
Tired of hearing about so many disappointed analysts. The analysts forget their place some times – you read the news, not make the news. Writing that you think it should be priced at less than 300 does not make that the best choice for Apple who have to position this with other products. When have you been right about anything anyway?
Hate defending them, but no–analysts do not merely read the news and write it up. That’s the reporter’s job. An analyst’s job is not regurgitate details, it’s to provide analysis of them and write up the results.
Doesn’t matter that half the time they don’t know jack and are wrong. Their track record is no better or worse than economists and weather forecasters, and at least the weather has nearly infinite variables.
“But Apple is trying to extend its tablet dominance into budget territory with the iPad Mini”
Who said Apple was trying to move into budget territory?
According to what I heard from the keynote, it sounded like they made it smaller so that it could be used in applications that the current iPad might be too big or cumbersome for.
Just wait until people pick it up and compare it to the Kindle, Nook, etc. No question they’ll pay more.
Plus, remember places like Walmart and Target don’t even carry Kindles any more because they’re pissed at the competition from Amazon.
It’s better to pay a little more for something that will do the job than to pay less for something that is essentially worthless!
The price point is right on, and the others are missing the Camera – 5MP back and 720- front.
Now that’s just one point, look at it this way of some are so inclined to stick to the 30.00$ point.
Would prefer Aluminum and Glass compared to Plastic and its worh the 30.00$.
Even thinner then the others and lighter!!!
😉
I think Apple knows how to price their products. When the first iPod came out I thought that very few people would buy one because who would pay $299 to $499 for an MP3 player? I thought Steve Jobs was overreaching. Many users will really like the new iPad size. One guy wrote ” my wife won’t carry an iPad but the mini will fit in her purse”. Portability is a valued feature.
I think the article is on target. And, apparently, so do AAPL sellers. We’ll see what happens.
They will eventually lower the price (or price per GB), but they’ll sell more than they can keep up with for this holiday season. I actually think it’s a great size.
$30 more than I expected, but no, not too expensive. Psychologically speaking, $299 would have been a better price point.
$30 is nothing.
Geez.
It’s a less expensive iPad… That’s all certain people need to hear… Parents will buy got their kids, because the Kids want an iPad… But the bottom line is…it’s an iPad for $329… Not, and I quote my kid, “a fake iPad or old people’s book reader”…. Young people are not constrained by budget, specs, configurability etc … They want the tablet everyone knows is best… Dad… I want an iPad.
If they had priced it with the nexus they wouldn’t be able to keep up with demand. They were smart to price it at this point. Just above the 299- iPod Touch. People want everything for nothing. if you want to pay under 200 then you should get an android. The only thing that is priced too high are the RAM tiers. Apple makes a killing on those. If anything should come down it should be the cost of the 32 or 64 over the 16.
$250 would have worked. Apple needs to kill android tablets before they get any traction and developers start developing for them. Really stupid to not do this as a loss leader. iPods were/are competitive, so should iPads.
If the product sells at 329 and it will, why would Apple sell for 250.
The ipad mine is $130 dearer then some shit from amazon, why are people even debating this non issue. I will gladly pay the bargain $130 extra for a solid tablet and be done with it. The other non ipad killers are cheaper and you will get what u pay for, as in get shit
“Let the undiscerning riffraff wallow in crap as usual.”
Took the words right out of my mouth.
In 6-12 months I suspect we might see the iPod Touch drop $50.00 and the iPad Mini drop $30.00.
Okay, new products from Apple. Time to start trying to destroy the company again! Whee!, don’t the big mouths love to spew vitriol? When you’re born to hate that’s all you’ve got to live for!
I’m gonna go out on a limb and take a wild guess that Apple understands the market, margins, competition, etc and priced this EXACTLY where it should be. The cheapskates who buy the cheapest tablets will still buy the cheapest ones so pricing at $299 won’t make much of a difference. Maybe Apple doesn’t want these folks as customers since they won’t spend much or any money on apps or iTunes anyway.
Yes. I am afraid it is. When placed next to the Nexus 7, the screen is a total let down. I am totally stunned that Apple would tout this for textbooks and books in general without making a display with superior resolution. Based solely on this, the price is too much.
I am disappointed because I planned on buying two of these for my kids to replace their Kindles and iPod Touches. But we will have to wait for version 2 … maybe.
The readability for books on the iPad2 is not beneficial for long term reading. I read the Steve Jobs biography with it, but had to switch to the Kindle because of eye strain. The Retinal Display was really needed for this to take off with that price in mind.
You know you can change the font you’re reading in ibooks to help you read the books you know.
Just checked the pricing of the iPod touch compared to the iPad mini and ive come to the conclusion that the price of the iPad mini is exactly correct.
iPod touch 32gb : £249
iPad mini 16gb : £269
There’s no way that the iPad mini could be £199 unless Apple reduced the price of the 32gb iPod to £129
If Apple had priced the iPad mini the same price as the iPod touch at £249 that would have cannibalised sales of the iPod touch.
The pricing they have given for the iPad mini is exactly the right price point and wont cannibalise iPod sales.
Apple are very clever indeed.
“But Apple is trying to extend its tablet dominance into budget territory with the iPad Mini”
No, it’s not. It’s trying to break into the “I want a smaller iPad” market, where cost is not the real reason, but rather a smaller, lighter device is the factor driving demand.
…PRICE IS RIGHT?
The mainstream press seem to have made their minds up that US$329 / £269 is way to expensive versus the Android tablets.
It should not have been over $299. I assume Apple’s costs are about $200, just like the Nexus 7. If that’s true, it should have been priced $279, resulting in gross margin of 40%–still very good.
Yes, the iPad mini is too expensive. Period.
I think you mean – Sh*t people who don’t like Apple Fanatics Say.
But if you’re an Apple Fanatic and that’s your opinion of Apple’s pricing, carry on.
Not too expensive (for Apple)
No more expensive than the iPhone 5 is compared with any other smartphone
They only make premium products – so why should this one be any different ? They dont let others use their OS and that one factor puts all the other hardware into the ‘e-reader+’ catagory and not the tablet one. For me its the cellular option that will make this the next killer product.
What does Apple know about pricing. They have only built the most valuable company in the world.
This will make a nice camera and wow that viewfinder – Kids will be making their skateboarding videos like crazy and then edit them on the device itself – they could have sold for $399
re: The MDN take. People wonder why Apple users have a reputation for being elitist and snobby… please don’t perpetuate this garbage.
You’re simply missing MDN’s point.
then the price is right.
apple is often constrained with the numbers they can build. If the can only build X numbers and know that X number want to buy them at 329 then the price is right.
when production catches up then (as usually the case like Macbook Air, original iPhone etc) they can lower the price.
Bottom line is, you get what you pay for, people that buy Apple know what I mean, and the rest, well, the rest will buy cheap crap and wallow in it, then wonder why we make fun of them.
Yes, Sub $300 would be the sweet spot, they’d sell a ton of them.
MDN, I hope I am discerning RiffRaff!
It’s the smart business decision with the long-term in mind. Apple can always adjust the pricing later as time goes by and newer models with better specs are released. These will sell like hot cakes to the hardcore fans and early adopters anyway and Apple gets to retain their margins. It’s better to play from the position of strength that Apple has.
They can always nudge the price down, but NEVER up. Wiggle room.
For me, the price dissuades me from getting it. It’s not that I can’t afford it, but with my MacBook Air 11″ for carrying around – with full OSX capability – any iPad is not really that needed for my purposes. So if the price was nice, I would have gotten it simply because it was at a no-brainer price — but at the current price, no thanks. Also, for sitting on a sofa or lying in bed, I find the 11″ MacBook Air a far more convenient consumption device than the iPad – and there are iPads in our household which I could use if I wanted to, but I always reach for my MacBook Air 11″. You never know when you have to switch from web browsing to send a quick email – and the 11″ Air’s keyboard is soooo much better than typing on glass.
So we got some juvenile little pigs here…
They should have lowered the new Touch to 249 and price it at 299.
of course, it is over price. don’t you even know? how can apple compete with amazon, google? they can’t unfortunately. they were forecasting in wrong time, wrong market. comparing to new ipod touch, every spec is just inferior excepted screen size. there is no reason to buy it. however it wasn’t coincident that APPL fell more than $20 one day. after releasing new product, apple stock didn’t fall deeply. it means something. apple is falling with no more innovation.
Apple’s margins tend to run around 40%. At $329 that’s just over $130 profit. For the sake of easier numbers, pretend they knocked off $65 to bring it to $264. Straight off they’ve halved their profit on each machine. They now have to sell double the amount to make the same money. Yes, economies of scale could come in, and they could make a little more on each one and so on, but no that much. Reducing the price doesn’t make sense on a product that all signs say will sell well. Now if iPad sales stay consistent, but the mini isn’t as good they could consider it, but they then run the risk of cannibalising iPad sales, which again won’t benefit them.
People who are looking for a cheap tablet are only going to not buy one and get an iPad if they’re basically the same price. There’s no point in Apple trying to get those customers. They’d make no money off them, and they won’t spend more down the line. In a sense, they’d rather lumber other companies with them.
The only way Apple could have made it economically worthwhile to compete with these cheaper devices is to make the iPad mini worse, use an A4 chip, smaller screen, smaller battery, etc. That would likely cannibalise some of their sales, lumber them with customers who are unlikely to upgrade to something else, and make their other products look worse by association.
I’m not going to consider an iPad mini, because my first gen iPad still does a good job, and I don’t consider an A5 chip a big enough step up for an upgrade I would hope to get a further 2-3 year’s life out of. I’ll no doubt look at a 4th gen iPad in the next 6 months or so, or wait for the 5th, or 2nd mini. As it is I’m upgrading my iPhone 4s to a 5 so I don’t have the budget for two updates in quick succession. Which isn’t a problem. Apple will get some more money from me in due course.
Of course, I’ve ignored things like taxes from the example, but the point is still valid.
The way to tell if the price is too high is to see if they sell them. For Apple, that means wait and see how long it takes for shipping dates to slip. I’ll bet some sandwich-sliced rare roast beef and the rest of this colby-jack cheese they don’t keep up with demand for the first month or so.