“Yesterday Apple released the iPad mini. It’s a 7.9″ screen – the same dimensions as the current iPad, but smaller,” James Furlo writes for Outside the Rat Race.
“However, the biggest complaint by observers has been that Apple messed up on price by making it too expensive and missed an opportunity to kill the competition,” Furlo writes. “Apple came out with the iPad mini at $329 for two reasons: They can cater to people who want a premium device in a handheld size [and] they gave themselves room to drop the price on existing models when new ones come out to cater for those looking for a cheap tablet.'”
Read more in the full article here.
Related article:
Newsflash: Apple sells premium products at premium prices to premium customers – October 23, 2012
Amazing the crap people get away with saying..
“The same dimensions, but smaller.”
WTF!?
lol, amazin’, ain’t it?
That’s what she said!
😀
LOL. You know what they mean.
I think he meant resolution.
I think he meant the same aspect ratio, but smaller.
I did mean aspect ratio and updated it to reflect that. Thanks @laughing_boy48.
I’m ordering my iPad mini this Friday and they will not be coming down in price next year. Mark my words, or as we would say, “iCal it!”
You know: The same, but different.
So the reason the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S were introduced at their prices was so that Apple could drop the price the following year? Is it the same with the iPad 2?
On the other hand, let’s face it. Apple has always been a premium product. People buy Apple because it’s the only hardware where they can get specifically the Apple OS (be it Mac OS or iOS) and that’s worth something to them. MacBooks are always more expensive than comparable laptops, but those run Windows. And you know full well that you don’t want Windows. Same thing – you want iOS, not Droid.
Now, will it be competitive on price next year? Yeah, probably. Will some people wait until then to get one? Yeah, probably. Would we have liked it to be lower priced now? Of course, who wouldn’t?
Don’t forget, apples stuff is usually made with high quality materials, not plastic that is alot cheaper and flimsy that the competition like SamDung, uses, so if apple made them out of cheap plastic they would be a heck of alot cheaper.
Not only plastic, but also cheaper components, such as power sources in laptops/desktops, screens, hard drives, etc. etc.
Who wouldn’t?
AAPL shareholders.
Yes, iPad mini will compete on price next year–and still make 30 – 40% margins.
This year it will simply choke the life out of the competition with the mammoth brute force of the gargantuan iOS ecosystem.
While this is probably true, I really think $299 would’ve struck a chord with consumers. That’s only a $30 difference, but it looks much better than >$300.
Eventhough a very common price on the street was $249. I personally do not need or want the $80 difference. I am wealthy. Not particularly good looking, tall or well endowed. But, Apple products and my BMW more than make up for it. So, I do not want to pay less. I want to pay even MORE. So much more that the poor people cannot afford to even touch one or worse…breath on one. They should not be allowed to enter the holy walls of my nearest Apple store. KEEP THEM AWAY!! Let them eat cake!!
I too am wealthy. However, I am tall, very good-looking and extremely well endowed. Just saying. However I am discerning with my wealth. While I could drive any automobile out there I choose to drive a six series BMW. Very fast, very nice. I don’t want to pay more but I can. In my neighborhood even our poor people are rich. But I would never associate with them. And I have my own Apple store. Let them eat White Castles!
Hence business’ fascination with all things “99”.
That’s equal to $300 Million per quarter on pre tax profit that would be foregone, given that I expect Apple to sell all they can make (about 10 MM per quarter to start.)
No it won’t. Apple effectively locked tablet competitors in “no margin” or at best “low margin” territory. Anybody who would like to earn any profit from smaller tablet form will get dangerously close to iPad mini. Which means only one thing for that competitor: no sales. Apple will easily sell tens of millions of iPad mini at current prices with healthy profits, and let Google and Amazon and co. eat each other in no margin 199 $ tablet fight
Apple is ALREADY competing on price. If anyone else made a tablet that matched the build quality alone, it would be 1.5-3 times more expensive than any Apple Pad.
After that figure in the value added by a decent OS plus apps and accessories to support the device, Apple is the clear winner.
@darknite
I wish I had the knowledge of one so intelligent as you. To know what the actual component costs are at Apple’s level is truly a power to behold. My hat is off to you and all like you who strengthen Apple’s pricing position. May they read your strong message and reward you with even higher prices on future products. My personal blessings to you.
I’ve been happy to pay extra for Apple’s premium products for years now. So far I’ve not been disappointed (which I cannot say for the opposition – have tried them many times before but have always returned to what I consider to be the best products in the market). Combine that with their ease of use, seamless sychronisation & the fact they just do it & I’ll continue with them. I think likewise those who have in the past lusted for an Apple tablet but settled for the inferior competition on cost grounds will pay the minimal extra required for iPad mini. I have lost count of friends who have told me they’d never ever pay the “obscene” amount for an iPhone only to find they’d sneakily got one without telling me for fear of the backlash !!!
@Kestrel1960
If you are a girl and were not born in 1960, then you may be my type. Any girl that uses words like “do it”, “lusted”, “obscene”, “sneakily” and “backlash” has my undivided attention. I am not poor like non-apple users are and I own every type of Apple you can name.
I’m thinking you might have a bushel or two of Crab Apples.
Shold have a drop test which will tell the writer which one is cheap and which one is expensive!!!
Apple will not make $200 cheap junk which will fall apart in drop test. So if we look at because of quality “Apple’s” products are cheap compare to other company’s products.
Does Apple need to “kill the competition”? Doesn’t Apple make enough money as it is? Isn’t competition good? Don’t we want Apple to remain profitable and in business rather than go after scraps?
I think we see what happens when competition among oil companies (and other industries) is “killed”. It becomes a monopoly. We see higher prices and less choice.
Let’s not “kill” the competition.
Apple’s problem right now is they can’t make them fast enough. Dealers don’t make as much selling iPhones so they are aggressively downing the iPhone. They tried to tell me at an AT&T store that 6 in 10 iPhone 5s have been returned. Verizon said the iPhone 5 doesn’t connect we’ll to their 4g LTE very well and sometimes not at all. I love apple, but the competition is starting to more closely match features. Great that iPhone 5 won’t break on drop, but I dropped my 4s 1 time and it shattered the back. 40$ to replace. Apple needs to expand from the current phone strategy of just lowering price of last years model. They need to come up with a family of phones, like they did with iPod. They need at least 3 models for iPhone. They are now getting with the game on iPads, but they are making a lot of fans cool their enthusiasm. iOS is best, but I can see why android continues to make gains in market share.
I think the price is a stand-in for the next version’s retina display.
What a moron. Better, not cheaper. Room for a more avaiable Retina display, A5X or A6 processor, 8 mp camera, and same price. Apple is not interested in price war. Just look at Macs. They will maintain their margins. If they didnt the same dumbass analysts who are bitching now about price, would be biting about margins. If analysts’ advice was what Apple followed, there would be no Apple.
you can always go down on price, but you can’t go up! this is smart for apple because they can adjust with demand and not sacrifice margins.
Make sense, and it fits their current business model.
Someone give this man a cookie! 😬
I’m kinda hoping they knock 30 or 40 bucks off in November when Black Friday rolls around. 🙂