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Astro7x

macrumors regular
Mar 3, 2010
168
21
I guess in todays world with devices we throw away every year for the latest and greatest, $30 actually makes a psychological different in terms of pricing.

I can't believe that $30 is really a deal breaker to some of you people who have a Mac, iPhone, iPad and now want an iPad Mini.
 

Mak47

macrumors 6502a
Mar 27, 2011
751
32
Harrisburg, PA
I was hoping for a $199-$249 product, as such I would have purchased it in addition to my regular iPad, as more of a dedicated ereader. I also likely would have used it as a gift item.

At $329, it's priced out of range for those things.

With that said, Apple took a different approach to the product than I expected. While I expected an item that would sell alongside and in addition to the full sized iPad, what Apple did was essentially place the iPad mini as the mainstream iPad product, and the iPad "with Retina display" as the premium, all while keeping the price of that product the same.

For me, I'll choose a full sized iPad with retina, but a lot of people don't care about that and may be quite happy with the iPad mini.

Having the two products available will also take some pressure off the supply chain when new ones launch, with customers buying one or the other, we likely won't see the stores running out of supply and scalpers won't have any demand to snatch up everything and sell it on eBay.
 

lilo777

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2009
5,144
0
The display on my iPad 2 is still great. I have no problems with it at all and am perfectly happy.

NFC? Who needs it? More RAM? iPad doesn't need it. Quad Core? iPad doesn't need that either. (the benefits of a lean, fast OS with minimal overhead tuned for your own hardware)

I am perfectly happy with my 1.5 year old iPad 2. I use it daily and it continues to work fantastic. The display is beautiful. Battery life is great. The only thing that this mini offers is a smaller form factor and lightning port at a more affordable entry point.

I think that the entry level price could and maybe should have been $299, but your comparisons make no sense.

iPad does not need it but you do.
 

Deslock

macrumors member
Aug 18, 2004
89
0
First of all, Phil Schiller doesn't even know what he's talking about. He said the bezel of the nexus 7 is plastic. Its not. Its aluminum. He flat out lied on stage. Second of all, it has a better screen than the iPad, better cpu, twice the ram, and gps in all models. Its also a nexus device which means instant OS upgrades. The nexus series actually has a better track record for upgrades than even apple. The original xoom (it sold alongside the ipad 1) and the nexus s have full blown jellybean with google now and every feature, not stripped down versions like the iphone 4 and ipad 2 have. The back of the nexus 7 is a soft touch leatherette material and just about every review has praised the feel of it. Many actually prefer it over hard aluminum.

The screen is arguably the most important attribute of a tablet, and the Nexus 7's is mediocre (viewing angles, washed out, colors way off after viewing videos). I haven't seen the iPad mini in person, but I expect its screen quality to be superior to the Nexus 7. Yes the Nexus' 1280x800 is nice, but I'd be OK with losing 23% of the pixels while gaining both quality and size (the iPad mini's screen area is 36% larger).

The Nexus 7 reportedly has widespread quality control problems, and my own anecdotal experience supports this. I had to swap out two of them before finally getting one that wasn't defective (and it still has a minor blotch in the middle of the screen under the glass that I decided to live with).

Fit and finish is poor: All three of my Nexus 7s had the left-side screen rise/flex (though the third one isn't as bad as the first two). The iPad mini is more expensive, but if build quality is anything like the larger iPad, it's going to blow away the Nexus 7.

I'm not sure what the clock speed of the iPad mini is, but I'd be surprised if its A5 isn't at least as zippy as the Nexus 7's Tegra3.

Another advantage to the iPad mini is that it's thinner and weighs less.

Having written that, I prefer the Nexus 7's 16:10 aspect ratio because it allows for a narrower device. I haven't held an iPad mini, but being 5.3" wide will make it less portable and more of a PITA to use one-handed. For me, that form factor difference combined with the price advantage offset many of the iPad mini's other advantages.
 

Tingler

macrumors member
Oct 14, 2012
77
0
Seeing that he is the SVP of product marketing at Apple, I'd be surprised to hear him say: "Yeah, the price is a rip off but what are you gonna do?".
 

IJ Reilly

macrumors P6
Jul 16, 2002
17,909
1,496
Palookaville
Not sure about mainland Europe, but we get a particularly raw deal in the UK where the starting price for a iPad Mini is £269 which is around $430.
And it's not just the mini that suffers transatlantic inflation:
iPad 3 (basic retina model) - from £399 ($638)
MacMini - from £499 ($800)
27" iMac - £1499 ($2400)

But it's not just Apple that plays this game. The Nexus and Kindle fire both come in at around £159 ($255) which I believe is substantially more than the US price.

It isn't a game. The U.S. dollar is weak. You cannot compare prices from countries with stronger currencies against the prices for like products in countries with weak currencies. This phony comparison is always going to make it look like people in the country with the strong currency are paying more. The thing to remember is that companies set prices for products for the markets where they are sold, not at some constantly fluctuating world price, like oil.

Note also that U.S. prices are stated before sales taxes, whereas VAT is included in the UK price. So far starters you need to back the VAT out of the UK price. This is 17% currently, is it not?
 

sweetbrat

macrumors 65816
Jun 17, 2009
1,443
1
Redford, MI
Anyway, on many forums, people wonder whether it is not better buying an iPod Touch with "Retina" screen and 32gb or waiting for a potential upgrade of this iPad Mini in few months :confused:

If someone wanted an iPad, why would they by an iPod Touch? Yes, it has a retina screen. A much smaller retina screen. The iPad Mini doesn't have a retina screen, but it's not all that far off, and I think once people actually see them attitudes might change a bit. At any rate, the iPad Mini and iPod Touch are very different devices, and I don't really get the talk about overlap. There likely won't be any more iPad updates until this time next year, so waiting isn't going to do anything but prevent you from enjoying one or the other for the next 12 months.
 

Jakir89

macrumors newbie
Oct 24, 2012
1
0
Apple just priced it right. Why, you ask.
Think about it, people will rush to buy the iPad mini, as it is a new Apple device at a very low price compared to other iPads. Plus it is a very good built product compared to other competitors.

And when iPad Mini 2 comes out next year with Retina Display, they will keep that at $329 and 1st gen to a lower price of maybe $199 to $239.
 

Wild-Bill

macrumors 68030
Jan 10, 2007
2,539
617
bleep
Phil is the wrong one to defend this as he's responsible for setting the price.

Agreed. And it doesn't look like he has differed from Apple's long-standing built-in 33% profit margin.

And this isn't the first annoying pricing decision they've made. $29.00 lightning ADAPTER anyone? That's offensive.
 

lilo777

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2009
5,144
0
Might see 1 update in its lifetime, has very few apps to choose from that are good, and when you buy the app for that device good luck getting it for your other devices for 'free' too. :p

Nexus devices get more real updates than iOS devices. For those who do not buy more than 100K apps, Google Play is plenty sufficient.
 

Bernard SG

macrumors 65816
Jul 3, 2010
1,354
7
I don't find $329 to be "overpriced" for what it is. However, from a marketing perspective, it seems a bit silly not to let go of $30 in order to be at the psychological price point of "under $300".
I'll probably get one for the kids anyway, so they leave my iPad 3 alone.
 

ChrisTX

macrumors 68030
Dec 30, 2009
2,690
54
Texas
F U Phil.
More like "Forever ungrateful, Phil."
This price point is perfect. People have gotten greedy with the competition selling their products at cost. When you don't have a very compelling product such as the Kindle Fire, or the Nexus 7. Selling it at cost sometimes is the only way to attract buyers. :cool:
 

JayJayAbels

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2012
303
3
You get... what you pay for.

One of the greatest lessons I've learned in life and is the exact phrase I would use to describe the tech industry especially.

Sometimes people feel like they're getting the same "experience" for a discount. They're not. They don't realize it until it's too late and are "locked in" - at least for the time being.

I made the same mistake recently when I purchased the Android Razr Maxx over the iPhone 4S. I can't even begin to explain the level of regret I have with this loathsome device.

Needless to say my iPhone 5 comes next week and I'll be selling this Razr Maxx to some sucker for as much as I can get.
 

Tinmania

macrumors 68040
Aug 8, 2011
3,528
1,016
Aridzona
First of all, Phil Schiller doesn't even know what he's talking about. He said the bezel of the nexus 7 is plastic. Its not. Its aluminum. He flat out lied on stage. Second of all, it has a better screen than the iPad, better cpu, twice the ram, and gps in all models. Its also a nexus device which means instant OS upgrades. The nexus series actually has a better track record for upgrades than even apple. The original xoom (it sold alongside the ipad 1) and the nexus s have full blown jellybean with google now and every feature, not stripped down versions like the iphone 4 and ipad 2 have. The back of the nexus 7 is a soft touch leatherette material and just about every review has praised the feel of it. Many actually prefer it over hard aluminum.

Think you just convinced me to get the Nexus 7. :)




Mike
 

fredf

macrumors 6502
Oct 31, 2008
277
1
Phil Schiller says: "The iPad is far and away the most successful product in its category."

This to me says it all. I enjoy Apple products and really wish them the best. However, this comments speaks to arrogance. Their best explanation for the absurdly high price is 'we are popular', ie: we charge that much because we can.

Is this the beginning of the slope for Apple? We'll see.
 

rfahey

macrumors regular
Oct 9, 2009
114
0
Why do they need to defend that? The A6 is finally finished, so why not release a new iPad?

Also they've updated the connector now across all their lines for the holiday season; I'm a little miffed myself since I got the iPad3 back in April but at the same time, I don't have an iPhone 5 so now all my connectors match :)
 
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