All iPads Anyone think Apple would eventually only sell cellular iPads?

[ApfelKuchen]

It is a good and profitable idea, other things drive when things occur however. Eventually they will make one model, whether thats this year when the delta is $30 or so, or next year when its $20 or so is the only real question. Cutting down the SKUs helps hugely across the board the number of SKUs is a big problem with backorders, stock and repairs and also costs them sales. Go to a walmart or a target or an Apple store noone has all 40 SKUs for the iPad. It wasnt cheaper on a phone by phone basis to make the iPhone be one phone for all networks. HOWEVER once you factor in not having to make 3x as many kinds of phones, being able to ship a single phone to all the vendors is a huge savings. Thats why Apple did it for the iPhone and why they will eventually do it for the iPad.

Cutting down on SKUs has benefits in manufacturing and inventory management, but eventually you come smack up against consumer resistance to one-size-fits-all. If people have to make too many compromises, if they have to pay for too many features they don't want/need, or can't get the features they do want, they walk. Henry Ford's famous, "Any color you want, as long as it's black," didn't work in the long run. The competition was happy to turn that against him. And on the flip side, GM and Ford both had to shut down entire brands after going to extremes in the other direction.

The best any company can manage is the right balance between SKUs and consumer choice. In the case of 40 iPad SKUs? It's not likely that any one brick-and-mortar retailer would stock all 40. They're going to carry the models that move the best with their particular clientele. They'll bend heaven and earth to stay in stock on the most popular SKUs, but rarely worry if they go out of stock on or have to special order a one-in-a-hundred item.

Manufacturing and repair efficiencies? If they have one production line dedicated to one model, and ten to another, so long as all lines are utilized to nearly 100% capacity, that aspect of costs is a constant. And in parts procurement, the suppliers also hit a point where cost of production no longer drops with greater quantity. At that point, it comes down to how much the supplier gives up in profit margin, rather than passing along the economies of scale.

 

[TWO2SEVEN]

So you bold some words, and took them out of context. So what?
You haven't made your point at all. I stand by what I say. Wifi equals no need for data. Not just for me, for anyone.

Literally.

Ignorance is bliss.

 

[nia820]

they would lose money if they did that. wifi version is sufficient for most people. i only know a handful of people that have the cellular version.

 

[Serelus]

Ignorance is bliss.

Clever remark, refuting arguments not one of your strong characteristics?

 

[Xenomorph]

Just my opinion, but I find non-cellular iPads to be "incomplete".

So do I. That's why my iPad has cellular. I won't use any other.

Not for the cellular capability. I just want the GPS.

The solution is to not buy one that lacks cellular. If no one bought one, Apple would stop selling them.

 

[zenobialewis87]

I dont think a permanent move to cellular i pad is on the cards. Firstly because most of the people prefer using it on wifi rather than on mobile data and secondly major chunk of i pad sales come from the normal one.

 

[Night Spring]

You haven't made your point at all. I stand by what I say. Wifi equals no need for data. Not just for me, for anyone.

That would be true if wifi in fact covered the same area as cellular, and had the same speed. But that's not the case yet. For instance, if I'm in a car driving on a highway, there's cellular coverage, but no wifi. Also, in the city where I live, most free wifi are dreadfully slow -- so slow as to be practically useless. You may be lucky enough to live in an area with plentiful and speedy wifi, but it's a mistake to assume that is true everywhere.

 

[Serelus]

That would be true if wifi in fact covered the same area as cellular, and had the same speed. But that's not the case yet. For instance, if I'm in a car driving on a highway, there's cellular coverage, but no wifi. Also, in the city where I live, most free wifi are dreadfully slow -- so slow as to be practically useless. You may be lucky enough to live in an area with plentiful and speedy wifi, but it's a mistake to assume that is true everywhere.

Okay i'll try again, in the circumstance that apple would get rid of an iPad. I am saying due to where wifi is heading, it's FAR more likely that LTE iPads will disappear than it is for the Wifi model. Of course there's not WIFI everywhere, I know that.

 

[Night Spring]

Okay i'll try again, in the circumstance that apple would get rid of an iPad. I am saying due to where wifi is heading, it's FAR more likely that LTE iPads will disappear than it is for the Wifi model. Of course there's not WIFI everywhere, I know that.

So are you saying that soon there will be wifi everywhere? Or that Apple will drop LTE iPads *before* there is wifi everywhere?

To me, it seems more likely that the price of the cellular components would drop to the point that having separate wifi only and wifi+LTE models no longer make sense before we have wifi everywhere.

 

[cube]

I find it very annoying that there are tablets and notebooks sold without cellular.

And they should be all unlocked.

And computers should have 10GbE without adapters, I can understand a tablet not having Ethernet.

 

[brilliantthings]

Well that doesn't say anything. I'm asking for people to backup their statements they are presenting as fact.

Estimated cost of manufacture:
iPad Air wifi only $274
iPad Air cellular $310

http://technology.ihs.com/463579/new-ipad-air-costs-less-to-make-than-third-generation-ipad-model-ihs-teardown-reveals

 

[Tigger11]

Wifi ipad + tethering on my android + grandfathered verizon unlimited 4g = great



So how much does it cost for The FCC to test the device. And then ATT for their network, and then Verizon for their network, etc... WiFi might be cheaper because it is on a public frequency band. But for cellular stuff, I can imagine testing and verification costs are much much larger.

Right now Apple pays for two FCC tests one for wifi only and one for wifi+cellular they used to have to do even more before they got all the cellular in one model. If they just sold wifi+cellular they would only have to pay for one FCC test per cycle. Also they would only have to pay for one case design not two. And IPad Air with cellular costs less then most if not all of the previous models wifi only.

----------

Okay i'll try again, in the circumstance that apple would get rid of an iPad. I am saying due to where wifi is heading, it's FAR more likely that LTE iPads will disappear than it is for the Wifi model. Of course there's not WIFI everywhere, I know that.

And most of us are disagreeing with you. The IPad Air wifi+cellular has a cheaper part cost then previous wifi only models. They would have less FCC testing fewer production issues fewer supply issues less repair issues if they just gave everyone Wifi+LTE at the current Wifi price. Already that would be more profitable then what the made with most of the previous generations wifi only models.

----------

I dont think a permanent move to cellular i pad is on the cards. Firstly because most of the people prefer using it on wifi rather than on mobile data and secondly major chunk of i pad sales come from the normal one.

You seem to be missing the basic premise of this thread. The discussion is whether the wifi+Cellular Ipad will become the only version and just cost the same price as the current IPad wifi model. Given the unified cellular we now have in iPads and iPhones and the part delta costing less and less with each generation it seems likely that will occur. Do you really think that getting the ability to use lte data if you want to pay for it will hurt sales of the iPad in upcoming generations if they still are selling the iPad for $499?

 

[Tigger11]

Cutting down on SKUs has benefits in manufacturing and inventory management, but eventually you come smack up against consumer resistance to one-size-fits-all. If people have to make too many compromises, if they have to pay for too many features they don't want/need, or can't get the features they do want, they walk.

We aren't talking about paying more for too many features, and Apple seems to not be worried about that anyways, the sell the previous version for $399 if you really hate the new model. The iPad Air wifi+cellular costs less in parts then previous generation iPads wifi only models and even with TouchID coming this fall that trend is likely to continue. Do you think TouchID is going to get people to be upset at Apple the same way you think free LTE parts and antenna es would?

 

[T5BRICK]

Okay i'll try again, in the circumstance that apple would get rid of an iPad. I am saying due to where wifi is heading, it's FAR more likely that LTE iPads will disappear than it is for the Wifi model. Of course there's not WIFI everywhere, I know that.

Along with everyone else, I'm going to disagree with you. If Apple were to drop a model, they'd drop the wifi only units.

Here are my reasons:

• The LTE models carry all of the same functionality of the WiFi only models.
• Having LTE included gives them shelf space in several different retail chains(Verizon, AT&T, etc.) that would most likely not sell WiFi only models.
• Most wireless providers are now allowing you to add a tablet that just uses your shared data for $15 a month.
• WiFi, in its current form, is never going to have the coverage of cellular data.

 

[HenryDJP]

Estimated cost of manufacture:
iPad Air wifi only $274
iPad Air cellular $310

http://technology.ihs.com/463579/ne...rd-generation-ipad-model-ihs-teardown-reveals

Awesome....but you forgot the employees and engineers that need to paid for R&D, advertising, labor for system building and sales along with the costs of running a retail brick N mortar.

Honestly, some of you guys are funny. You only look at the barebones cost and spend too much time accusing Apple of making high profits. So one could deduce that a person's boss pays them more than enough even though it's just minimum wages because their boss doesn't factor in the car fair it takes for that employee to get to work, the wear and tear on their vehicle, the mortgage or rent that person has to pay and/or the family they support.

 

[Tigger11]

Awesome....but you forgot the employees and engineers that need to paid for R&D, advertising, labor for system building and sales along with the costs of running a retail brick N mortar.

Honestly, some of you guys are funny. You only look at the barebones cost and spend too much time accusing Apple of making high profits.

None of those matter in this discussion. They are all necessary whether Apple goes to wifi+lte only or continues to make both models, so why exactly are you bringing it into the conversation? Now that Apple has a unified cellular model it makes sense to look at the advantages to production, repair, stocking, testing and supply that a single model wifi+lte would provide. It may not happen this year but at some point the continuing shrinking delta between parts cost and the two models and the overhead for supporting two models is going to drive to a one model system.

 

[HenryDJP]

None of those matter in this discussion. They are all necessary whether Apple goes to wifi+lte only or continues to make both models, so why exactly are you bringing it into the conversation? Now that Apple has a unified cellular model it makes sense to look at the advantages to production, repair, stocking, testing and supply that a single model wifi+lte would provide. It may not happen this year but at some point the continuing shrinking delta between parts cost and the two models and the overhead for supporting two models is going to drive to a one model system.

It's clear you didn't even bother to read the discussion that lead to my post you quoted. A couple of people here were saying the cellular model iPads's increase in price over the wi-fi models is nothing but high profit for Apple and that simply isn't true. Every company has to make a profit but sadly many people on MR feel that Apple should only charge what Apple pays for the cost of the hardware upgrade while conveniently forgetting that Apple has to pay people to create, develop and build these products along with having some sort of profit and that's how business works, period.

Am I happy that I had to pay quite a higher price to get my LTE iPad Air? No, but at the same time I understand business but it doesn't seem to be that many people here do. As usual some people here just want to find a way to call Apple "The new Micro$oft"

 

[goobot]

When it cost little to none to add in then yes.

Anyway when is GPS going to be standard on an iPad?

 

[Tigger11]

When it cost little to none to add in then yes.

Anyway when is GPS going to be standard on an iPad?

Its part of the same circuit as the cellular so probably when cellular is on all the
iPads and not until.

 

[Wicked1]

Don't think so as they sell more WiFi pads then LTE and no one wants to pay for something they are not going to use IMO

 

[Tigger11]

Don't think so as they sell more WiFi pads then LTE and no one wants to pay for something they are not going to use IMO

I think that's a silly opinion every time someone says it. There are dozens if not hundreds of things that your current ipad can do that you don't use, yet you probably have not tried to take it back because it does those things you dont use. Why would you care that it has free LTE support, much like it has free RAW picture support if you want to import RAW pictures, or has two cameras that you might never use. TouchID will likely be implemented this year on the iPad, do you believe that people are not going to want to pay for TouchID on the iPad given less then 20% of people using a passcode on their iPads currently? If not, why do you think people will be happy to get TouchID for the same price as the units as last year but wouldnt be happy to get free LTE compatibility for the same price?

 

[Angler]

The wifi only iPad is a flawed design.

 

[brilliantthings]

Awesome....but you forgot the employees and engineers that need to paid for R&D, advertising, labor for system building and sales along with the costs of running a retail brick N mortar.

Honestly, some of you guys are funny. You only look at the barebones cost and spend too much time accusing Apple of making high profits. So one could deduce that a person's boss pays them more than enough even though it's just minimum wages because their boss doesn't factor in the car fair it takes for that employee to get to work, the wear and tear on their vehicle, the mortgage or rent that person has to pay and/or the family they support.

The confident and dismissive tone of this post makes it sound like there might also be a good argument in there. But the truth is, the R & D is not a measure of difference between wifi and cellular ipad models. Apple's business model is not lost on the rest of us. Apple also charges well in excess of the extra cost to them for increases in storage. And it doesn't take one cent of R&D or bricks and mortar to put in a 128gb flash instead of a 16gb.

This is a criticism of your dismissive argument not at all of Apple's business model. The R&D and ultimately customers benefit from Apple's business model that draws more profit than any other tech company in the world. So no complaints from me.

 

[Serelus]

So are you saying that soon there will be wifi everywhere? Or that Apple will drop LTE iPads *before* there is wifi everywhere?

To me, it seems more likely that the price of the cellular components would drop to the point that having separate wifi only and wifi+LTE models no longer make sense before we have wifi everywhere.

I hadn't considered that yet, good point.

 

[donnaw]

Wifi ipad + tethering on my android + grandfathered verizon unlimited 4g = great



So how much does it cost for The FCC to test the device. And then ATT for their network, and then Verizon for their network, etc... WiFi might be cheaper because it is on a public frequency band. But for cellular stuff, I can imagine testing and verification costs are much much larger.

Device testing has already been done. Remember, they already sell wifi + cell. I'm not saying Apple will stop making wifi only. Just that the possibility exists and depends only on the numbers. If the offset in manufacturing and managing so many different types outweighs or even equals current costs Apple will do it. As I stated before, Tim Cook is a really good numbers guy. I'm quite sure he's keeping an eye on this possibility.