Apple Considering Lower-Priced iPad Mini at $199-$249?

[Kissaragi]

I wonder how much making the case from polycarbonate would reduce the price? If apple got the 16gb mini down to £199 in the uk they would sell even more of them.

Really, youd think apple could slash its profit margin on ios devices as it makes so much from the app store

 

[mrmarts]

I just want the iPad 5 and Ipad Mini 2 to come out so i can make a choice it seems it is going to be a long wait.

 

[Baklava]

I belong to the minority who believed in a refreshed iPad mini last March and sold the current model weeks after the release because the display did not met my expectations. Now I a m without any tablet.

The iPad mini has the perfect size for me and I will buy the retina-model right after its release. Really, the iPad mini + retina will be such a great device! Can't wait for it.

 

[gnasher729]

Dude apple makes millions from iTunes /AppStore sales

You don't have any evidence obviously that Apple makes _any_ money from the store, but why would Apple care about making millions? With ten thousand million dollars profit in the last quarter, why would Apple care about "millions" made from iTunes or App Store sales?

 

[inselstudent]

So you could then get an iPad Mini for roughly 100 dollars less than you pay for an iPod Touch? Hard to believe...

 

[josh995]

The iPad mini should have never been produced just like Steve Jobs said.

Steve Jobs did not say this. He said 7" tablets were dead on arrival and that Apple would never make one, but he made these comments before the explosion of the tablet market, and especially before any decent 7" tablets came out.

And Apple hasn't made a 7" tablet. They made a 7.9" tablet, which has 35% more screen area than a 7" tablet, which was one of Jobs biggest concerns with a smaller tablet.

Lastly, Eddy Cue revealed in an email with Cook that he had spoken to Jobs about a smaller tablet, and he had become receptive to the idea of a smaller tablet.

While Steve Jobs had great vision, he wasn't always right. Just like when he said people wouldn't buy big phones, he called them Hummer phones. Well, look at how well "big phones" are selling. People do want them.

 

[mantan]

Assembled in China. So what's wrong with this! Who cares jobs have gone in the Western World and all products have subsides applied by the Chinese government so they cut prices below Western world produced products.


I do

The iPad mini should have never been produced just like Steve Jobs said. Their are cheap products made by other suppliers for those who like cheap products. Apple should never bring cheap products to the market.

It's not 2005. Lower cost products are important to Apple, especially when they look at pushing products into developing markets. The market for retina macbooks and iMacs isn't growing nearly as fast as the market for $400 (total cost) smartphones and $200 tablets.

 

[TallManNY]

If it sells for $229 it will be Apple's best selling iPad. Sales of the full size will fall drastically, IMHO. People will buy because of price.

Isn't it already Apple's best selling iPad?

----------

Low priced mini is going to happen. But only once a Retina Mini is available to sell at the current price. No need to lower price on an item that is dominating the market and flying off the shelves. And if Kou thinks the tablet market is only growing 10% or so, they are incredibly foolish.

The new normal for tablets is going to be one at work, one at home and a smaller one for intra-day travel. Price will probably have to come down to make that happen, but it will take incredible increases in sales to get to this point, so demand is going to be huge for the next decade or so. This is where everyone wants to be, because tablets are great, though people may not have this figured out yet. And the tablet you want at home and work is a full-sized one that shows a full sheet of paper on it.

 

[Miharu]

I love my iPad mini. I wouldn't think about using a bigger tablet, or more importantly, a heavier tablet. The size is just right, and the 4:3 aspect ratio is perfect for tablets in portrait mode. Bring on the next iteration of mini, even lighter and with retina display, and I will upgrade.

 

[Hell0W0rld]

Original Article

And there goes your premium brand out of the window...

 

[Digital Skunk]

If it sells for $229 it will be Apple's best selling iPad. Sales of the full size will fall drastically, IMHO. People will buy because of price.

Agreed! That has long been the barrier for those wanting to enter the Apple/Mac world that haven't already done so. For some, it's never been an issue with quality or features, just price.

 

[DesertEagle]

Bring on the next iteration of mini, even lighter and with retina display, and I will upgrade.

Lighter and with retina? I can almost guarantee you that we won't see that until iPad mini 4.

If the mini 2 comes with retina display and the necessary hardware to run it, in addition to keeping the same battery life, I won't even care if it becomes a bit heavier (i.e. an ounce or two, not 10)

 

[M-O]

i could see the current mini dropping to $229, and the new mini taking over the $329 spot.

yep. as long as the new mini is enticing enough for an upsell. for example, retina.

 

[skippymac]

For people who are saying a cheaper iPad would cannibalise sales, I think you'd be surprised how many people will be attracted by the low price, and then after consideration opt for the more expensive or full size ipad. That's the reason I've got a 3G nexus 7 - if there hadn't been a cheap low end option I would never have considered it.

 

[petey2133]

apple is a leader not a follower. Looks like consumers are leading the way wanting appropriately priced tablets. Apple there is a reason your stock is dumping get on board.

 

[69650]

That just isn't going to work because there's no point matching the price points if you can't match the product spec as well.

Apple would be better to focus more on their key USP with the iPad which is iTunes. None of the others can match the ease of use and range of content available on the iTunes Store. Google Play is a pale shadow.

For example adding HQ (24bit) better than CD music and HD music videos would elevate iTunes above the streaming services. A lot of audiophiles would switch to iTunes just for that alone.

 

[RobertMartens]

I've honestly never cared about the iPad. I have never supported that part of Apple. I've always thought that they should spend that money on making their computers better. I remember back when Apple was about computers and iPods instead of iPads and iWatches.

You joined to tell us that the iPad and iPhone are a distraction?

They have sold more iPhones in 5 years than all the macs ever made.

----------

apple is a leader not a follower. Looks like consumers are leading the way wanting appropriately priced tablets. Apple there is a reason your stock is dumping get on board.

Apple get on board???

You don't know Apple do you?


Apple is a leader not a follower.

 

[DesertEagle]

For people who are saying a cheaper iPad would cannibalise sales, I think you'd be surprised how many people will be attracted by the low price, and then after consideration opt for the more expensive or full size ipad. That's the reason I've got a 3G nexus 7 - if there hadn't been a cheap low end option I would never have considered it.

This is what many people don't understand about "cannibalization". If one Apple-device "eats" another Apple-device, it's still better for Apple than if a Samsung- or Google-device "eats" it instead. I'm sure Apple knows this, too.

 

[deconstruct60]

As I understand it, Kuo's major predictions about Apple products all came true last year, so he's someone worth listening to.

Perhaps worth a listen. But that is different that buying into what he says. This is not what he usually does. Typically he inferences from the tips he gets from suppliers as to the move that Apple is making. If you look closely this is not that . He is jumping into the premise that Apple "has to" compete with the $199-249 7" tablets with an even bigger tablet but at the same costs. That is more than a little dubious. 4", 6", and 7" inch tablets are just going to hit lower price points than the iPad mini can. There is very little Apple can strip out to limbo as low.

Apple's real problem is how do they get the iPod touch into this (or lower ) price zone. The touch up against 7" tablets at low price points can't possibly be doing well. Sure some will buy the Touch because it fits into a pocket better but that is a subset of the market for those constrained on price.

If the cheap iPhone rumors are true, then this rumor is plausible as well. (I realize that's sketchy reasoning.)

It isn't cheap iPhone. It is just a more affordable iPhone (with better margins and features than selling 2 year old phones). It likely still would be a $300-450 phone. That isn't cheap. But in markets where there are no amortized price payments ( pre-pay for the phone) it is more competitive with against $300-400 phones ( e.g. $299 Nexus 4 ).

Apple may feel compelled to produce this kind of product in today's world, where growth is mainly to be had in developing countries.

Not just developing countries. Over time Smartphone costs are going to come down everywhere. Because frankly the phone will be "good enough" for most folks. When get to 4 cores, 1-2GB RAM , 32GB of Flash the phones are typically going to be "good enough". The applications that most users run won't be outrunning the technology improvements of CPU/GPU/RAM/Flash.

 

[Gasu E.]

i could see the current mini dropping to $229, and the new mini taking over the $329 spot.

No, the current mini already has very thin margins, at least according to Apple. A price cut would lower them further. More likely they would cost-engineer a new model to replace the current mini.

 

[deconstruct60]

This is what many people don't understand about "cannibalization". If one Apple-device "eats" another Apple-device, it's still better for Apple than if a Samsung- or Google-device "eats" it instead. I'm sure Apple knows this, too.

But this isn't cannablization. It is an iPad mini eating an iPad mini. All that has happened here is Apple goes from getting 25-30% to something around 2-10%. They have just gave up money not market share.

They have also either killed off the iPod Touch ( most sales pumment as it is now priced higher than an iPad. Higher price for 3.9" smaller screen. ) Or equally had to gut the Touch's margins. Again for what?

It is important that Apple not get caught up in the crackhead delusion that iPad and iPhone sales growth will aways be in the very high double digits. Over time all products' growth tapers off. They could chase growth by nuking margins but in the long term that is a failure strategy. Eventually even if just give away the product they'll hit a plateau.

There just are gong to be some folks who can't afford an iPad mini. That is a reality. Trying to sell everything to everybody is a loosing strategy.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

apple is a leader not a follower. Looks like consumers are leading the way wanting appropriately priced tablets. Apple there is a reason your stock is dumping get on board.

Apple's stock price has tumbled because margins are getting squeezed by products like the mini. So please tell us how Apple diluting profit even further does anything for the company except pressure earnings further?

Also, isn't it silly to suggest Apple doesn't have "appropriately" priced tablets when they sell tens of millions every quarter? When a product is over priced it just plain flops.

It's true, some people can't or don't want to afford iPads. But the same can be said of any luxury product, no?

 

[SILen(e]

The iTunes store is run at around break-even. It is there for the benefit of the devs and the customers. Apple does it for altruistic reasons.

I would say with the large increase in revenue of the Appstore that happened at the start of 2013, the Appstore has now become something that makes money.

With Apple posting new "Paid out 7 billion...8 billion...9 billion to app developers" press releases every few weeks, Apple will finally break even with the Appstore.

I doubt that their costs of running the store will increase as fast as the revenues increase.

But then again, gnasher is right, breaking even or even making a billion dollars per quarter is not really influencing Apple's quarterly results.

That's also a reason why a 199$ iPad Mini makes less sense than a 289$ iPad Mini.
Sure, Apple could sell a cheap device - they could even give out 300 million iPhones for free, with the cash reserves they got.

But that would only increase marketshare.

Marketshare is not really that important, making money is.

If Apple sold 20 million iPad Mini for 199$ per quarter, they would only make 4 billion dollars.

That would be awesome if you had a lemonade stand - but for Apple, it's only peanuts. And that's only revenue, not profit.
The margin would probably be veeery low - something that Wall Street punishes (for Apple, they love it when Amazon does it).

Also one of the reasons why a cheap iPhone won't be as cheap as some people might expect, because if Apple wanted, they could release a 150$ basic iPhone and crush the complete low and mid end Android segment.

They just don't want to, because there's no money in that segment.
(Remember that Apple makes 70% of all smartphone profits)

You don't have any evidence obviously that Apple makes _any_ money from the store, but why would Apple care about making millions? With ten thousand million dollars profit in the last quarter, why would Apple care about "millions" made from iTunes or App Store sales?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apple has one and only one goal. Apple strives to maximize total profits.

Apple creates "the most amazing products" in order to maximize total profits. They do not do it as a public service, like the Red Cross or the Catholic church. Apple is a business.

Sheesh.

Oh, but that is something I really believe Apple.

They are building hardware that they would like to use themselves.

Compare that to Microsoft, where people are using iPhones instead of Windows Phone and Google, where the former CEO is using a Blackberry and devs use MacBooks.

If you develop stuff that you will be using yourself in the future - you do it as good as possible.

And if you have a product that is as good as possible - other people will want to buy it too.

Compare that to Samsung, with their large numbers of crappy and ultra cheap smartphones, that will never get an update and will never run great.

Do you think those phones have been developed because an engineer at Samsung wanted to use a device like that?

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I think this is a mistake. They do have the possibility to get the 'cheap' buyers, only concerned with price, but they risk abandoning their core product line especially if they all do the same functions the same way. I mean, who would want to buy a Ferrari for $200,000 when there is a 'less expensive' Ferrari that does the same thing, the same way, with the same features for $50,000?

I think what Apple needs to do is slow down the rate of product introduction, not dramatically INCREASE their product line. It sounds and smells like they are recreating the conditions that almost killed them earlier in their history... This I see as a BIG mistake... HUGE...

 

[cdmoore74]

I guess Apple doesn't like selling $500 full size iPads anymore. And guys, what ever you do don't buy a 8GB tablet. I had a 16gig Nexus 7 and always found myself out of space all the time. I even bought one of those wifi drives which is collecting dust. Apple is the tablet app king but what good are apps if you can't fit them all?
I would actually buy a $500 iPad mini if they loaded it with a retina display, 32gig of storage, latest processor and the latest camera. Apple should not water down their lineup.

The choice is simple:

32gig Retina iPad mini

or

16gig Retina full size iPad

Both at the $500 mark with no changes in specs other than what I have above. Apple should not go backwards because Android can do a better job on the value front. Apple should remain a premium no compromise brand (when it comes to iPads and iPhones). Their computer lineup will never gain traction because these tablets have overtaken the basic needs of computer users (internet browser and playing games). Apple has created it's own Trojan horse.

Brace yourselves people. Apple is falling slowly but surely.