Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Continues to Sell the iPad 2 Because Customers Are Still Buying It

I think there are 2 main reasons they went this route.

1. The profit margins on this have to be insanely high. I am guessing they can build this for under 100 maybe even below 80.

2. Great way to differentiate the new air ipad from their other offering of tablet. Think about it like this most consumers dont care about internal specs so if they are selling another retina ipad thats just a little bigger than the new air why would a normal consumer pay an extra $100 for the air. But... if they are selling the new air ipad with a nice retina screen and then they are selling a regular ipad with a non retina screen theres a lot more difference there to the regular consumer.
 
troop231 said:
Selling the iPad 2 to regular customers is a fail. If they still want to keep it around for educational purposes, they should make a specific model with no cameras and a lower price point for institutions and not have it be available to purchase by regular customers. Just like the educational iMac.
Click to expand...

I recently had to buy an iPad 2 for my wife, who is a kindergarten teacher.

She had an iPad 1, but the software they're using requires a camera.
 
kdarling said:
I recently had to buy an iPad 2 for my wife, who is a kindergarten teacher.

She had an iPad 1, but the software they're using requires a camera.
Click to expand...

The difference here is you bought it for her, not the school. Unless there is a school rule that teachers cannot use anything greater than an iPad 2, a teacher could buy their own iPad model that they want.
 
troop231 said:
The difference here is you bought it for her, not the school. Unless there is a school rule that teachers cannot use anything greater than an iPad 2, a teacher could buy their own iPad model that they want.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

However, my response was about the idea of having a camera-less cheaper model for schools. In her case, the camera was required.

Still, a camera-less model would definitely have its buyers.
 
One big part of this is that the iPad 2 is the NUMBER ONE selling iPad for schools. Many schools are now using iPads and most of them automatically opt for the cheapest available full-size model that is not a refurb and that has been the iPad 2. This probably accounts for a huge part of the sales. Our school district is about to go one-to-one and purchase enough iPads to have one for each student. Up until now all the teacher iPads and the few that some of us have gotten for our students have been iPad 2's because of cost. They have served us well. Right now they're trying to decide whether or not they're going to purchase the 2's or the Air for the district students. The tech guys are favoring the Air but whatever they get also has to be approved by everyone else and cost could be an issue.

Think about it - if you have, say, 5,000 students in your district it would cost you half a million more dollars to buy the $499 iPad over the $399 iPad. That's a tough trigger to pull for the updated one when it comes down to the question of "How many more iPad 2's could we buy with half a million dollars?"
 
Schools / Government and Aviation

As mentioned several times already, school districts already specified and accepted the iPad 2 for classroom use. Their contracts with Apple would be at a discount, and would be for multiple purchases over several years. Schools will have invested in other peripherals and applications to go with this, and they don't want a mismatch of hardware and software versions.

The FAA qualified the iPad 2 OK for use in airplane cockpits (it took them around 10 months), and 3 months later the iPad 3 came out. In Aviation, it is usual to specify that units be available for purchase for at least 5 years, and repairable for 10.
 
The reason is Simple.
People are still buying them Because all the major Automation companies (crestron,Savant, Etc.) Only make docks (table and in wall) for the 30 pin Ipads.
When the new docks with lighting connectors are released in the next few months sales will go down.
I myself have purchased more than 40 in the last 3 months for clients. And I'm sure other automation companies across the country purchase a lot as well. Its cheaper for people to buy and Ipad2 with dock than purchase a dedicated Crestron Touch panel. They are only being used to control their systems.
 
People were buying iPad 2 because it's lighter than the iPad 3 & 4. On paper not much but you can actually feel the extra weight of the latter two. But now iPad Air is released and given that the iPad 2's selling price is not much cheaper than the iPad Air, this time I really don't see who's going to buy the iPad 2.
 
kudukudu said:
definitely crazy to buy the ipad 2 at this point. Even if you are okay with it running slower, you are buying into a legacy device that isn't supported by newer versions of IOS, newer apps, etc. I have an ipad 1 and I turned it over to my kids since I have found it to be a paperweight in terms of being able to actually run anything I am inclined to download from the appstore.

I wonder why apple didn't discontinue the ipad 2 and still sell the ipad 4. On the iphone side this would be like them offering the iphone 5s, iphone 5c and iphone 2.
Click to expand...

No it's not, the 2011 iPad is the iPad 2 and the 2011 iPhone is the iPhone 4S, which they DO sell. The 2012 iProducts have been discontinued except for the iPod Touch (5th Generation) and iPad Mini.
 
Last edited:
They are keeping it because EDU keeps buying it, but its wrong of Apple. They should replace it with the 4. EDU is cheap and technically uneducated. Government has an unspoken rule (which is idiotic) to buy the least expensive. The people buying iPad2s don't know any better they buy it cuz its cheap. Also, the 30pin is atrocious when you are trying to connect it to a 30 iPad cart! Lightening is better, it connects!
 
rkuo said:
But those iPad's will be obsolete years before the 3 or 4 are.
Click to expand...
Not an issue for the large block of users who can't be bothered with iOS upgrades. The iPad 2 has years of legs left for that market sector.
 
If Apple wanted a modern $399 tablet, they should have taken the iPad 4 and thrown a non-retina display in it. The iPad 2 is goofy with its horrible camera, 30 pin connector, and A5 chip. Imagine a $399 iPad that was

A6
1080p/5mp camera
Non-retina display

Would make perfect sense at $399. $100 more and you get the iPad Air with its light weight, Retina display, and A7 speed.
 
dstud208 said:
I have an iPad 2, when I upgraded to iOS 7 I did a clean install by plugging it into iTunes (after backing up anything I cared about via Dropbox or whatever). It runs just as fast as it did brand new. I don't experience any lag, pretty much ever. I recommend going that route, which puts you in the same boat as those buying it new. While I wouldn't buy it now, I can definitely see some people getting and loving it.

Ps: yes installing and restoring manually is time consuming and annoying, but it's totally worth it
Click to expand...

I did it, and it worked for me. iPad 2 is good as new. Thanks for the tip.
 
bretm said:
It's bigger than the mini. Some people don't see as well as you. They need stuff bigger. And the retina doesn't do much good if you don't see so well. :p
Click to expand...

Text is barely any larger on a full size iPad. However, luckily for those of you with bad eyesight, all that text can be enlarged through the wonders of software. Book to hard to read? Adjust text size! Article to hard to read? Reader! iOS 7 does a great job of solving that issue with Dynamic Text and Larger Text.

Not convinced.

----------
ThisIsNotMe said:
10 division with 25 employees all needed in run SalesForce and SingNow.
Thats $25,000 in savings over the iPad Air while being equally productive.

What is the advantage of spending $25,000 more again?
None you say?
Ok then....
Click to expand...

Valid. My point was towards a consumer looking to buy a tablet. Wether for work or personal use.

Your example is that of a bulk purchase, to run limited tasks. Different scenarios, but a valid argument for the iPad 2.

The iPad 2 will become the next white polycarbonate macbook. Eventually it will only be sold to schools and businesses in bulk, before it eventually disappears.
 
theelysium said:
They are keeping it because EDU keeps buying it, but its wrong of Apple. They should replace it with the 4. EDU is cheap and technically uneducated. Government has an unspoken rule (which is idiotic) to buy the least expensive. The people buying iPad2s don't know any better they buy it cuz its cheap. Also, the 30pin is atrocious when you are trying to connect it to a 30 iPad cart! Lightening is better, it connects!
Click to expand...

They Licensed the iPad 2 which needs to be repairable for 10 years via government standards. The iPad 2 is here to stay.
 
re: why does Apple still sell iPad 2

I have owned iPad 4, 3, 2, and iPad mini. The iPad 2 isn't that different from the higher models for someone like me who only uses it for web browsing, email, casual gaming, & occasional utube. Its still a slim nice design, more pleasing IMO than many comparable 10" tablets by other makers. I sold my iPad 4, I felt like I was wasting it since I didn't use it much and it cost almost $600. With the iPad 2 it's not as concerning whether I'm using it enough, it cost a lot less. You get the thrill of a well-made apple product at a reasonable price.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013 MBA 13.3", iPad 2 16GB, iPod Touch 32GB 4th Gen, iPad Mini 16GB
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back