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Apple Tablet to Be Priced 'Shockingly' Low?

Consider for a moment it is feasible that it is "shockingly low", in the manner of iPhone. (Which wasn't really shockingly low when plan costs considered.)

A low priced tablet could be bundled with a "content plan" being a subscription to buy content from the "iTunes" store. (Which would have to be up for a relabel.) This would instantly create a serious revenue stream for the digital content Apple wants to distribute.

Alternatively, one could buy a tablet like an iPhone outright for full cost without the content subscription.

Game on.
 
Maybe these guys we're a little high on the "Duvel" sitting on their table. One of my favourite beers (Belgian beer rocks :cool: ) but oh soooo dangerous :p

To the point : I don't believe it, unless it's subsidized (which I hope not - plz plz plz Apple don't go that route).
 
Low Price for tablet, dont think so.

h4ck said:
jesus ***** ***** why am i not surprised to see this here.

hi guys, me again.

no.

apple doesn't sell cheap ****.

never will.

look at their business model, and look at their bank account.

why do people feel it necessary to say/perpetuate this stupid rumor that comes up EVERY SINGLE TIME a new product is rumored, and why do people continually believe it???????
Click to expand...

I agree, a new piece of technology like this is not going to sell for low, but hey Apple has surprised us in the past with there price points for things, we will just have to wait and see.
 
This post is prescient in several ways...


Rocketman said:
My guess is a large screen Touch with VoIP for voice and no "real" OS10.6 with Finder. I would like to see Finder as an app you can download and use "authorized applications with".
Click to expand...

It the Tablet were to have "real" OS X 10.6 and its associated "desktop" paradigm it would be just another speciality "portable desktop" device-- an alternative to laptops. It would, likely, have the limited success of the current tablets.

What will make Apple's Tablet successful is the OS customized to the capabilities and intended function of the device-- "Tablet OS X", if you will.

The "Finder" capability will exist, to an extent, but it will be different-- tailored to how the device is used and the cloud. More like a "Spotlight on Steroids."

The more cloudy this thing is the more practical it will be to simply control your primary mac or a cloud virtual mac you "own". Apple wants to sell you macs. There is no firm rule it need be a device. It could be an "instance". That might raise margins. :)

The tablet becomes your local, portable I/O device.
Click to expand...

The "cloud virtual mac" is brilliant-- a combination of familiar services and applications, along with your data (storage) accessible: whenever; from wherever-- and tailored to the requesting purpose (device)-- considering the differences in creating/manipulating content and consuming content.

I used to carry a 3.5" floppy to the computer lab with my "environment" on it, which Apple's then current OS recognized and remembered how I set up my desktop and windows. I could go to any of 40 MacIIci's in the lab and have that experience.

No I didn't use it entirely for Tank and Spaceward Ho! I used it for TidBits and my FTP site list and email accounts too. Later for a weird thing called a hypertext page. Whatever the heck that is . . . . .

Rocketman
Click to expand...

A couple of things need to "ramp up" to make this work:

1) Big Server Farms to contain the "virtual mac" content.
2) Higher-speed/bandwidth Internet, WiFi and cell to provide the pipelines to deliver the content.

I suspect, that this will happen!

*
 
Is this shockingly low for the general public, or Apple's idea of shockingly low. There is a £300 difference between the two.

If it's priced between £500 and £750 then it's the general publics idea of shockingly low. If they charge £750 or more, it is Apple's shockingly low.

Remember if they charge £1.800 for a 24 month iPhone deal on the cheapest price, you an bet it'll be upwards of £2,000 for a iTablet/TabletMac.

Those who think it will be cheap are mad. It'll be priced on the same structure as all of Apple's latest offerings. They'll charge as much a people are dumb enough to pay for it.
 
ajmetz said:
I wanna see it at £1.99, so it'll compete with buying a magazine from the news-stand.

All this talk of a tablet, and downloadable magazines, and revolutionising the print industry...duh....why would I spend £500 odd quid to turn virtual pages, when I can buy the mag I want from my newsagents for £2 to £5?
But if they can get a large installed base, and then make money on the virtual newsstand - that's cool.
Click to expand...

I love magazines too, but I hate that they clog up my place. I dont like to throw them away, becxause I rarely read them completely immediately. I still have unread esquires lying around from 6 months ago. It would be great to subscribe to these things on a similar pricepoint and be able to keep them indefinitely without clogging up the space. My planetravels will be sooo entertaining...


ajmetz said:
Although I also hate it when the mag industry looks for "Digitial Magazine" solutions - it's called a website. Skip the PDF downloads, and flash player magazine viewers, and just use html...=p [well, okay, CSS/Flash/PHP/Perl/CGI/ASP/Javascript, etc, etc...]
Click to expand...

The difference is that you can read it offline, but still access the content. I agree that it is like saving a website. But better and functioning. I expect the boundaries between the net and magazines to become blurry here, and I wholeheartedly welcome it. Bring it on!
 
dicklacara said:
This post is prescient in several ways...

The "cloud virtual mac" is brilliant--

A couple of things need to "ramp up" to make this work:

1) Big Server Farms to contain the "virtual mac" content.
2) Higher-speed/bandwidth Internet, WiFi and cell to provide the pipelines to deliver the content.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the nice comments about my post. Bandwidth has always been Apple's biggest stumbling block, Whether from an internal bus or from external internet access for enough people to consider it a mass-consumer item, which is what Apple does. EDGE was wireless, widely deployed (thank you NSA and DoD) which made the IDEA of the iPhone practical, albiet at a crippled bandwidth. All the primary features were deliverable. 3G has incrementally improved bandwidth, if not geographic deployment. LTE (4G) promises to be substantially higher bandwidth, deployed in common format by all major domestic carriers, and have geographic availability comparable to EDGE.

Dead spots will be covered by Wifi and other forms of localized cells like microcell and handtop hotspot and perhaps even mesh networks similar to OLTPC. The primary limit to that now is not technology, but customer usage agreements. If the carriers can agree on permissions protocols for LTE that allows "roaming" with price based access restrictions maintained, we will finally have a seamless wireless broadband service in this country (where available).

The server farms are actually in three tiers. The access gatekeeper (iTunes, .Mac) and the content distribution (owned, leased, contracted server farms worldwide) with affiliation with the gatekeeper (movie and magazine content), and private servers outside of the gatekeeper function (web pages, user computers).

Rocketman
 
it better be around the price of a 32GB iphone 3GS.......

if it comes with a contract with some carrier.....it should be like an iphone 3GS

$199......
 
I really don't care if its "shockingly low", I just don't want it to be "shockingly expensive". Anything under $600 I'm fine with. Higher than that and you may as well go the netbook route or even get a full-size laptop, which can be had for as low as $299 these days.

I want it to be more than a "big" iPhone or iPod touch.

I will pay a premium for features and quality, but only up to a certain point.
 
Alex drives an amazing BMW and him and Kevin generally buy a lot of frivolous goods. So for Alex to say "shockingly" low...I think that would mean $300-$500.

as for the data plans..ARGH
 
peterdevries said:
I love magazines too, but I hate that they clog up my place. I dont like to throw them away, becxause I rarely read them completely immediately. I still have unread esquires lying around from 6 months ago. It would be great to subscribe to these things on a similar pricepoint and be able to keep them indefinitely without clogging up the space.
Click to expand...

I'm the same way, but I'm afraid I would never finish them if I did not see them lying around and staring up at me, with their big brown eyes silently screaming, "Read me! READ ME!"
 
"shockingly low" is completely determined by the perception and expectation of that individual.

i would prefer unsubsidized as i am not interested in another monthly drain on the budget...especially if i were not to find significant utility in the subsidized service...
 
I cringe at $30 a month for tablet, and $30 a month for iphone data.

What Id like to see is a bluetooth enabled, tetherable, $499 tablet running a slightly modified version of OSX. 30 GB memory with expandable 50 GB for $699. This way I could leave my iphone in my pocket tethered to my tablet. But apple just isnt that nice.

That way I could pay for the iphone data and just tether the tablet whenever im not near wifi. All I know is, the sports illustrated thing on the front page is wicked awesome.

I cant get rid of the iphone, because I cant take the tablet everywhere I go, and I cant pay for an iphone and a tablet. so it looks like ill stick with the iphone.
 
ARF900 said:
I cringe at $30 a month for tablet, and $30 a month for iphone data.

What Id like to see is a bluetooth enabled, tetherable, $499 tablet running a slightly modified version of OSX. 30 GB memory with expandable 50 GB for $699. This way I could leave my iphone in my pocket tethered to my tablet. But apple just isnt that nice.

That way I could pay for the iphone data and just tether the tablet whenever im not near wifi. All I know is, the sports illustrated thing on the front page is wicked awesome.

I cant get rid of the iphone, because I cant take the tablet everywhere I go, and I cant pay for an iphone and a tablet. so it looks like ill stick with the iphone.
Click to expand...

I would wish for a "family plan" for a user who has an iTablet, iPhone, and computer. One account, one premium fee and 1-2 minor add-on fees.

Heck, another small add-on fee to gain access to the competitors LTE (whatever) network.

If ATT is listening, $40 for the iPhone or iTablet, $15 extra for the other, $15 extra for approval to tether a PC, and $15 for cross-network usage with Verizon.

More than what I pay now, but less than what I would pay with discreet plans and it is buy what you need a la carte. Voice/VoIP included.

That way you get ATT pricing and Verizon service when needed. :D

Rocketman
 
What's low?

Depending on how the device is configured, shocking low might be $1400. For the right device, this would be a nice price and I might get one. It all comes down to what it actually offers. There is no point in Apple releasing some cheesy underpowered junk unit for $500 -- no profit and no appeal.

Consider that a Toshiba Portege M750 is up around $1700, and that's a decent price if it's what you need.
 
TraceyS/FL said:
The most beautiful plane ever..... so, so, so pretty! :cool:
Click to expand...

Waaaay off topic, but boy, the SR-71 could never be classed as 'beautiful'. Maybe it was 'awesome', 'cool' but its got a look only its mother would love.

Now Concorde on the other hand...now thats what you'd call beauty and art in a mechanical form...
 
"Shockingly low" is utterly meaningless out of context. We don't yet know what it can do, what it can't do, or who their target demographic is :confused:
 
God I hope they dont try to tie people to contracts once again like the iPhone. I wanna enter an Apple Store, buy anything I want with my $$$ without troubling myself with credit checks and long term contracts and etc..

BTW; why the hell would anyone use that embeded crappy player. There's also a Youtube link for it, why not use it??? :S

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_R7pp5xp9E
 
Gasu E. said:
I'm the same way, but I'm afraid I would never finish them if I did not see them lying around and staring up at me, with their big brown eyes silently screaming, "Read me! READ ME!"
Click to expand...

peterdevries said:
I love magazines too, but I hate that they clog up my place. I dont like to throw them away, becxause I rarely read them completely immediately. I still have unread esquires lying around from 6 months ago. It would be great to subscribe to these things on a similar pricepoint and be able to keep them indefinitely without clogging up the space. My planetravels will be sooo entertaining...

The difference is that you can read it offline, but still access the content. I agree that it is like saving a website. But better and functioning. I expect the boundaries between the net and magazines to become blurry here, and I wholeheartedly welcome it. Bring it on!
Click to expand...

A print mag I used to buy last year has this year turned into an iPhone application. I currently only have a MacBook Pro, so have been able to download it via iTunes, but can't run it. =P Anyone with an iPhone wanna message me and tell me whether it works, reading mags on touch-screen digital devices like the iPhone?
http://www.distilldigital.com
[or just search for "distill" on the app store]
 
ajmetz said:
A print mag I used to buy last year has this year turned into an iPhone application. I currently only have a MacBook Pro, so have been able to download it via iTunes, but can't run it. =P Anyone with an iPhone wanna message me and tell me whether it works, reading mags on touch-screen digital devices like the iPhone?
http://www.distilldigital.com
[or just search for "distill" on the app store]
Click to expand...

Screen size isn't ideal, but it works. I regularly read entire books on my iphone.
 
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