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Buying an ipad Air and paying that much margin. Not impressive. At least the retina Mini is a better buy.

Hard to compare two different sized units as one being a better buy....if you want the larger screen, getting a smaller one is never a better deal, as you sacrifice what you really need or want.
 
Not to take away from your very valid point ...

But they don't sell it at that price. Retailers do.

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Nope. You can't upgrade the RAM.

Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, Amazon and everyone else sells it too. So I don't see your point.

The difference here is the margins for the third party outfit. The food industry allots resellers wide margins for resale.

Apple offers slim to no margins for third party resellers. As an example, when the iPad mini retailed for $329.99, they were being sold to big players like Target, Best Buy etc for roughly $300. The cellular models are sold at no available margin to the retailer, but for those that have partnerships with the carriers receive a bounty for the activation.
 
Apple's quarterly profit margin (company wide) was just announced in the 36% range (includes R&D, taxes, *everything*) and I believe they have over $90 Bil in cash.

They could EASILY drop the base model to 32 gigs (and probably add an 8mp camera). But people are so enthralled that they will make the latest iThing their third priority in life after rent and food. And then people complain they have no money hahahaha.
 
Hard to compare two different sized units as one being a better buy....if you want the larger screen, getting a smaller one is never a better deal, as you sacrifice what you really need or want.

The problem with your argument, is that it is rational... and there is no room for that in this discussion!;)
 
I guess that's excluded the costs of innovation & research etc. etc...

Also this doesn't take into account the coat of logistics, packaging, advertising, retail store overheads, staff overheads, 1st year warranty. I think this report just proves that the iPads are remarkably good value. Especially with all the added software.


Still doesn't justify 1GB RAM and 16GB base storage in 2013. Moreover they charge $100 for additional 16GB storage which costs them next to nothing. The top-end model is nearly twice the cost of the base model for just more storage and LTE. There's no denying its just a business decision, they'll include 2GB RAM next year and call it revolutionary, magical and other fancy words.
 
Setting up stores. Hiring employees to sell the goods. Doing warranty repairs. Handling returns from customers who change their minds. And so on and so on.

Every time iSuppli publishes these estimates, people without the slightest idea of how a business works come out and complain because they think the difference between retail price and the price of a bunch of parts in China is profit.

It is quite comical. I do not like to use this term (because it is annoying), but it's "business 101."
 
They charge what people are willing to pay. It's not sophisticated marketing, but Apple is able to say, "Starting at only $499." I wouldn't buy the base model, but it's more attractive than saying, "Starting at only $699," which is still more appealing than saying "Starting at only $700." Apple wants to make a certain amount from each iPad sale, and it's not $499. Auto manufacturers do the same thing. That base price car is not going to be sitting on the showroom floor, and you're going to be paying for a lot of additional features.

Take a look at the markup on a diamond ring, and then the iPad will seem like a useful bargain. ;)
 
Buying an ipad Air and paying that much margin. Not impressive. At least the retina Mini is a better buy.

Right, because all the engineers and designers that Apple hired to create the product, the software, the firmware, and the packaging all work for free.
 
We are indeed sheep for the slaughter.

There is no slaughter. People vote with their wallets. Every "sheep" is free to walk out of the Apple store and order a Surface, or a Kindle from Amazon, etc. if they think Apple's markup, compared to the iPad's benefits, is more unfair than that of the competition's. Some do. 100's of millions of customers don't.

Some shareholders buy ramen from the stock dividends.
 
With the iPad Air, Apple appears to have reached a new milestone on the wireless front: It can support every LTE frequency with a single combination of chips. "This is something Apple tried to do with the iPhone 5S and 5C, but it couldn't quite get there," Rassweiler says. "One single model of the iPad Air is able to work with all US wireless carriers."

...and yet the iPad is locked to the carrier you chose, except Verizon which has an unlocked GSM. (last I heard).

WTH is iPad locked like this??
 
Time for apple to show some good-will after everything they have put us through the last 24 months.


Sounds like you need a therapist, or should just stop with the stupid hyperbole. You don't like your experience with your Apple products? There are plenty of others to choose from.

Quit making a voluntary transaction for luxury goods seem like something you're forced into.
 
What innovation and research. It's the same device since the first iPad. Only thing change is it's speed, and the CPU costs seem to stay the same every year. Still, the cellular versions are WAYYY overpriced. Don't get me started on the extra $100 every time I want to double my capacity for something that costs them $15.

Funny thing there is that you actually get the best value by doubling all the way up to 128 GB.
 
I guess that's excluded the costs of innovation & research etc. etc...

Innovation is not an expense.

On the other hand it doesn't include salaries, however many billions of sq/ft of space Apple now occupies, legal fees, and countless other overhead items.
 
45% margin. Impressive.

heh heh, need to retake a refresher on the six grade reading class?

The estimates from IHS iSuppli cover only the cost of the various components that make up the device and do not include other costs involved in product development, manufacturing, and sales, such as research and development, software, patent licenses, marketing, and distribution expenditures.

The distribution cost (BB, Walmart don't like to work for free :cool:) cost lone is anywhere between 10 to 15% of MSRP or $50-$75 a tablet on the base 16G model. Then you throw in the warranty cost, shipping cost, advertising, inventory cost, etc...Still think Ipad air has 45% margin? I have a bridge to sell :cool:)
 
And this is why I don't purchase the embedded models. I have T-Mobile prepaid hotspot that when I need the service, I can choose to light it up for $35 and get 3.5 GB of data, and the entire family can be connected.

I'm still grandfathered on unlimited AT&T iPad data, with a Verizon unlimited iPhone plan - both have their better service areas.
 
The difference here is the margins for the third party outfit. The food industry allots resellers wide margins for resale.

Apple offers slim to no margins for third party resellers. As an example, when the iPad mini retailed for $329.99, they were being sold to big players like Target, Best Buy etc for roughly $300. The cellular models are sold at no available margin to the retailer, but for those that have partnerships with the carriers receive a bounty for the activation.

When did you get your information? One of my friend get a 5s at the reseller cost with $70 discount (one of those mom and pop reseller).. Didn't reseller has to pay salary etc. to their stuff?
 
So according to this report, 16GB of RAM is approx $9 and 128GB is $60, a difference of $51. Apple has the gall to charge a $249 markup, and most gladly pay it. We are indeed sheep for the slaughter.

You mean Flash Storage, not RAM...and I don't know that you should take their word for that either.
 
The problem with your argument, is that it is rational... and there is no room for that in this discussion!;)

I do that sometimes....it happens when I log in and Safari is snappier....

Seriously....I sold my iPad 3 in the office 10 seconds after I sent the email, and picked up the Air....love the feel and lighter weight.
 
Like someone else said its genius Apple gets away with it, and in the end the joke is on the consumer, because they continue to buy it at those prices. Myself, I won't upgrade to a newer ipad until apple has 32gb as the base model, so I'll be waiting awhile.
 
Economics 101: The price of a product is how much the market is willing to pay for it along a supply/demand curve.

Vote with your wallets.
 
heh heh, need to retake a refresher on the six grade reading class?



The distribution cost (BB, Walmart don't like to work for free :cool:) cost lone is anywhere between 10 to 15% of MSRP or $50-$75 a tablet on the base 16G model. Then you throw in the warranty cost, shipping cost, advertising, inventory cost, etc...Still think Ipad air has 45% margin? I have a bridge to sell :cool:)

AAPL has a net profit margin of about 22% after expenses and R&D and wages etc etc etc

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=AAPL+Key+Statistics
 
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That's almost $300 without the labor of building it. My colleague in the first post thinks it's pretty ridiculous of Apple to charge so much for the 16GB but at already close to $300 without labor, R&D and advertising what do you expect Apple to do to make a profit? Would I love for it to be cheaper? Surely, but at the end of the day it's business and you don't have to buy, just remember that.
But u also have to remember that Apple buys the individual items by the Millions!, so the price breakdown reflects what the consumer would have to pay for a replacement. Most likely they are paying pennies for a A7 chip!!
 
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