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The slates used a stylus for input. Overall, the tablet devices and this particular project wasn't very successful, but it was a pilot project and a good deal was learned from the experiment.

So, basically similar to a Newton? What kind of stylus input could a device running DOS handle? I assume it would be a custom application but would it have just been an ASCII UI?
 
I just gotta ask... IF this report said Apple manufacturing cost was close to the retail price (forget about silly stuff like insurance, warranty, salaries, etc) would those who are feigning outrage now, praise Apple instead and get in line to buy?

I'm going to guess the answer is no. You either want an iPad at the price Apple is selling at or you don't. People don't buy based on how fat or thin a product's profit margin is. Look at the PS3. Sony sells it at near cost and its still #3.
 
iPad truly does not look good for Apple. iPad feels like a Beta or a half ass finished technology.

Well, since it's not shipping for a few more months (and you can't even pre-order one yet), technically it is not a finished product and not even a beta. That certainly includes software and maybe hardware too. Not sure if they're going to be able to get that camera in there, but there's a lot that can be changed or added prior to launch on the software side. At the very least, they must have some plan for those missing iPhone apps (Stocks, Weather, Calculator, Messages, etc.), possibly with limited multitasking or dashboard-like interface, and lots of interface tweaks.
 
The cost to produce a medium Pepsi is a fraction of the full retail price at the movies.

I like this point. A medium Pepsi is 5 cents for the cup, 2 cents for the ice and 4 cents for the soda. A movie theater will charge you $5.50 for 11 cents worth of materials. That a 5000% mark-up. Where's the outrage there? :eek:

I'm still buying an iPad.
 
I'd imagine that nobody complaining about the price has any clue of how retail pricing works. A company doesn't need to worry about what one person thinks is a fair price. If something is overpriced for the market, it won't sell enough. They are going to sell millions of these things, especially at this price point.

It looks like the same people that were whining that it had "better not cost $1000" are the same ones saying $499 is too expensive. Anyone complaining they won't buy one because of the markup over the cost of materials is just trolling. They weren't buying one anyway.
Yeah, they are probably the same ones saying, "it's missing ____ feature so I'm not buying it."

It's not about an individual's opinion. It's about the overall mass market.
 
Apple is going to knock it out of the park again!


So many negatives on this story. You do realize Apple is a company and needs to make a profit?

I think we should be congratulating them.
 
I'm sure this has been beaten to death already - I didn't read all 12 pages worth of posts - but where is the R&D?

That thing is an oversized iPod Touch. There was no R&D there.

Says a person with no concept of what is involved in designing something like this.

Steve Jobs didn't just wake up two weeks before the announcement and say "Assemble a big iPod touch with a 9.7 inch screen. Here are the specs for it's custom processor and the equipment needed to manufacture everything. It came to me in a dream last night. Oh, and those apps that we use on the iPod touch, they'll just magically rejigger themselves to work better on a larger screen, right? Good."
 
In case you haven't noticed yet, but Apple was the last one to show up on the Slate party. And unlike most of the other guests, they haven't even brought a real computer with them.

thank you! Let me know when they actually make a tablet COMPUTER.
 
thank you! Let me know when they actually make a tablet COMPUTER.

There is a large possibility this will be the way for computing in the (near) future. User experience is what it's all about. Time will tell of course.
 
So why is there 400 dollar markup on the 3G model? I didnt think it would cost that much to add 3G capability, but they are charging an arm and a leg for it.

Maybe I will wait for when the price drops. as Steve says there is room for reduction in price

Well companies has to keep a budget to fund R&D... which you need to consider how much they are paying salaries for their R&D engineers to work daily over the years to come up with the final ipad. They have to recoup this cost, and be able to pay these salaries.

Furthermore, they still need to earn a profit, and pay for marketing, promo's and advertisement, whose cost are not included in that list.
 
There is a large possibility this will be the way for computing in the (near) future. User experience is what it's all about. Time will tell of course.

I hope not... just with the Centralized Apps, single browser, non-compatibility, and some crazy corporate vendetta with a web plug-in (let it go Apple and let people decide if they want Flash or not on their browser, the web does not need "saving") it all seems to be going backwards. For what? Multi touch?

But yes, time will tell - lets see what HP makes.
 
Well companies has to keep a budget to fund R&D... which you need to consider how much they are paying salaries for their R&D engineers to work daily over the years to come up with the final ipad. They have to recoup this cost, and be able to pay these salaries.

Furthermore, they still need to earn a profit, and pay for marketing, promo's and advertisement, whose cost are not included in that list.

I'm pretty sure that the complainers are consciously deciding to ignore all of that, because they can't seriously be that ignorant. Despite what some might believe there are millions of dollars in development costs before they even sell a single iPad.
 
Apple is seeking to run a profitable business!! :mad::mad::mad:

How dare they? I'm not going to buy an iPad now! :mad:
 
lol a people saying r&d here....where this is just a huge ipod touch lol....maybe at most 10000 dollars in r&d
 
wow... if they have to reduce prices for greater adoption, knocking a few bucks off of those 3G models wouldn't be bad.

you can only reduce the $499 model so far, before cannibalizing the high-end iPods.
 
lol a people saying r&d here....where this is just a huge ipod touch lol....maybe at most 10000 dollars in r&d

You don't understand anything about R&D do you?

Did you read up at all about the prototype laptop that got stolen that was valued at $100,000? Its just a laptop though!

Come back when you have a firm grasp on reality.
 
For the off-topic movie theatre/soda discussion:
It's true, movie theaters keep almost none of the money they make on ticket sales. Something around the mid 90's % goes back to the movie companies while all the theaters revenue comes from soda, popcorn and candy. That $5.50 medium soda costs them about 32 cents to produce, package and sell to you. Similar markup on popcorn and candy a little less but still admirable.

I used to work in the theater industry.

Not true. Usually, the percentage is a sliding scale based on how long the film has played in the theater. 90% of the box office going to the distributor would be on the high end, perhaps for a first week, but it will be reduced later in the run.

Not saying that the theaters don't make a huge chunk of their revenue from concessions, but the numbers aren't as severe as that, unless you worked for a theater company that isn't very good at negotiating deals.
 
I knew that $130 for a 3G chip was ridiculous. I have no problem with Apple wanting to make a profit, and I think the base price of $500 is actually pretty good. The $130 premium for 3G, when it's not costing them anywhere near that much, is a huge mistake. It's going to force a lot of people to wait, and some to opt for Wi-Fi only, which will make 3G less ubiquitous and fragment the market for developers. I don't imagine AT&T is happy about that either.

ALL models should have 3G, none Wi-Fi only

I strongly, strongly disagree. This isn't a pocket device. It's something that will be used at least 75% of the time (for me, personally, more like 98%) where there is wi-fi available. I want to pay ZERO for a cell chipset. Not $130, not $30. Many, many people will not use it. This isn't speculation... the iPod Touch far outsells the iPhone, because people want that thing but aren't willing to pay an up-front premium plus a monthly charge for the service for something they won't get much use out of.

Pricing the 3G model that much higher is a smart move on Apple's part... they know that most of the people who would pay $30 extra for that feature will just as soon pay $130 more. It's a fairly inelastic demand until the price gets much more outrageous. If you think that $30/month for occasionally using the cell radio is worth it for you, you're willing to pay a good bundle up-front also. Price is not your foremost concern.
 
Im all for a company to make profit. However gouging the customer is not the way to do so.

For instance, Im interested in the 16gb with 3g Ipad, according to this article it only cost $257.65 to make, yet the retail is $629.00. Thats $371.35 in profit. Now Id be wiling to let them have half that profit which totals $185.68. Add that onto the cost of the device, which would come out to $443.33. Round it up to $450 bucks for marketing purposes and you would be selling them till their out of stock and still taking money to the bank. R&D? please...There are minor tweaks to the OS to allow for the new hardware since this is an Iphone OS. Development costs would be included in the manufacturing costs..which if this article is correct, its $10.

You know that 371.35 is simply gross profit. You know, there are other things on the income statement that 371.35 pays for...


I figured I'll just paste Apples full 10-K since no one would actually click on a link to see where all the money actually goes, but it's too long. Anyway... Leases, wages, interest expenses, R&D, office supplies, marketing, electric bills....

If I hire you do do some handy work around my house, I'm just going to pay for the materials you used. I don't care that you have a family to support.
 
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