Small White Car said:
$299 for either the iPod or the iPad Mini.
Is this all a SWAG or do you have inside knowledge?
A prediction based on these thoughts:
1) Apple's entire reason for creating a small iPad is to fight the 7" Android tablets. Tim Cook has
specifically said that Apple
won't leave a "price umbrella" where cheap tablets can safely live.
When you have the CEO telling you their plan outright, it's good to take that into account.
This alone narrows us down to the $150 - $350 range.
2) But let's keep shaving. On the high end I don't think Apple will go so close to the iPad 2 ($399) and at the low end I don't think they feel the need to match the Kindle Fire's price since the iPad Mini will have a bigger screen and the Apple App store.
Thus, I think the iPad Mini price range will be between $199 - $299. So that's my real guess...that range. So why do I pick $299 as my more specific guess?
3) It would create these nice clean prices for iPads. Not proof but worth thinking about given that this IS Apple we're talking about.
$299 - Mini
$399 - Last Year's
$499 - This Year's
That kind of structure appeals to Apple.
4) ...and finally, Apple does love their 30%+ profit margins. Even when making a 'cheap' product I really see Apple going for $299 because, frankly, they can. An iPad at that price will still out-sell a small Android tablet that costs $199 (we know this because the
$499 iPad has been out-selling them), so why wouldn't Apple take the higher price?
No proof here, but based on all this I'd be surprised if the iPad Mini costs anything other than $199 to $299.