'iPad Mini' Pricing to Begin at Approximately $329

[TigerWoodsIV]

I'm shocked at this price. Hopefully the features blow away the competition, because the price is so high at that screen size. I had no interest in this, and now I'm happy I don't. My iPad 2 is doing just fine. Hopefully those prices are wrong...

 

[Oletros]

What makes you think Apple is producing this product to reduce the market share of Android tablets?

What if Apple merely wants to capitalise on a new segment of the market that is all about premium features in a 7" form factor? Wouldn't that product with its accompanying high price be perfectly in line with Apple brand values and Apple pricing?

What premium features will have an iPad mini?

 

[Che Castro]

$329 is an ok price

As long as it has retina & A6

 

[wolfpackfan]

It's 30 bucks. Quit crying about it. If you can afford 300 you can afford 330.

But the question in my mind is if the 16GB Nexus 7 is $199 and the 16Gb iPad mini is $329, will people pay the extra $130 to get the iPad. I probably will not as much as I love my current iPad 1 and my iPhone 5.

 

[osofast240sx]

Maybe people were willing to spend $250 for 8GB ipad mini and a max of $300 for it. Under that situation, it is not $30 more, so stop saying it is $30 more. It is $80 more, and if the nexus 7/16GB becomes $200, it will seem like $130 more.

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Your fiance will be $100 short cause the nexus 7 with 16GB is rumored to be $200.

then stop saying apple is competing against the nexus 7.

 

[Oletros]

then stop saying apple is competing against the nexus 7.

And who are competing against then?

 

[BeauPaul]

Apple will blow away the competition! Nexus only has a 1.2 megapixial camera - no retina display. I don't get the people on here bad mouthing apple products. Apple always blows away the competition, thats why we love their products!

 

[osofast240sx]

And who are competing against then?

Idevices compete against other idevices

 

[Oletros]

Idevices compete against other idevices

🙄🙄🙄

 

[SeattleMoose]

That pricing structure makes no cents to me 😱

 

[MRU]

Idevices compete against other idevices

🙄🙄🙄

You may not like his answer but there is truth to it.

The iPad mini at $329 is clearly competing with the iPod touch and not the cheaper android based tablets.

 

[Lynn Belvedere]

But it's not 360, 390, etc. It's only 30 bucks more than you wanted to spend. Suck it up and save it somewhere else if you really want this. It's quite simple.

You clearly missed the point. It doesn't matter if it's $330 or $690, I ain't paying one red cent above $299. Period. Bottom line. End of discussion.

If you want to be a sucker and overpay for a gimped 7 inch tablet, go right ahead.

 

[gnasher729]

I don't know but Google doesn't sell the 16Gb models at cost, they make a healthy profit if I see the numbers iFixit came up with.

For heavens sake, iFixit numbers are for the parts only. iFixit numbers are not what it costs to sell a device to a customer, they are just the cost of a bag of parts in China.

Do you think you can turn these parts into devices at no cost, package them and send them to a store half way round the world at no cost, put them on the shelves and sell them with paying rent for the store, wages to the employees, taxes, a percentage to the bank for handling the money, and no customer will ever call your help line, nobody will ever return a device, no device will ever break and need to be repaired or replaced?

Now if you add all that cost, you arrive at gross margin. Which is not profit, because gross margin doesn't take into account development, marketing, advertising, the cost to run a business and all that.

 

[doelcm82]

So, I'm looking at around $350 for a base model with taxes. I guess I won't be selling my iPad 3 then.

I figured it'd be in the $300 price range. 🙁 I was hoping $299 min though.

I won't be selling mine either. But then, I never was planning to. I'll wait for the next generation, and see what it has to offer.

 

[PlutoniusX]

What makes you think Apple is producing this product to reduce the market share of Android tablets?

What if Apple merely wants to capitalise on a new segment of the market that is all about premium features in a 7" form factor? Wouldn't that product with its accompanying high price be perfectly in line with Apple brand values and Apple pricing?

What part of "reducing market share of competitors" fits with Apple and its strategy, past or present?

Create a new segment, enter it and dominate it - that's Apple, and that's a classic business school case study success.

How can it have premium features when the rumour is a 1024x768 resolution screen? Thats not premium, thats vintage.

 

[jigzaw]

Over $300 and we're getting into regular iPad price territory. Why bother to make a Mini if it's not even that much cheaper than the full iPad? If it's retina and has some amazing processing power and new features not on the current iPads, then I can see it, but otherwise it's way overpriced and will lose sales to Kindles and Androids that have higher-resolution screens and cost half as much.

 

[Roessnakhan]

Nexus 7 for $199/250 at 16GB and 32GB respectively, and provided the iPad mini isn't retina, and has the rumored 1024x768 screen resolution, then the N7 also has better resolution. Apple would be betting a lot on their brand name to sell this one.

 

[Eidorian]

Nexus 7 for $199/250 at 16GB and 32GB respectively, and provided the iPad mini isn't retina, and has the rumored 1024x768 screen resolution, then the N7 also has better resolution. Apple would be better a lot on their brand name to sell this one.

I am getting conflicting information on the updated Nexus 7. The 8 GB is going to stick around at $199 with the 32 GB superseding the 16 GB model. Or the 16 GB is bumped down to $199 to be replaced by the 32 GB at the $249 price point.

Then there is the new Nexus phone and Nexus 10 tablet for October 29th.

 

[waloshin]

299 and I would've bought two; one for me, one for my parents. 329 and I'll pass. Makes no sense? I don't care.

That's quite the logic:

For $299 you would spend $598 for two instead of just $329 for one?

Apple is just asking for $30 more over what everyone was hoping for. They are not asking for $100 more.

 

[osofast240sx]

You may not like his answer but there is truth to it.

The iPad mini at $329 is clearly competing with the iPod touch and not the cheaper android based tablets.

Apple is also betting the average consumer is going to buy that additional idevice within 3 to 6 months.

 

[sphoenix]

Personally I hope none of the iPad mini rumours turn out to be true. Apple used to be a company that simply WOW'd you with new inventions and this usual pattern of product codes & pictures being leaked months before release are slowly bringing their reputation down.

I for one will be expecting the unexpected from Apple, I'm sure they can still pull something out of their sleeves. I'm sure I could be wrong, too.

 

[kartana]

Looks like Nope.avi after all! Just the other way round.

 

[doelcm82]

$329? That's too expensive for a "mini", was expecting somewhere between $250 and $300. Also, it has to start at 16GB at least.

Also what's the point of getting a Mini for $329, when you can buy a used 3rd gen for around $400?

What if you want an iPad that is smaller than the 3rd gen one? If that's the case $400 is no bargain for something you don't really want.

Also, you can wait six months and get the iPad mini used for a similar discount, so why not compare Apples to Apples?

If the iPad 2 is no longer being sold new (or even if it is), the entry level price for an iPad is now $70 less.

 

[apolloa]

If you are right...Apple will fail to reduce the market share of android tablets. More expensive, less features, lower specifications than the competition. Does not sound like a recipe for success. The Ipad 3 is the best in its segment, no doubt about it, but with the specification you have listed, the iPad Mini will be a joke.

I'm afraid you seriously underestimate the power of the fruit logo, they could stick it on a lump of poo and sell it at $300 and MILLIONS would buy it! Same with a high priced low spec iPad Mini, they could charge $350 or $400 and millions will buy it even at 8GB and then gloat about their purchase.

I had no hopes Apple would hit the $199 mark, but I'd hoped the 8GB no LTE mini should be $249. That would have really been tough for the competition. Even $299 would be ok, but $329 just looks chintzy. Your competitors are giving it away for free, you can swallow the $20.

Is this rumor coming from the leaked UK prices article? Have there been any updating sources? Or are we just running with it?

It came from analysts etc in a story from 9to5mac:

http://9to5mac.com/2012/10/20/apples-smaller-ipad-to-likely-start-at-a-minimum-of-329-in-the-u-s/

329 for a 8 GB when you can get the rumored nexus 7 32 GB for 249 I dont even know how can justify the mini...

Bang on, why are people gloating the ipad is here to stay but Android is not? What???? So in your eye's the app store will go on and on for ever and ever but Android and it's stores and apps will simply fade away and vanish? Not will millions and millions of devices sold and Apple pricing it's devices at premium prices it won't!

IMO stating Android isn't in it for the long haul is just as much of a wish full thinking fantasy dreamland statement as stating the iPad Mini was going to be $200!

 

[macfacts]

Do you think you can turn these parts into devices at no cost, package them and send them to a store half way round the world at no cost, put them on the shelves and sell them with paying rent for the store, wages to the employees, taxes, a percentage to the bank for handling the money, and no customer will ever call your help line, nobody will ever return a device, no device will ever break and need to be repaired or replaced?

Now if you add all that cost, you arrive at gross margin. Which is not profit, because gross margin doesn't take into account development, marketing, advertising, the cost to run a business and all that.

Let's look at assembly costs and r&d and marketing and etc...

Cost for a asian to assemble the ipad: $10 http://www.voxxi.com/assembling-an-apples-iphone-in-foxconn-plant-8/

Cost of R&D per iDevice: (2.2% of sales) or $7.26 = 0.022*$330 http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apples-r-and-d-spending-hits-bottom-as-percentage-of-revenue/60872

Cost of Marketing in 2010: $691 million, much lower than the $1.78 Billion spend on R&D
http://appleinsider.com/articles/10...n_but_still_outpaced_by_new_sales_growth.html

Cost of retail stores, staff, etc: All companies pay this.