Phil Schiller Defends iPad Mini Pricing Decision

[Want300]

Honestly, I wanted the best they had to offer just in a mini version. I would be willing to pay more if it had these things. It seems like they just wanted to get this mini out asap, so went with lower hardware specs and screen resolution. I hoped for basically an ipad 3 just mini. Makes me want to wait until the next mini comes out. Usually I dish out big money for apple products....even if they are over priced. I would rather it be over priced but have a little better specs.

That makes sense. I think I am about ready to upgrade my iPad 2 now. I would prefer all of my devices use the same connector and I was holding out for the 4th Gen iPad because I had no need to upgrade from the 2 to the 3... but the Rentina display, A6X, and lightning adapter make me feel like its time to go for it...

I just want to know if they plan to go back to releasing the new one around March... or if they are now going to do it every year in October-ish... or if we will see the fourth gen last all the way until March 2014.

 

[Xiroteus]

So you have no hard data to support Apple making a good profit in content. You're just basing this on things you hear. OK.

It was really just a one off comment, it is Apple and they rarely do anything that does not involve a fair bit of profit.

 

[k995]

Good, get one. I've never understood why people who are "supposedly" passionate about something (a brand, etc.) spend their time strolling through the forums of a brand, product, etc. to say why they DON'T WANT ONE?!? They obviously DO WANT ONE -- but spend their time justifying why they can't GET ONE.

If you own a Chevy, you'll likely stroll through the Chevy forums and perhaps the Cadillac, Jaguar, BMW, etc. forums (products that you WANT to get if you COULD). You're wasting your time strolling through the FORD and DODGE forums just to tell everyone that they suck.

Android (and previously Microsoft) zealots have so much pent up ENVY that they waste their (and OUR) time strolling (ie trolling) MacRUmors.

GET A LIFE! (REALLY!)

As if the reverse never happens, funny how blind people can be for there own favorite flavor of the month .

Btw with this logic the shouldnt be. A macrumor site, apple releases people either buy it or they dont

 

[Liquorpuki]

If I was buying a tablet, there's no way in hell I'd buy the iPad Mini at $329 when I could buy a Kindle HD or Nook HD at $200. Not a chance. That would be giving money away for no good reason whatsoever.

He's making a mistake by assuming that what he could get away with in the past will work now. Hell, if what he's saying is true (it's not), he didn't need to introduce the iPad Mini because he had no need to worry about Kindle, Nook, and Google $200 tablets.

Apple's trying to create a midrange market, not compete with the Fire or Nook.

They did the same thing with iPods and were successful. Released the iPod Classic first. Then expanded the market with the iPod Mini, which was cheaper than a Classic but more expensive than the budget MP3 players on the market. Eventually they released the shuffle and went after the budget market directly.

This is their midrange solution and I'm sure they have a $200 iPad in a lab somewhere that'll go head to head with budget tablets. But before they release it, they want to maximize the size of the market and this is how they're trying to do it.

 

[charlituna]

This has nothing to do with conversion rate. Everything electronics costs more in Europe. The problem is that iPad Mini, while being technically inferior, costs much more than competition both in USA and Europe.

If you think the iPad Mini is a piece of crap why are you even reading articles about it. Just go buy your Nexus or whatever you think is so much better and be silently smug that you have something so awesome while we poor morons are wasting money on our crap.

Or do you get off on acting like a troll.

 

[greenmeanie]

I am positive they will not adjust them to $250.00 or lower.
When I ordered new iMACS for two LABs they didn't give me that great of a discount.
The next meeting will be interesting because I talked them into waiting on the IPAD Mini

Did you think of working with an Apple Business Unit rep to see if pricing was adjustable?

My company sure doesn't pay $499 for the regular iPads we deploy.

 

[Nee412]

Purely because the iPad mini is an Apple product I can see why the price tag of £269 here in the UK works. It has the Apple build quality that customers can expect for the premium they pay. It has the status of being an Apple product.

What's wrong isn't the price, it's the specs. To really blow the competition out out of the water it should of had a retina display. It didn't even need an A6 to do it, they could have easily gotten away with an A5X. A little more life out of barely used chip.

 

[charlituna]

IAlthough as others have pointed out, if sales are going to be limited by manufacturing anyway, they might as well price it on the high side in the short term until supply catches up with demand.

Great so lets falsely jack up the price $100 to curb demand and then deal with the fall out when the price goes down on the same item and the early buyers are pissed and demand a refund etc.

Not a smart move which is why Apple doesn't play it

----------

For consideration:

"At $329, it is believed that Apple will duplicate the 58% to 103% gross profit margin it enjoys on the third-generation Apple iPad."

-Phone Arena

That is based on their guess of the costs and their numbers probably came out of their collective butts and not any kind of actual source.

Truth is that the margins are likely much much smaller when have the actual numbers, which Apple doesn't give out.

 

[gto55]

The form factor is not the real problem, imho, it's rather the external competition which is more responsive, offering better specs (actually, even the Chinese tablets offer a true Retina screen for $ 290 and their quality of workmanship and integration only improve) and the internal competition of the iPod Touch which proposes a screen with a higher definition, respecting the current standards, and a better price for the 32gb version

 

[samcraig]

As if the reverse never happens, funny how blind people can be for there own favorite flavor of the month .

Btw with this logic the shouldnt be. A macrumor site, apple releases people either buy it or they dont

I'll add to this. A lot of these people are not at all trolls or can't afford the tech. In fact - they are great Apple supporters and want Apple to succeed as much as possible. Their criticism is seen as bashing when, in fact, it's expecting and wanting more from Apple.

Also - just because you might hate the iPad (for example) doesn't mean you hate iOS, the iPhone, iMac, Apple TV, etc. So you have every right to post on this forum.

The world is not only black and white.

 

[gmanist1000]

I am positive they will not adjust them to $250.00 or lower.
When I ordered new iMACS for two LABs they didn't give me that great of a discount.
The next meeting will be interesting because I talked them into waiting on the IPAD Mini

Has Apple ever changed the price of a new product?

 

[Mausse]

Tick-Tock strategy

This a good example of a common strategy this is the "TICK".....now we wait for the " TOCK"

TOCK=retina, launch in march

 

[osx11]

If $329 was all the cheaper Apple wanted to get with their iPad line, why didn't they just lower the price of the aging iPad 2 by $70? It's absurd to me that $70 is all that separates the iPad 2 from the iPad Mini.

Only $50 separates iPad mini from a refurbished 3rd gen. 16gb iPad.

 

[Xiroteus]

If you think the iPad Mini is a piece of crap why are you even reading articles about it. Just go buy your Nexus or whatever you think is so much better and be silently smug that you have something so awesome while we poor morons are wasting money on our crap.

Or do you get off on acting like a troll.

I believe because they want to like it, that is the biggest reason people complain about tech, we want something and then said company fails to release what we want to spend our money on.

 

[unlimitedx]

Yeah all these people whining about its too expensive. Well don't buy it. It's not like these are must have devices. Buy a Fire or Nexus instead. No one at Apple is stopping you from doing so.

right! apple devices hold value much better than competitors too, so i would argue that the price difference is not as great when factoring in the resale $ when upgrading down the road

 

[Naimfan]

Like many people, I think the mini is $30 too high to start. It should be $299 - the price point is just that much more attractive, and makes it an easier impulse purchase.

No doubt Apple will sell millions of them (literally!). But I wonder how many more they'd sell, and what the overall effect would be on their total sales (not just of iPad minis) if they sold for $299 instead of $329. While the $30 in the grand scheme of things is admittedly not the end of the world, it does represent a significant psychological difference to many people.

 

[Genetheninja]

Comparing the iPad mini to an android device is like comparing a Ferrari to a Fiat and then complaining about the price...

 

[Xytal]

For those not realizing it (and sorry if this was said before, I didn't read all of this thread), the hardware in the iPad Mini is what is in your iPhone 4S and even your iPad 3rd Gen (yes, I know it's a A5X, but that's mostly just on the graphics side). It's going to be plenty speedy. My 4S and iPad 3rd Gen work just fine and I won't notice a difference on the iPad Mini. If I had an iPhone 5, I'd probably notice it a bit, but I'm a poor college student so I can't buy the latest and greatest every year.

The only thing on the iPad 4th Gen that pissed me off was the faster processor, but I'll live; my connectors still work just fine (even though they only go in one way). And yes, the iPad Mini doesn't have a retina display, but it's display is much higher quality (and packed tighter) than the iPad 1/2's screen was. I'll hold my opinion off on the screen until I see it in person.

Either way, the iPad Mini is going to sell like hot cakes, I'm sure.

 

[lilo777]

I was out to dinner with some relatives when this topic came up. One relative was complaining about the price being more than the expected $300. I made a similar comment you just did, then offered to pay for dinner if she thought that would help her justify the cost difference.

In the end, she said she would skip a bottle of wine that week, when she gets the new iPad, and paid for dinner.

I am not sure iPad Mini is worth a good bottle of wine.

 

[lamenramen]

The only way to get apple to lower the price is to not buy it. Then they may reconsider. But I would put the odds of that at less than 10%.

People are going to poo poo the specs, and then they're going to handle one and say, wow this is much nicer than the kindle. than the nexus 7. I want one.

I will try my best to avoid this trap this time around.

 

[KnightWRX]

"We decided on 329$, because people will pay it anyway.".

Guess that's why the 13" rMBP is also priced at an illogical 1699$ (rather than following the 15" rMBP's pricing cues vs the 15" cMBP). Because people will still buy it in massive quantities.

Of course, we all know it's true. Apple could release a device with specs from the stone age at 2199 A.D. prices and people would still line-up on release day and buy all Apple can make. Just sad to hear that's now how Apple also sees it and that they are willing to use that fact to swell their cash reserves.

 

[uknowimright]

why are people saying this is like a shrunken 3rd Gen iPad? (which would of made the $349 price reasonable) it's not, think older

 

[iMacFarlane]

Funniest post of the day. Of course the market went down because of the Bernake retirement rumor lol. If he retires, the over inflated POS (stock market) will sink faster than the Titanic. 0% interest rates, Operation Twist, QE to infinity, stock market PPT, $16T national debt, $125T in unfunded liabilities. This whole things about to implode and most are oblivious to downright clueless. Could you imagine Bernake being replaced by a Volcker like individual? 20% interest rates anyone? Apple won't be immune to what's coming. We're past the point of no return.

Scariest post of the day. The Titanic took 2 hours 40 minutes to sink after colliding with the iceberg. We've got until December 21st, right?

 

[cababah]

So he is pretty much saying that sales were great when customers were getting ripped off at $399, so they should be really excited to be a little less ripped off at $329!

"Our customers will be excited that they don't need to bring as much lube when coming to the store to purchase one of our products."

 

[Txjole]

Simple answer, if you don't like the price make your own!! Because like the Honey Badger, Apple don't care!! I'm pre-ordering 2 and not gonna cry about it.