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All iPads The great memory rip-off

darngooddesign said:
So its still equally overpriced.
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Suppose an 1GB-RAM iPad needs to be upgrade in one year, and you lose $85 for the overpriced extra 16GB of storage in one year.

Suppose a 2GB-RAM iPad could work well with iOS 8 and possibly iOS9 thus can delay the need for upgrade for another year. You lose $85 for the overpriced extra 16GB of storage over 2 years.

You call that equally overpriced? Then I have nothing to say.:eek:
 
The cost of the memory price points are a hard pill to swallow but if it's not the inflated memory costs there will be another area that would be exploited to realize more profits.

That said every time I buy a pack of refill Gillette razors for around $20 that I am reminded how much companies mark stuff up. Now that really pisses me off.:mad:
 
caodapengtj said:
Suppose an 1GB-RAM iPad needs to be upgrade in one year, and you lose $85 for the overpriced extra 16GB of storage in one year.

Suppose a 2GB-RAM iPad could work well with iOS 8 and possibly iOS9 thus can delay the need for upgrade for another year. You lose $85 for the overpriced extra 16GB of storage over 2 years.

You call that equally overpriced? Then I have nothing to say.:eek:
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Considering how much the storage costs Apple, yes I consider it overpriced. Something being overpriced is a result of its cost to the user when compared to the manufacturer's cost, especially when compared against its competition. For example, upgrading to 32GB on the Nexus 7 costs around $50. I don't consider that overpriced, but $100 for 16GB storage is overpriced regardless of how long you keep it.

Now whether you find value in that overpriced upgrade is another matter.

But even more so, I find it ridiculous to speculate that a new iPad needs to be upgraded in one year.
 
darngooddesign said:
Considering how much the storage costs Apple, yes I consider it overpriced. Something being overpriced is a result of its cost to the user when compared to the manufacturer's cost, especially when compared against its competition. For example, upgrading to 32GB on the Nexus 7 costs around $50. I don't consider that overpriced, but $100 for 16GB storage is overpriced regardless of how long you keep it.

Now whether you find value in that overpriced upgrade is another matter.

But even more so, I find it ridiculous to speculate that a new iPad needs to be upgraded in one year.
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I certainly agree that overpriced or not is relative to the manufacturing cost and to the competitions. However I think it is not an yes/no judgement. I won't say the $50 charged by Google is not overpriced, but it is certainly towards to the "not overpriced" end of the continuum. Also every other new Android/Windows tablet comes with 2GB RAM, making it more future-proven. That also makes their storage surcharge less overpriced.

Not to mention every other new tablet comes with some sort of expansion slot. Apple on the other hand deliberately locks down any possibility of adding third-party storage to iPads.

Admitted that not everyone needs to upgrade iPads in 1-1.5 years. But Apple bets on the odds that a great percentage of users will do so. And I bet Apple deliberately use 1GB RAM to facilitate planed obsolescence of current-gen iPads. That's sound business model, but if pushed to far, they will have a tipping point that is difficult to foresee.

What I wrote doesn't really matter, but it is an interesting discussion. :D
 
Black friday coming up, sending back 16gb for a 32gb should only cost around $50 more.
 
darngooddesign said:
But Apple also has a responsibility to itself not to price things so high, when compared to the competition, that a lot of people decide not to buy an iPad.

Apple can charge a premium, just not too much of a premium.
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Apple's responsibility is to shareholders, to make the most profit they can. Same as any other company. Apple's ipad is still the best selling tablet in the world. Many people may decide to buy a different tablet due to the cost, when that starts effecting Apple's bottom line, they may take that into consideration and offer lower prices.

Would you also say that Lamborghini "has a responsibility to itself not to price things so high, when compared to the competition, that a lot of people decide not to buy" a Lamborghini?
 
bri1212 said:
Apple's responsibility is to shareholders, to make the most profit they can. Same as any other company. Apple's ipad is still the best selling tablet in the world. Many people may decide to buy a different tablet due to the cost, when that starts effecting Apple's bottom line, they may take that into consideration and offer lower prices.

Would you also say that Lamborghini "has a responsibility to itself not to price things so high, when compared to the competition, that a lot of people decide not to buy" a Lamborghini?
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Apple's responsibility to the shareholders is to stay a strong company with innovative and competitive products. If they do that they will make money.

Only chasing after maximum profit is incredibly shortsighted. If enough people who buy apps move to Android then developers will develop for Android at the same time, or even first. Once that happens Apple loses the competitive advantage that the best/most tablet apps are on iOS, which devalues the iPad even further. So they can't always wait until enough people buy something else before doing something.

Apple is not a low production niche car company. If anything Apple is Audi but not Lamborghini.
 
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javisan said:
I hope this ends soon. I will be very disappointed if next year's iPad Air doesn't start at 32GB for $499 (ideal price) or $529 at the most.
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While I agree that the low end iPad SHOULD start at 32gb... iOS7 and formatting eats more than 4gb now when installed. I don't think they'll be doing it for $499 or even $529, sadly... mainly because at roughly 11gb of remaining storage the iPad is still usable. You want more storage? Pay up... and in this day and age where we do a lot of cloud computing they have a greater excuse to keep the "foot in the door" model on the sparse end.

I upgraded to a 32gb iPad for the first time since the first iPad for the Air and I've owned every iPad except for the 4th gen one, since the original.
 
I was sad to see 16GB as the base model.

PS4 is $100 less and comes with 500GB. I know they are not the same thing, but you would have to spend $800 on an iPad (128GB) to get just 25% of the PS4's memory. It would also cost $3,200 worth of iPad's to get the memory of the $400 PS4. Just something to think about.
 
Eckscaliber said:
I was sad to see 16GB as the base model.

PS4 is $100 less and comes with 500GB. I know they are not the same thing, but you would have to spend $800 on an iPad (128GB) to get just 25% of the PS4's memory. It would also cost $3,200 worth of iPad's to get the memory of the $400 PS4. Just something to think about.
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Reminds me of when I paid around $3,300 for a Dell laptop with a 250 MB drive. In comparison tech toys have become more reasonably priced and some what affordable at least.
 
ZBoater said:
Yes, I was very disappointed when Apple made me buy my 128GB iPads. What a ripoff! Had I know the price of the iPads before I bought them, I wouldn't have...

Oh, wait...
Click to expand...

no one forced you to purchase your iPad at hand.
 
unibility said:
no one forced you to purchase your iPad at hand.
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Ummm, errrr, I was making a sarcastic comment. The "oh wait" comment was meant to convey the fact no one forced me to buy anything and the price was well known before I made my decision to purchase. My apologies if my sarcasm was a bit too subtle. I'm usually a lot more blunt than that. :)
 
s2mikey said:
I get that pricing is laways set at what the market will bear but c'mon folks, have a heart! Lots of people enjoy these devices and it would be nice if the pricing structure was a tad more user friendly.

That being said, NO ONE has ever been forced to buy anything.
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If the market rate for an item is X and you think it should be priced at X-C then you are advocating for Apple (or someone else) to donate precisely C to every item purchased.

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unibility said:
no one forced you to purchase your iPad at hand.
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but somebody should force you to read between the lines :p

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darngooddesign said:
Apple's responsibility to the shareholders is to stay a strong company with innovative and competitive products. If they do that they will make money.

Only chasing after maximum profit is incredibly shortsighted. If enough people who buy apps move to Android then developers will develop for Android at the same time, or even first. Once that happens Apple loses the competitive advantage that the best/most tablet apps are on iOS, which devalues the iPad even further. So they can't always wait until enough people buy something else before doing something.

Apple is not a low production niche car company. If anything Apple is Audi but not Lamborghini.
Click to expand...

yeah, and when that starts to happen they will be unable to charge the premium price they charge now. that's exactly the point. It's not at all shortsighted - it's realistic. Apple is currently the trendsetter in this market, as that gap closes, prices will come down and quality will go up. We win. But early adopters pay.

Remember the people that bought the first iphone when it came out? yeah they paid $500 with a contract...AND they happily camped out to do it.

today you can walk into any number of stores and walk out 20 minutes later with a "Free" iphone that is vastly superior to the iPhone 1.

Triple Constraint and the laws of economics are universal truths.

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darngooddesign said:
So its still equally overpriced.
Click to expand...

overpriced is nonsense-talk for "i don't value that item that high"
Or more often "i want that, but don't want to pay for it"

in other words, the only overpriced item is the one that doesn't sell.
Value is subjective, worth isn't. If someone is willing to pay X for Y then by definition Y is worth precisely X.

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darngooddesign said:
Considering how much the storage costs Apple, yes I consider it overpriced. Something being overpriced is a result of its cost to the user when compared to the manufacturer's cost, especially when compared against its competition. For example, upgrading to 32GB on the Nexus 7 costs around $50. I don't consider that overpriced, but $100 for 16GB storage is overpriced regardless of how long you keep it.

Now whether you find value in that overpriced upgrade is another matter.

But even more so, I find it ridiculous to speculate that a new iPad needs to be upgraded in one year.
Click to expand...

So? I consider the Mona Lisa overpriced in that I wouldn't pay that much for a piece of paper with colouring on it. Doesn't mean it isn't worth that much. It certainly didn't cost the artist anywhere NEAR it's current value to paint it...
value is subjective.

Don't want it? don't buy it. it's that simple. if you're "right" then the market will drive the price down.
 
DisplacedMic said:
Apple is currently the trendsetter in this market, as that gap closes, prices will come down and quality will go up. We win. But early adopters pay.
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The mini now costs more. The screen is poor in comparison to the competition. and with 64bit CPU, you have less effective RAM than the ipad3&4 in the new mini. ALL while the competition is closing the gap.

I guess I don't see your claim being true with the new mini.
 
Jackintosh said:
I understand we're not forced to buy Apple's tablets and that they can charge whatever they want. Maybe in the strict sense we shouldn't call it a "ripoff".

But it's the clever marketing of memory to entice the consumer to spend more money at outrageous cost that's the issue. The reality is that Apple could easily have designed-in portable storage such as an SD card or USB drive, and let the consumer decide and easily add storage. Apple saw fit to ignore that freedom for outrageous additional profit.

So I agree they can sell whatever they want and we don't have to buy whatever they sell. It's their insidious marketing techniques and psychological manipulation of something that should have reasonable cost that's the complaint from me.
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out of one side of your mouth you say you understand it, but then out of the other side you use terms like "entice," "outrageous," "psychological manipulation" and "reasonable cost"

who are you to decide what a reasonable price is? who are any of us? who decides what a reasonable price for something is? the government? you? me? or how about the market?

if the price is unreasonable then reasonable persons such as yourself won't buy it and the price will be driven down. unreasonable persons will buy the item driving up demand and incentivizing competitors which will in turn drive quality up and prices down. We all win.

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Count Blah said:
The mini now costs more. The screen is poor in comparison to the competition. and with 64bit CPU, you have less effective RAM than the ipad3&4 in the new mini. ALL while the competition is closing the gap.

I guess I don't see your claim being true with the new mini.
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are you expecting prices to change overnight? if the ipads don't sell they will lower the price or eat the losses. it's that simple. the longterm trend will absolutely drive the price towards a market price. Remember, no sale happens unless both parties would rather have what the other guy has than what he has to offer.

If you bought an iPad it means you wanted that iPad as much as or more than your $500.
 
darngooddesign said:
Apple's responsibility to the shareholders is to stay a strong company with innovative and competitive products. If they do that they will make money.

Only chasing after maximum profit is incredibly shortsighted. If enough people who buy apps move to Android then developers will develop for Android at the same time, or even first. Once that happens Apple loses the competitive advantage that the best/most tablet apps are on iOS, which devalues the iPad even further. So they can't always wait until enough people buy something else before doing something.
Click to expand...
iPads are still showing sales growth. The growth has slowed down considerably (likely due to market penetration and competition) but there's still growth. Apple chooses to increase their sales by making "premium" products that are attractive to consumers, adding features that promote lock-in to the Apple ecosystem and providing excellent customer service which encourages customer loyalty. Most other companies do it through rock-bottom pricing and "specsmanship".

However, I agree, they can't just go for maximum profit all the time. Being a trendsetter is part of Apple's appeal. Given the much lower BOM (by $42) for the Air, this would have been an excellent time to switch to a 32GB base model which is just in keeping with other 10" class tablets. The competition (at this point, Android mostly) has improved by leaps and bounds compared to what it was before and Apple can't afford to sit on its laurels.

darngooddesign said:
Apple is not a low production niche car company. If anything Apple is Audi but not Lamborghini.
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True but they're not exactly Toyota, either (or if they are, the iPads and iPhones are in the Lexus range).
 
DisplacedMic said:
out of one side of your mouth you say you understand it, but then out of the other side you use terms like "entice," "outrageous," "psychological manipulation" and "reasonable cost"

who are you to decide what a reasonable price is? who are any of us? who decides what a reasonable price for something is? the government? you? me? or how about the market?

if the price is unreasonable then reasonable persons such as yourself won't buy it and the price will be driven down. unreasonable persons will buy the item driving up demand and incentivizing competitors which will in turn drive quality up and prices down. We all win.
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Do you realize how slavishly you're defending corporate pricing manipulation? You could work for them or in their marketing department.

A reasonable price is something you know based on facts and common sense. Suggest you take the time to read the OP's posted article again:

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/20/the-g...ing-off-customers-over-extra-storage-4193464/

The market does indeed decide what sells and what doesn't. But informed consumers need to know if and when they're being taken to the cleaners. That's what this article does. It makes us informed as to what's a ripoff and unreasonable or not, so we can make better decisions in our purchase choices.

It sounds like in your world we should remain quiet, subservient consumers and be happy with whatever products the corporate world provides. Just let the market work its wonders and don't complain. Consumer Reports wouldn't agree.
 
Jackintosh said:
...It sounds like in your world we should remain quiet, subservient consumers and be happy with whatever products the corporate world provides. Just let the market work its wonders and be quiet. Consumer Reports wouldn't agree.
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:confused: I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but the customers HAVE spoken. And they like the iPads. A lot.
 
DisplacedMic said:
...Remember the people that bought the first iphone when it came out? yeah they paid $500 with a contract...AND they happily camped out to do it.
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Yep. I camped out for the first one because there wasn't anything on the market like it. Now there are many tablets on the market that are similar to the iPad, and they do not charge $100 for a 16GB upgrade.

That being said, the Surfaces do charge $100 to jump from 32GB to 64GB and another to get to 128GB but we don't know how Microsoft would price the 16GB > 32GB upgrade.
 
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