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Another someone at Apple (a big someone) talking about the price. THAT SAYS EVERYTHING! They've made a mistake. If the stock takes a 3% hit, is that going to be balanced out by squeezing a few more dollars out of your fan base with a new product? No it's not.

Also, it's not just the price. The product is old tech. It's like coming out with a new iMac, a smaller one, built with parts from 2010 but priced only 18% less. BRILLIANT. Steve would not have made this mistake.
 
I feel like the 2nd or 3rd generation of this product will be worth getting, but as it is right now, I'm not sure if its worth 329. Maybe for some people, but not me.

Exactly.

At $299, sure. Funny how a 10% price difference can have such an effect. Apple will still sell literally millions of them, and perhaps at $299 they would have run out of stock more quickly. But I think that Apple is pricing themselves into a corner, and probably sooner than later that will come back to bite.
 
Priced agressively? Sure, as in you feel like you've been punched right in the wallet and kicked between the bank balance. Ouch.
 
I actually agree with Tim here I think. There will be many people buying 7" androids, and they definitely won't be getting a good web experience with that size. For me, 7 is too small.

So the mini seems about right.

As for price... well... in the UK we are being really screwed compared to the US.

The cheapest iPad mini is over $427 after tax in the UK!!!

(even without 20% tax, its still $356)

Time for trip to New York i think.....
 
I will wait for the 2nd gen iPad mini to see the correct timeline of the iPad and iPad mini.

I believe that the 2nd gen iPad mini will come with retina display and the same price!!!
 
I'm a 7.9 incher.
The iPad 3/4 is far too heavy for me. I'm a man... I don't own a purse.
The ipad mini's price difference between the iPad 4 and even the iPad 4 is worth the heavy weight/size. You won't notice the whole retina display issue unless you have a retina display right next to you at all times while on the iPad mini.

I will wait for the 2nd gen iPad mini to see the correct timeline of the iPad and iPad mini.

I believe that the 2nd gen iPad mini will come with retina display and the same price!!!

I'm thinking the same thing... I passed on the iPad 1-2-3 and even the 4 so I'm ready now for the iPad mini. I know Apple will release the iPad mini next year. So... you can probably purchase the iPad mini now and sell it before/during the rumor-mill of the next iPad mini.
 
He's bound to be defensive. Apples share price dropped about 3% immediately following the iPad mini announcement as market analysts considered the price to be too high to wipe out the competition like Apple have with the full size version.

Apple's share have been falling since the beginning of the month. It went even lower because of their recent earnings.
 
I make you right.

Still not happy about the refresh so soon, though :rolleyes:

Especially now that they are live for pre order!

Do you reckon you'll be able to get ahold of one in an Apple Store without much problem, on or shortly after the release date? Or do you reckon it will be another one of the usual situations where you can't find one for love nor money?

I'm thinking it won't be as bad as if it would have been the usual February timeframe as many of the "regular" upgraders will not be upgrading at this time?

What do you think?

Sorry, I've been away.

I don't think you'll see the same demand for the retina upgrade as we saw for it's original launch. All the attention is on the iPad Mini right now.
 
I can tell the difference immediately between my ipad 3 retina and my kids ipad 2. I hate looking at the ipad 2. The ipad mini won't seem as bad since the display is a bit smaller which increases the ppi a bit.

They can't put retina in the ipad mini due to the screen size...at least not yet. They would have to create a screen with a denser pixel count and right now they are struggling with producing their current screens for the ipad mini. I do think apple will move to have retina in every product they produce in the long run though.


I'm a 7.9 incher.
The iPad 3/4 is far too heavy for me. I'm a man... I don't own a purse.
The ipad mini's price difference between the iPad 4 and even the iPad 4 is worth the heavy weight/size. You won't notice the whole retina display issue unless you have a retina display right next to you at all times while on the iPad mini.



I'm thinking the same thing... I passed on the iPad 1-2-3 and even the 4 so I'm ready now for the iPad mini. I know Apple will release the iPad mini next year. So... you can probably purchase the iPad mini now and sell it before/during the rumor-mill of the next iPad mini.


The next evolution is a lighter, thinner full sized iPad. I do see the ipad mini getting retina next year. At the rate Apple is going we'll be looking at ipads weighing 1/2 pound next year. The batteries and glass are what's making it heavy.

----------

Priced agressively? Sure, as in you feel like you've been punched right in the wallet and kicked between the bank balance. Ouch.


Agree...it's overpriced. Also if you look at the specs between the ipad mini and iPad 2 who the hell would buy an ipad 2 at $399! You can get a refurb'd ipad 3 for $379 right now.

I think Apple screwed up by keeping the iPad 2 at $399 and not dropping the iPad 3 into this slot at $399.
 
Of course he's going to defend there price just as Phil did. Compared to the competion there products is "always" better.

But honestly, the competition has gotten better... From the Surface to the upcoming Nexus 10. A 329$ iPad Mini without retina screen is not worth it.. IMO

The same resolution like the iPad2 on a smaller screen size leads to higher number of dot's per inch, therefore much crispier letters.
 
Also, it's not just the price. The product is old tech. It's like coming out with a new iMac, a smaller one, built with parts from 2010

There was no A5 back in 2010. In fact the 32nm version of A5 only became available this year, ditto for the new integrated thin touch panel, which is why Apple is having a hard time getting enough supply of the display. The raw power and resolution are decidedly aged and old but the techs are very much new.

but priced only 18% less. BRILLIANT. Steve would not have made this mistake.

Wasn't the usual criticism against Steve Jobs was that he uses his reality distortion field to market things to sell for premium? It seems everyone's forgetting the Steve Jobs era.
 
Another someone at Apple (a big someone) talking about the price. THAT SAYS EVERYTHING! They've made a mistake. If the stock takes a 3% hit, is that going to be balanced out by squeezing a few more dollars out of your fan base with a new product? No it's not.

Also, it's not just the price. The product is old tech. It's like coming out with a new iMac, a smaller one, built with parts from 2010 but priced only 18% less. BRILLIANT. Steve would not have made this mistake.

If I had to guess at what Jobs would have done it would be to quietly update the iPad 3 with a lightning port and screen but no speed bump. Then override the board at apple and mandate the price be $299. It seems to me like Jobs would have planned all these products in advance so they play off each other and build momentum together. Seems like Tim cook is managing contracts and factory output.
 
The problem is that the only reason someone would buy this product over iPad 4 is price, but the price is not that much lower.

Who is the person who can afford the $329 for this but can't afford the extra $170 to get iPad 4?

Maybe it's not ONLY about price, and also about form factor?

But, yeah, the iPad 4 costs more than 50% more than the iPad Mini. That's definitely a significant difference.
 
The problem is that the only reason someone would buy this product over iPad 4 is price, but the price is not that much lower.

Who is the person who can afford the $329 for this but can't afford the extra $170 to get iPad 4?

The assumption about price being the only driver here simply astounds me. Why on earth would a person buy a large iPad when wanting a tablet the size of the iPad mini? These are two different devices not only based on their internal specs but on their SIZE and WEIGHT, which believe it or not are significant properties.

I was equally amazed when MBAs came out and some people said why get that when an MBP would suffice, too expensive for what it offers, it will never fly, blah blah blah. Right, so within a couple years, the Mac Book Air is the laptop of choice. Why? Because its specs, including its weight, meet the needs of enough people to make it extremely popular.

Size and weight can matter. They matter enough to be deal breakers when those attributes aren't right for the intended purpose. Now I happen to like both sizes, and there's nothing wrong with that either. I don't have a problem looking at costs of one versus the other. I don't compare them to each other. They are not comparable in my book.

As far as the pricing goes, any engineer can tell you that making something "like this" in a smaller package is not like sticking it the dryer and turning up the heat to shrink the stuff. So there are some costs in there related to getting iPad 2 functionality into a much smaller package, swapping in the better cams, etc. The iPad mini can bear a higher price in part due to its introduction in time for holiday sales (and is that a crime yet? don't think so), thus helping to offset some smaller margins on the rest of the stuff released in October. But that doesn't mean the thing isn't priced aggressively for the functionality it offers in that size class of tablet.

When you buy an Apple iDevice now you are buying into one heck of an ecosystem that supports it. That's part of the draw, so why shouldn't the ipad mini's price include some acknowledgment of that premium? I don't know about you, but in any comparison of support and customer service between Apple and some of the other tech gear or peripherals I've bought over the years, it's not Apple that suffers, that's for sure. Finally, when you buy Apple hardware there's a pay-forward component in the price tag, for the innovation involved in their future products and new product lines. Those are clearly worth paying to a company with the innovative track record of Apple.
 
More specifically, the iPad mini's screen area is 30 in^2 while the Nexus 7's is 22 in^2, hence the iPad is ~36% larger. Because of the aspect ratio difference, movies will only be about ~13% larger on the iPad (from it being 6% wider), but old TV shows and most other things will make use of all the extra screen area.

The Nexus 7 also loses about 4%-7% (depending on orientation) of its screen area to the soft menu in most games and apps.

The best part is that the iPad mini is only slightly taller and wider
 
Tim, you are full of crap.


heh heh and you don't know very much about the cost of building a tablet.

"Its gross margin is significantly below the corporate average"

If you understand what gross margin is then you know why Tim cook is saying that they price Ipad mini aggressively.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/952...arnings-call-transcript?page=5&p=qanda&l=last


We also added the iPad Mini to our iPad line-up. The iPad Mini has the iPad experience and we priced it aggressively at $329 delivering incredible value to our customers.

Its gross margin is significantly below the corporate average. So in summary, we expect our gross margin to decline by about 400 basis points sequentially. We expect the benefit from positive leverage on the sequentially higher revenue and a greater mix of iPhone, but we expect these benefits will be more than offset by a number of factors.

First, margins on new products are lower than their predecessors including the iPhone 5 and we have been aggressive with the iPad Mini
 
Loads of people will buy this over ipad4 because of size alone.

It's mad how so many forum posters are obsessed with specs to the extent they forget about practical day to day considerations.

I agree! I love the looks and size of the mini but after using HD/Retina screens for a couple of years now - I find that a low resolution screen is a big turn off even it it is the right size and look for a tablet. I even try to reset my HD monitor from 1920 X 1280 back to 1024 X 768 and I just could not look at it for more then a couple of minutes - it was a shock to my eyes to have jagget characters.

I will just wait it out until Apple decides to make it! I have other devices that I can use in the mean time so it no hurry for me! But it would be nice to have it in March!
 
If I had to guess at what Jobs would have done it would be to quietly update the iPad 3 with a lightning port and screen but no speed bump. Then override the board at apple and mandate the price be $299. It seems to me like Jobs would have planned all these products in advance so they play off each other and build momentum together. Seems like Tim cook is managing contracts and factory output.


And if they loss money when they price it at $299??? So building more device and sell it at a loss is a good business plan that Job will support? Have you even open up an Apple earning report, listen to a earning conference call, or read a tear down report to try to figure out how much does it cost to build a tablet?
 
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