
'iPad Mini' Pricing to Begin at Approximately $329 - rkudeshi
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/10/20/ipad-mini-pricing-to-begin-at-approximately-329/
======
rayiner
Slightly OT: I tried a Galaxy Note 2 in an AT&T store the other day while the
wife was upgrading her iPhone. I can't believe how far Samsung is behind Apple
at sales-time polish.

The big feature of the Note 2 is the stylus. That's what I wanted to try. So I
picked it up and the first screen was this home screen with three buttons. One
was for the Notes app. I tapped it, and it took me to an explanatory page
about the app. I started scribbling. Nothing. Looked for a "try the app"
button. Nothing. Backed out, clicked the "explore this device" button instead.
Looked for a notes app on the home screen. Nothing. Clicked "applications".
Greeted with 30 apps per screen. On the second page, found a "Notes" app and a
"Memo" app. Guessed it was the memo app. Guessed incorrectly, that didn't
support the stylus. Finally opened up the Notes app. Scribbled. It was laggy.

I can't understand how other companies can keep sucking so much at this when
Apple has it figured out. It's just shocking.

~~~
podperson
We (me, my wife, two small children) have the original Kindle Fire, a Nexus 7,
and two iPads (first generation). We used to have two iPad 2s but we had to
return them to former employers. The Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire are only used in
desperation, while we basically fight over the iPads.

I wanted to like the Nexus 7, but I find it borderline useless for everything
including simply browsing the web. (There's a lot to like about the Chrome
browser, but it's simply too fiddly to resize text all the time.) Overally, I
find the Kindle Fire to be a superior device to the Nexus 7 (which is pretty
depressing given the Nexus 7 is a year newer, ostensibly has better hardware,
is running a far more modern OS, and was more expensive).

I think Apple is going to clean everyone's clocks with the new devices, even
if they're a bit expensive. $330 for a really good device is a way better deal
than $200 for a piece of junk.

~~~
hollerith
Since I'm in the process of buying a tablet, I'd welcome elaboration on "it's
simply too fiddly to resize text all the time".

Do you mean that (like Mobile Safari) Chrome does not reflow text, so that you
cannot make the text big enough to read without making the text expand past
the edge of the window, so you have to scroll each line of text horizontally?

~~~
wvenable
Chrome reflows the text on the Nexus 7 -- pretty much the greatest mobile
browsing feature ever and I miss it terribly on my iPhone.

I think his point was more than you have to resize text on the Nexus 7 because
the screen is much smaller than an iPad. Pretty much every page on the Nexus
will require a pinch zoom and a tap before you start reading.

~~~
rg
Also, Chrome on Nexus 7 has a lot of "accessibility" options, so you can size
the default reflowable text to your comfort, which reduces any need to
manually squeeze/expand. (Nexus 7 is dramatically superior to a New(3) iPad.)

------
fumar
I am in the market for a tablet. I have an HP Touchpad running CM9. Im going
to Mexico in a few weeks and will give it away to one of my cousins.

I have the Nexus 7, iPad, Surface, and the (smaller potential) iPad, as viable
options. I also looked into Asus' Transformer line.

My Macbook is on its last legs. I purchased an iMac for home use earlier this
year. I want to replace the Macbook with something equally as productive. I
mainly use it for email and managing customer relations.

The Surface Pro entices me, but lacks concrete information. Nexus 7 has a
great price, and I like Jelly Bean. It is a little smaller than I would like.
The iPad is a solid piece of hardware, but im not the biggest iOS fan. With
that said a cheaper tablet, bigger than the Nexus 7 and smaller than the iPad,
would be great. I hope the smaller iPad can fill that niche.

Then I go back to the Surface... I'm tempted by the ability to load to apps on
the same screen. The keyboard integration looks very slick.

Too many choices for me. As a consumer, I feel like the tablet market is what
I dreamed of as a kid.

As a side note, I am unsure if the Surface Pro fits in with the rest of the
group. It aims to be more of a "laptop" computing experience with a
touch/stylus input method. Which I like, but am skeptical on the practicality
of it.

I should wait a few more months...

~~~
jevinskie
It sounds to me that you need a device that can stand up like a laptop and has
a keyboard (either integrated or BT). I have a Transformer 101 with the
keyboard dock. The dock is awesome! Extra battery, USB port, and a great way
to type long emails! Hardware: great, software not so much. Boot loader access
is restricted in my TF101 (Asus provides an unlock tools for later/premium
models but not mine) but luckily there is an open source, reversed unlocker
letting me run Ubuntu! Ubuntu was a huge hassle to get working but a great dev
environment. Asus took a few months with many delays to deliver 4.0. Rumor has
it that it won't get 4.1 from Asus. So I would encourage you to look at a
newer Transformer tablet with a keyboard but beware about future support.

The Surface is almost guaranteed to have great support for a long time given
MS's history. Keyboard probably isn't as nice (it's squishy, right?) but much
more compact than a Transformer keyboard.

~~~
fumar
The Transformer is nice. I held the new one and I like the hardware. I like
that the keyboard charges the tablet. Does Ubuntu load side by side or does it
over ride Android?

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jpxxx
This passes the smell test. All signs are go for Apple to make an extra couple
billion dollars this Christmas.

The 7" form factor clearly has value to customers over the predominant 10"
form factor. Every review of them touches on how much nicer they are to read
on and carry around.

7" tablets will be kids first computers, they'll replace the full iPad for
lightweight POS installations, they'll be the go-to for portable employee
applications, they'll sell into schools like crazy, and they'll make good
purse-able travel iPads.

Plus there's that media ecosystem, that OS, that app stack, that customer
familiarity, and that third party universe. No readily identifiable
competitive weaknesses.

------
knowtheory
I don't see how they could possibly justify their iPhone prices if this were
the case (which are respectively $649, $749, and $849)

~~~
jdietrich
Because Apple set prices for normal human beings, rather than geeks.

The clearest example is the iPod Touch vs the iPhone. From a geek's
perspective, they are the essentially same product, differing only in the
presence or absence of a cellular radio. The iPhone is more than twice the
price of the iPod Touch, which is a scandalous mark-up for the addition of
what we know to be a relatively inexpensive component.

From the perspective of nearly everyone who has actually bought an iPhone, the
two devices are completely different - the iPhone is a smartphone, the iPod
Touch is just an MP3 player with games.

That's why Apple are the most valuable company on earth.

~~~
MichaelApproved
Apple is the most valuable _public_ company on earth. There are much larger
non-publicly traded companies.

[http://www.quora.com/Business/What-is-the-most-valuable-
priv...](http://www.quora.com/Business/What-is-the-most-valuable-private-
company-in-the-world)

------
jsz0
Not sure I buy it. They floated higher prices before the original iPad came
out too. I'm still betting on $249. They want the tech media to parrot the
'it's a great value at $249' angle of the story instead of focusing on the
'it's $50 more than this other tablet' angle of it.

------
protomyth
First, this is a report from 9 to 5 Mac (via macrumors), so their success
record isn't exactly golden.

I just have a tough time believing they are going to put out a 7" model for a
price that is within $70 of the 10" model. Also, $329 is a weird price for
Apple. They are very much into $x49 and $x99 prices. I could see $299, but
$329 is just odd for a base price. It seems like the speculation that led
people to believe the original iPad was going to be $999. It also seems like a
serious deviation from the iPod / iPhone strategy.

~~~
protomyth
Well, I guess I was wrong - $329 it is

------
antoinec
I was skeptical about the iPad (either you want a phone either you want a
computer, but why something between ???)... It turned out well for Apple
finally and they have found (or created) a great market.

But now we have something between the iPhone and the Ipad ? Seriously.... I
hope for them they will find people who will want to buy it (not only because
it's a new Apple product of course...), but it's hard to believe, even for
these marketing genius.

~~~
heyitsnick
Fwiw, I have an Android Nexus phone and 10.1" Galaxy Tab and found i rarely
used it, and phones just aren't big enough for watching video, typing anything
but tweets/short SMSs. But I recently picked up a Nexus 7" and i've found a
lot more uses for it and i'm using it daily. It's the right form factor for
slipping into the pocket to carry around, you can type adequately while
standing/sitting (the 10" i found cumbersome), good size for reading most
websites, more comfortable to lounge with on the sofa etc.

Yeah the price is a lot less but many people who buy Apple products are
probably pretty price insensitive, and there is def people who would prefer
the smaller size

------
bryanlarsen
Prediction: iPad Mini will be priced at $249.

\- Apple has traditionally been willing to eat into their margin a little bit
when facing competition & establishing a new market

\- We know that the Nexus 7 & Fire HD at $200 don't make a profit for Google &
Amazon, but they do make a small profit for ASUS & Quanta.

\- According to rumours the iPad Mini is lower spec'd than the Nexus 7
(1024x768 screen rather than 720p screen), primarily, but it will probably
also have less RAM, dual core vs quad core CPU, etc.

\- Apple gets better prices for their components than their competitors do.

\- combining the 2 above suggests that a $160 cost base is a reasonable guess.
(the BOM would be less than that).

\- $250 gives a very Apple-like margin of 40% given the above.

Apple is having trouble with rumour control. The traditional mechanism to deal
with rumours if they can't be squelched at the source is disinformation. Given
their supply chain, it's quite difficult to control the hardware rumours, but
price rumours seem a lot easier to control with disinformation.

------
mmobile
Curious about the form and if it gets the thinner bezel as rumored

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denzil_correa
I hope this is not true. $329 would not cut it, I think $249 would be more
like it - definitely not $329.

~~~
TillE
Yeah, anything above $279 would be a huge disappointment.

For a very long time, I was convinced that Apple would never do a smaller
iPad. What's in it for them? The profit margins will certainly be smaller.
Then I realized: if they wanted to completely own the tablet market, they need
a cheap option that's competitive with the Kindle Fire and co.

$249 gives Apple almost complete dominance in the tablet market. $329 does
not.

~~~
rimantas
Apple does not want dominance. Apple wants to make money. They are not Google
making money on ads sold. They make money on hardware sold.

~~~
TillE
But if that's the case, why make the 7" iPad at all? Like I said, the profit
margins will inevitably be lower than on the 10" iPad.

Unless it's about dominance, this is a pointless niche product and a waste of
time.

Look at what Apple's been doing with iPhone pricing for the past few years. If
you're in the US, you can now get a "free" iPhone 4. That's absolutely a move
to seize the low end of the market, even if they're not making as much per
device.

~~~
alexqgb
A few months ago Tim Cook went on record saying he "wasn't going to leave any
price umbrellas". As Ryan Jones (via Forbes) observes, "a price umbrella is
the cover that a market leader provides other companies by establishing a
premium price for their products. Competitors can enter the market at lower
price points and disrupt the leader’s dominance, in Jones words, 'from the
bottom up.'"

[http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/07/22/apple-w...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/07/22/apple-
will-sell-a-smaller-ipad-or-be-disrupted-from-the-bottom-up-by-google-and-
amazon/)

Per this logic, $299 seems like the best bet. This is $100 lower than the
point where iPad and iPod prices presently converge ($399 for either a 64GB
Touch or a 16GB iPad 2). This move would also mean dropping the price of the
64GB Touch to $299 (where the 32GB model currently sits) and dropping the 32
GB to $249, which is where you find the 160 GB iPod classic ($100 above the
new nano).

------
tomjen3
Thats too much. The nexus 7 is the same size but only 199.

~~~
rimantas
I doubt that pricing of electronics is by square inches.

~~~
tomjen3
Have you tried it? It works really well, and we already know that price
mattters, since HPs tablet flew of the shelf when they lowere the price.

------
noonespecial
If their primary goal with the product is market segmentation, then a price
that high is likely a mistake. On the other hand, Apple has a long history of
starting with a high price and then creeping it down into the sweet spot
(temporal market segmentation?)

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enraged_camel
I don't think $329 is low enough to break into the lower market segment.

~~~
rimantas
Why would Apple want to break into the lower market segment? This is their
entry to smaller screen market.

------
recoiledsnake
At that price, if you want an iPad, it's easy to justify paying $70 more for
the iPad 2(non retina but so is the iPad mini) or the iPad 3 for $170 more.

If you want to explore other options, the 9" Kindle Fire HD at $299 or 9" Nook
HD at $269, or 7" Nexus 7 are similarly pretty competent. Perhaps Apple is
trying to mitigate the cannibalization of the larger iPad, but this does seem
expensive.

~~~
Tmmrn
What if people want it for being 7" and not for being a cheaper iPad?

I bought my Nexus 7 because it fits in my pockets. Everywhere I would have a
bag with a bigger tablet with me I would have my big notebook anyway.

~~~
alexqgb
I've always been put off by the size of the iPad, and I could never understand
why Jobs thought a smaller device would be too small for people's fingers when
the much smaller iPhone was already a bazillion dollar business.

Having passed on every iPad to date specifically because of the size issue,
I'm really excited by this one.

