The Price is Right?
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 at 11:28AM This blog post contains very little original thought of my own, but is a concentration, not a reduction, of various thoughts and opinions I've been reading (see what I did there)!
We were all hoping for the iPad mini to be cheap. Really cheap. Jaw droppingly cheap. Game over cheap.
Most people were hoping that it would come in between $249 and $299, some even optimistically $199.
But the entry level iPad mini - 16GB Wifi Only - came in at $329
So what do you get for your money.
- A full blown iPad but smaller
- Superb build quality
- Very fast WiFi - up to 802.11n both 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz
- 7.9 IPS screen 1024x768 at 163ppi
- Dual core A5 processor
- HD 720p FaceTime Camera
- 5MP iSight Camera with 1080p HV Video recording
- 10 hours battery life
- Lightning connector
- Gyro, Accelerometer, Digital Compass
- 720p Airplay mirroring
- 1080p video Streaming to AppleTV 3
- Full suite of Apps
- iOS6
- Full accessibility features
- Access to the entire Apple ecosystem
Not a bad bit of kit, not bad at all.
And the initial reports all say the same thing - build quality is astounding, you need to hold it to fully appreciate it. It's light, very light. And thin, super. super thin!
As anyone with half a brain would predict, even before we saw the specs or the device itself, Apple will not be able to keep up with demand over the Christmas holidays, even at the $329 price. In fact, I would imagine that this isn't the sweet spot, and most people will go with the more expensive 32GB model, or hold out for the WiFi and Cellular model.
So if Apple can't keep up with demand at $329 and above, why sell it for $249 - $299 and leave money on the table. There's always some wriggle room after the Christmas period if they find the price to be a factor. But Apple have always created a premium product and have never pandered to the cheap end of the market, and they probably have zero concerns at losing any market share to cheaper competitors. Heck, they've sold 100 million full size iPads for a lot more in just two years.
And what about when the iPad mini 2 comes out later next year with updated specs and a retina display. They can use their usual tactic of dropping the price of the current iPad mini to $199 and bring the new one out at the same price of $329.
Then there's the whole issue of Apple needing to keep the required margins on the iPad to keep Wall St happy. They could easily have absorbed a price drop and taken reduced margins, but why?
There's no point at this stage of the game to use price as a selling point of the iPad mini.
One thing that's going to be really interesting is Apple's guidance on their projected earnings for the next quarter - New iPad, new iPad mini, new iPhone 5, new iPod touch, new iPods, new Mac mini, new iMac, new Retina MacBook Pro, performance bumps to the entire laptop line.
All lined up for the Christmas quarter.
Good grief!
Just don't get me started on the whole UK vs US pricing thing.
Don McAllister
From Maurice Kelly on ADN -
The US v UK pricing seems fairly reasonable.
$329 * 20% VAT = $394.80
At todays exchange rate thats £247. RRP is £269, so it's a £22 premium. There may be EU extended warranty factors included?
At least it's not $ == £ like the Apple TV!
Reader Comments (2)
G'Day
In Ozz iPad Mini's start at AUS$369.00 - WiFi (includes our 10% GST) Both WiFi and Cellular will be available (at appropriate price points) 16-32-64 GIG available and Black and White.
I am ordering one :-)
The price on the Apple website doesn't include local and state taxes does it? I'm not defending Apple's prices which are high but taxes also need adding to the initial price in the States. The state in which you purchase it will impact the price.