Consumers reluctant to spend above $700 for Apple tablet - study - Page 2

It's not useless. Just don't over-interpret it in the manner investment bankers over-interpreted their credit default statistics.

No, you absolutely CAN NOT accurately pinpoint anything.. You can guess what it may or may not do, that's about it..

"Not worth discussing?"

You just did. So, what's up with that?

Because maybe it does things that your MacBook Pro can not or does not do..

If were Apple, I would be interested in making this new creation affordable, BECAUSE, they already know they'll have a tremendous amount of padding from App store sales that this thing will help drive. When the iPhone launched, and even the 3G, they had no idea exactly how successful it would be. Now they have that established and growing, perfect time to spur the success with very desirable and affordable product that can take further advantage of all that has become the App store.

That's why Apple should want to make it reasonable.

Oh go ahead, everybody else is.

I don't know what a McGuffin is, but I know exactly how much it's worth.

(Whoever gets the reference, wins a cookie. No fair looking it up.)

1. It will play music, video, audiobooks, and other iTunes media.
2. It will feature ebook reading.
3. It will be multi touch.
4. It will utilize Flash storage, one model will be 64 gb.
5. It will run App store apps.
6. It will feature other desktop apps ported to the multi touch UI.

Come back next week and tell me if this was not accurate "guess work"

These people who responded to the survey know nothing. They will want and they will buy exactly what Steve Jobs tells them to. There's no escaping.

They won't even know that they want it until Steve shows it to them.

The only thing you are accurately pinpointing is the rumors you've been hearing for the past 24 months.

We all knew the iPhone would make phone calls and double as an iPod, but there was a heck of a lot more about the iPhone that we could not "accurately pinpoint" than there was that we could.

Basically, without official facts, you can not accurately pinpoint anything. You can make a guess based on rumors, and some of them may turn out to be true, but guessing is all that you are doing..

They have got to get the price in below the cost of a Mac Mini, so sub-$549.

...more than likely it will be $399 Subsidized by either Verizon or AT&T (2 or 3 year contract). $700 un-subsidized.

Could they also make a non 3G Tablet selling around say $600? who knows?

Why? The Mini has no screen, for starters.

No sir. Rumors are abundant. Those are my estimates based on a lot of knowledge of a company with whom I invest. I know nothing of this product beyond what Apple tells you with other products. Apple has already told us at least this much, listed above, through their real world practice and current product lines.

It's not all guesswork. There are many things that Apple might do, but a select few they wouldn't. My list are givens that Apple would not exclude.

Really, this, really?


That's about all I can say to that post.

Maybe you guys can help jog my memory here.

Was it in 2008, after Apple reported quarterly sales figures, that they said they were going to do something in the future that other competitors wouldn't be able to match?

They kind of downplayed future profits because of this "something". I think it was 2008 because i looked out for it in 2009 and they didn't bring anything out that couldn't be matched in price.

Was i imagining this?

My point is though maybe this something was the tablet and maybe the plan was to release last year but didn't for one reason or another. So if it was the tablet they were talking about then maybe the price will be lower than some of us might be thinking.

Anyone with an understanding of Strategic Pricing knows the key pitfall of asking customer's what they are willing to pay (WTP) which is:

Buyers are not usually honest about how much they are really willing to pay.

The price given by customers is often what they would like to pay, not what they are WILLING to pay.

Studies like the ones referenced in this report are not very useful in my view because they do not capture the VALUE of a product or service. Strategic Pricing is all about the value proposition. Apple is value-focused company. They are all about delivering perceived value to the customer and price their products accordingly.

The Tablet will be priced higher than most people expect, you'll see this next week followed by the subsequent questions of "why is Apple pricing it so high?" The average critic simply doesn't understand or grasp pricing strategy.

Very true. We probably waste a lot of time on the question of whether we'd buy it or not based on unknown specs and unknown prices.


Probable. Many expect a cheap laptop without keyboard running iPhone-like apps and a few more powerful apps.

But it may be much different to that.


I do want to see cheap as Apple can - with money made elsewhere (MobileMe subscriptions, content subscriptions,... I don't want another phone contract though)

But there is room for something more expensive. How much is the stuff that this tablet will do worth that a Macbook can NOT do?

Patently Apple has a great (if slightly hard to read) article putting together all the Apple patents for tablet technologies. Well worth reading:
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patentl...rophecies.html

If it does half of what Apple has patented there'll be some really unexpected great stuff.


AND they want as many people owning these as they can churn out. They need the users to drive the developers. And the developers to drive the users. They need to set a price that starts off this upward spiral of success.

Has Apple released any official statements regarding this future product?? NO?? Then you are guessing, that is all there is to it.. Call it an educated guess if you must.. It's still guessing.

Guessing is also sometimes known as assuming, and you know what they say about people who assume.

Ah got it. In 2008 Oppenhiemer said “not leaving an umbrella so big as to leave an opportunity for our competitors,”

I think analysts predicted lower priced Macbooks or an introduction of a netbook in 2009. We got neither,in fact 2009 was a fairly disappointing year for innovation IMO. So was he talking about the tablet?

I dont' know 700.00 seems low to me. At 700.00 this would tell me this is nothing more then a larger version of an iPod Touch seeing the 64gb version of the Touch goes for 400.00.

Even the new netbook Windows based Tablets with a 10.1 screen are going for 550.00.

It seems that the tablet has to be priced between the 64GB IPT at $400 and the Macbook at $1,000. For the first revision of the tablet hardware, I don't think that or $500 is realistic given Apple's generally higher margins, but I don't think it's ridiculous to assume that it probably won't broach the $750 price point for the low end for two reasons.

1) Apple will want heavy proliferation/ adoption of the product and as the price goes up, adoption goes down. I think adoption is important in this case, unlike Apple TV. Unlike the iphone it seems most people can't imagine needing one therefore it's important to keep the price low (possibly ditching features) so that "everyone" can see what make the tablet so great. It's another "in addition to" Mac computers device and unless it's entry point is low

2) A second higher end model at $999 (with some added features and not just added capacity) would be best for the release of V2 of the tablet rather than releasing a 2nd model at $999 with simply more capacity, a better GPU and/ or CPU. I'm not sure what kind of features it could have at $1000 but it better "rub tired weary feat" because at that point most people would buy a laptop.

My best guess would be $650, $750 and $850 with 3 capacities or $750 and $850 with 2 capacities either will probably receive subsidies subsidies. $250 more than the IPT on the low end and $150 less than the Macbook for the high end.

If it were $650 for the low end model they'd fly off the shelf.

Roll on 27th January so that these ridiculous guessing games will come to an end.

It's really pretty simple. There is no market out there for a $1,000 device that has less functionality than your typical laptop. No matter what cool features are built into the thing, people in large numbers are simply not going to spend $1,000 on the thing. Period. End of Story.

I mean it's not like there is widespread dissatisfaction with the laptop form factor. Truth is, most people love using them. The only reason netbooks have sold so well is price.

You have to know that for many $1,000 would mean having to choose between the tablet and a traditional laptop and you have to figure that the tablet's limitations would cause it to be the loser in that struggle nine times of 10. On the other hand, if this device were perceived as a cool companion to a laptop, which it would be if the top configuration came in at around $700 and a model closer to $500 were an option, the product would be a sales hit, assuming Apple does the usual and comes up with a very-easy-to-use, well-designed product.

The insistence on the tablet being a 10-inch unit is rather substantial but I still think a 7-inch tablet would make a lot more sense. Better battery life, more portability, lower cost. There are a lot of good reasons to not go to a larger form factor. But we'll just have to wait and see what Apple has conjured up.

I'm not so sure that's right. Apple has likely been the original source for some of the rumors. I'm pretty convinced they have a controlled leak going that is a hype machine unlike any other.

It won't take that long. One of the fun things to do during SteveNotes is to watch AAPL plummet as his presentation proceeds. It usually takes its first hit about 5 minutes in and by the time he's done it's down by double digits.

I would suspect you're probably right... But then again, I'd just be guessing..

Then by all means, you must invest all of your money in short AAPL orders the day before.

That seems to be the hole in Apple's product line-up that a tablet would fill nicely, but if it can't function as one's sole computer (like a netbook can) then it's just an expensive accessory to one's already-expensive computer. And based on reports that it has no connectivity beyond that of an iPod, it seems that would be the case. That's the same problem that makes the MacBook Air a poor-selling product.


That's really all it is.

What a genius these folks are by doing a survey on a product they know nothing about, especially it's functionality and intent.

Amazon Kindle DX is 9.7 inches, has a black and white non-touch display, and does one thing, acts as an e-reader.. It sells for $489.

the iphone 3gs is $799 canadian without a contract.
How can the tablet be lower in price ?!

"We can't build a $700 tablet that isn't junk".

You heard it here first.

That said, what WILL turn buyers off is a mandatory wireless subscription. Either give the tablet WiFi, or have the subscription be optional.

Everyone knows it'll do more than an iPod, but less than a MacBook. Since we know a MacBook only costs $999 and an iPod Touch costs as little as $199, I think people can knowingly conclude what they'd be willing to pay for a device somewhere in the middle.

Except, nobody really knows what it will do at all. Some people only think they do.

Jesus didn't have a slate. Moses did. Get it right!

And what exactly would be so wrong with a Touch that has a larger screen?

The Touch now serves as a reader, browser, organizer, gaming platform, and media player. Every one of those activities would be more enjoyable on a larger screen.

Where's the downside?

Apple kind of set this up back when it held it's presser for the Touch update, emphasizing that it has evolved into a pocket computer. Bringing out a version with a larger screen is a no-brainer next step in this line's evolution.

If I were Apple, I wouldn't even separate this unit from the iPod family, calling it the iPod whatever, as opposed to implying that it's a whole new sort of device. After all, it's not as if Apple has given any details regarding what it's going to present on Wednesday. If there was major disappointment over the fact that what we get is a larger Touch, Apple could correctly point out that it never did promise otherwise. In fact, it has promised absolutely nothing beyond being ready to unveil its latest creation. Apple can't be taken to task over rumours. Some will try but that would be exceedingly lame.

Bottom line is that a line of larger Touch-like devices ranging from about $500 up to around $700 would sell rather well. Hence, the question isn't why would Apple serve up such a product, the question is, why wouldn't Apple go there?

But what if the iTablet walked your dog? How much money would people pay then? What if it could compute Pi? What if it could compute the unification theory? What if it could scratch the unreachable parts of your back?

My point is.. this device is worth, as much as the thing does.

it's crazy. It's gonna be $499.

Well stated. This site is dominated by gearheads who view technical specifications as the only true measure of value.

You are speaking for yourself when you say that the study is 'bull'. You might not think over $700 is an issue, but I think you will find you're the outlier not the norm. People can justify a phone for $200, spread out over two years works out to be less than $10/month (ignoring the cell fee of course). But the same could be said for the Touch.

As someone else has already stated, the iPhone was only a real hit when it dropped in price, not when it was $600. If they kept that price, do you think they would have sold the millions that they have sold now?


I'm not saying they won't sell it for that amount of $$, but if it is that price or more, don't look for it to be a generally adopted device, think ATV.