Apple exec Phil Schiller defends $329 entry price of iPad mini - Page 3

I am happy that Apples marketing specialists don't trust on your guts. Said that, of course my way to put all R&D, logistict, salaries, and whatever other costs turn up, in to one position "margin" is simplistic and maybe not quite fair. but I just wanted to keep it short.
Nevertheless, 329$ is, considering the value of the pruduct, a very nice price.

"A 7.9" iPad with a 4:3 aspect ratio has 40% more screen space than a 7" 16:9 Android tablet."

In terms of resolution Nexus 7 (1280 x 800) has 30% space versus iPad Mini (1024 x 768)

You just defined a cheapskate.

Diagonal length is deceptive???  

I feel with all fairly high price points, they're blurring the lines between products, and their insistance to continue pushing old models just as prominently as the new ones is making the new models feel lesser.

 

130 dollars more is a significant amount of money - imagine how much you can do with a kindle or nexus if you invested that 130 savings right back into apps and media. They missed the mark on that impulse buy range. People will still buy millions of Kindles and Nexus' because of the price. 

 

If they priced this at 250 or 300, taking a tiny hit on the mini (while still making a profit) could have obliterated the 7" market, and again taken complete control of the tablet market.

 

What they should have done (which makes absolute sense)  - ipod touch $250, mini $300, ipad 3 $450, ipad 4 $500.  

This'll probably be my last post in this thread, as I don't really see any point in discussing things with cheapskates, whiners and people who obviously don't understand Apple. 

 

The bottom line is that Apple is going to sell a ton of these iPad Mini's, and that's all that counts at the end of the day. The many tens of millions of customers that buy them will be extremely satisfied with their purchase, and everybody will be happy  when all is said and done, except for the whiners of course, but who gives a shit about them?

 

And just to add one last thing, do these people have no self-respect?

 

If I wanted a new car, and I had my eyes set on a certain BMW (or insert your car of choice here) model, I certainly wouldn't go into a BMW forum and whine about how I couldn't afford a BMW and how I thought that the BMW model which I wanted was too expensive. And to be whining about a dirt cheap $329 product? I'd be embarrassed to even whine about that.

Edited by Apple ][ - 10/24/12 at 11:05am

Honestly, they just need to bite the bullet and drop the prices across the board on the mini by the $30. They over charged for the iPhone in the beginning and dropped that price, they need to do it here too. There is no justification for this price, the marketting team needs to be boiled in oil.

Stop saying 199 for the GN7. 

 

That's the 8 gig version. It's 250 for the 16 gig that is equal to the iPad.

 

For the 80 dollars, you get a 35% bigger screen, iOS 6, less Google, a stronger, Al and Glass enclosure compared to the plasticized rubbery feel of the GN7, and the Apple support compared to Asus'. 

 

Apple is not far off in terms of raw processing, and it's way ahead on intangibles. 

I know this is out of context and I believe you are one who kept on saying one must download hundreds of apps to in order to use Passbook, you don't have to as this person has pointed out.
Oypass
10/22/2012 07:27 AM PDT

One of the most important aspect of Passbook that people forget is it doesn't requires apps for pass distribution. For example, if you live in London, you can get your Oyster Pass directly from http://oypass.com. No apps required.

I have two Kindles Fire and it is junk when compared with the Ipad, it is very limited, our kids are now using the kindle's (there are 7 year old twins) because it is more like an expensive usable toy, nothing like the Ipad, and if the Mini Ipad has the same features that my regular iPad, without doubt it is many times a better machine, no comparison.

Resolution doesn't mean anything if you're not using it.

Are you poor?  I've never met a rich person who brags about affording a $329 product.

Right!!! And Reuters' misleading headline. He answered a question from a damned journalist, and it's labeled a defense!

I'm disgusted by you people who are saying that the old Apple would not defend itself.

Schiller was not DEFENDING anything! Think!

Disagree. There will be some cannibalization but more than anything this will open up the iPad customer base. It will be a surefire hit with kids and young teens. That I am pretty certain of.

 

I tend not to destroy my books, no. And they're usually too thick for that to be practical. 

 

You really want "Put a book in your back pocket" as your answer, instead of explaining the nonsense you're saying?

 

Darn those TV manufacturers since the beginning!

Not really. Or are they overcharging for the iPad, too? 

 

"I can't find a justification; there must not be one."

 

And no, that's not irony. I've provided evidence for MY beliefs.

 

to talented to waste my life as a lawyer. 

Great price for the Apple fan boys/girls!

But way overpriced for the average consumer! I have an Android Jelly Bean Asus 10" tablet, a Fire HD and an iPad. I'm not the average consumer but if I was recommending a tablet to someone, it wouldn't be the iPad Mini, it would either be a refurbished iPad or any of the other tablets,like the Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 if a smaller form factor is the preference but an iPad mini will not be one.

 

I usually care more about what it says over what my books look like - I've been known to cut them in half or thirds down the binding. They tell the same story regardless, and that is what I buy them for.

 

It should be obvious by now that I do not consider it nonsense - you never gave a reply that would convince me otherwise - so my response was of equal value.

What kind of hammers are we talking here?  Chipping hammers, framing hammers, jackhammers, or neurological hammers?

I guarantee you if Apple had started the price at $299, people would have whined and moaned saying it should be $249. Android lovers are so concerned about specs, when in reality, a tablet is way more then just specs. You're paying for superior build quality, the excellent iOS ecosystem, incredible user experience, etc. You can knock and bash Apple all you want on their price point, but the reality is, even the more expensive iPad is blowing away the competition, even the cheap crap from Amazon and Google. 

 

I'm not poor, I wouldn't call myself rich either, but I do know one thing, even if I was poor, I wouldn't be whining about not being able to afford a $329 gadget.

I realize that with each generation, we expect more from our technology at increasingly lower price points. I get that. Agree with it. Benefit from it.

 

But, at 42, I also remember the introduction of the VHS cassette player, which had one function that it performed poorly, and was priced over $350.

 

The iPad mini performs that same function, better, times 250,000.

 

I know it's not central to the arguments presented here, or by Phil, but it keeps me from whining. The tech is amazing. What it allows for me and my children  - especially my son with autism - is amazing. MORE amazing than something larger? Produced by another manufacturer? Whatever. It's amazing. $350 is cheap.

 

Yes, 40% more screen space means 40% "more area" to carry as well.  The main reason to buy a smaller ipad is for portability.  If screen space is more important, buy a regular ipad.

So you want Apple to dump the mini at cost like the other desperate android tablets?  Why would they do that?

No, really?

 

WoW, android geek at  his best.  "hey, we see less but the resolution is better..."  for crying out loud how dumb can you get.

 

Adjusted for inflation, the first VHS decks were around $4,600.

 

If the whiners here were around at that time, they probably would have had heart attacks. I think that many of the whiners are very young and ignorant people who have no concept about money.

Bravo! good point... a regular horse head home hammer was the picture in my mind.

Nonsense.  Technology absolutely has inherent value if it simplifies and enhances peoples lives.  That's the part you guys "conveniently" fail to take into consideration.  For you... it's all about getting some piece at rock bottom prices, do your 15 minutes on it, waste your time configuring it, rooting it, removing malware, etc.

For Apple's products, they work, they work well, and they allow people who value their time and life to get the job done and move on.  Try doing that on a regular PC, or better yet... try being that productive on a cheap-trash Android device.  You very well know that.

I lost track of how many people hated.. absolutely hated their Android device.  Sure it's cheap but guess what.  The time and frustration has value.  What's laughable is that (especially Android tablets) when one breaks (constantly) the moment you buy a replacement (and factor in headaches) you already exceeded the price of having one iPad and being happy with it.

For lots of people, iOS is perfect for them.  That's no insult.  It speaks leaps and bounds of how Apple got it right for the majority of consumers.  Android is all about false marketing and the (insulting) theory that what's good for techies obviously must be good for everyone else.

Keep Android devices dirt cheap.  It will simply continue its demise.

When the original iPad was released, the market was stunned by its highly aggressive price point. Prior to its introduction, watchers were afraid it might be over a thousand dollars. Then we thought Apple would shave their margins and manage to hit $800. But when Steve showed us a starting price point of $499, our jaws dropped. Executives at competing companies fainted outright.

This was not that day.

Read: The Bean Counters Are Back In Charge At Apple
http://www.isights.org/2012/10/the-bean-counters-are-back-at-apple.html

"The sad part is that Apple could well have eaten the extra $30 in exchange for a larger marketshare. They did not."

 

I'm not so sure. If they expect this to be a monster item on their earnings sheet that approx. 10% hit against margin might have been deemed too much of a bite. But the $299 benchmark was always (as I understand it) with 8GB, not 16.... so what they did was not, IMHO, offer a useless paperweight solely to meet a price point.

 

Nah... if he were a Samsung lawyer, he'd confuse the Nexus with the Mini when asked by the judge.

You'd be surprised at the things rich people penny pinch on.

exactly, or considering a piece of mass produced electronics made in china as a possession with any real value regardless of cost. 

 

at a basic level of success you would understand this is not an example of wealth in any gathering. 

 

 

I agree with what has already been said about this post. You just don't get visible space.

 

And you must really care about the account you've set up here, given the e-mail service you used. 

Well.. that lasted 14 minutes....

The funny thing is that if I were a BMW salesmen, and you came in whining about why you should pay $40K for a BMW when you can go down the road and buy a Mustang for $30K, I'd say "Have a nice trip".

This is what I don't understand about the arrogant jerks that are on this thread.  They are doing the exact same thing.  I'd love to live in Beverly Hills, have a Lamborghini and a MV Agusta and a super yacht, but I can't afford any of that.  I accept it and move on.  I don't go around infesting everything like these a$$hats do and screaming "I can't afford it!  It should be cheaper so I too can buy it!!".  I mean really!! WTF??

I did write probably. 

In the long run, Google and Amazon still have a leg up on Apple due to the fact that they can almost give away their tablet and still make some money in the long run.
That will always be the case until Apple does something a little different.
They tried with the iAd thing to somewhat compete with Google with the Ad money. That did not work.
They really have no solution in place yet to compete with Amazon, YET.
With time, that will continue to wash away profits. (Pricewise, all hardware continues to come down). That, or eventually the Tablet products that GooMazon produce will get better and better. If nothing changes, Apple will eventually loose out profitwise. Simple economics.
But there is a solution.
Walmart , and a lot of other retailers know whats gonna happen with Amazon beating them with the online presence they now have, and that will only get stronger.
Google also can continue making money until something different happens.

Apple should talk with the Walmarts with this approach: Subsidize the iPad. Make arrangements with ceratin customers that are willing to come on board with an experimental arrangement. Make arrangements with Apple for a contract that will reduce the price a certain %. Apple will make a small % also. They will both have to work out a 'Special' opportunity for Free two day delivery (ala Amazon Prime).
I am sure they can make arrangements for all the fine details.
Basically it would be Walmart who would come out ahead. But at the same time Apple starts putting in place something that will start to come together (in time) to what those other guys are doing now to undercut the profits that are necesarry now and later.

My 1 cent worth