Apple's 128GB iPad aims to drive profits up a path competitors can't easily follow

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  • Reply 121 of 188
    Can't believe some of the comments here. I thought Dilger did an inciteful analysis of the difference between Apple and the lemmings. My next iPad will have 128GB because I keep doing more with it and putting more on it.
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  • Reply 122 of 188
    tzeshantzeshan Posts: 2,351member


    A very well written article.  The author has very deep insight of the technicals of various competing devices.  And he is able to link the technicals with sales.  And he explains the shortcomings of Android and Windows devices very well which the makers are trying to hide from the uninformed consumers.  And the 128 GB iPad is a brilliant move by Apple.  Because it is aimed directly at the shortcomings as explained by this author.  Thanks. 

     

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  • Reply 123 of 188

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MacRulez View Post




    Yeah, virtually unlimited storage in a standard form that's cheap and interoperable with a wide range of other devices - who could possibly want that?



    I guess people who are not technologically sophisticated enough to care about the trade-offs. Removing a "hole" in the side of my tablet that I'll never use, and it's corresponding "empty box" on the inside of my tablet, means more space for battery. Something I use every day.

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  • Reply 124 of 188
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    Another think piece from DED, where he is working out a new concept, and you can see it taking shape as he writes. It's not surprising that it flies over the head of some of the categorical non-thinkers here. I think he stakes out the new ground pretty well.

    Apple is now justifying its margins by going all out for the iPad as a portable business and professional machine, a replacement for many laptops. Yes, Android tablets may follow, but will anyone buy them? Will anyone buy the Surface Pro? However it turns out, Apple is moving into a new market here, and DED is addressing that.

    Two other points I'd like to see addressed:

    How long has it been possible for Apple to get the chips they need to do this?

    What is the additional cost of sourcing, assembling and tracking new models—the additional logic boards, the actual memory chip(s), and the laying out of different assembly tracks for the different radios and colors? I think that the meme that 'Apple is ripping us off, look how cheap the parts are' is laughably simple-minded, but just how reductionist is it?
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  • Reply 125 of 188
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,826member


    The iPad will continue to do well and dominate as long as a few things do not radically change.


     


    1) Keep a far superior ecosystem. By that I mean that there are far more native iPad apps than native Android tablet apps. This is really out of Apple's controls and has more to do with app developers for both platforms. As long as the iPad has far more native apps that is a big advantage, possibly the biggest. 


     


    2) Hope that no Android tablet is released with equal or superior hardware specs with the ability to reach 256GB of total storage for several hundred dollars cheaper.


     


    3) Hope that Google doesn't become an MVNO and subsidize a 3G/LTE plan for around  $20 monthly for a 5GB data allowance on their tablets. 

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  • Reply 126 of 188
    tzeshantzeshan Posts: 2,351member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tjwal View Post


    I would hate to be the one in the back of a court room speaking into my iPad.  LOL...





    I think you can use the keyboard in the home screen to find your files.  Or you need an app that can find the files for you. 

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  • Reply 127 of 188
    normmnormm Posts: 653member
    But none of the competitors will try to sell a 128GB tablet at the same price! Ok except the always clueless MSFT, but still...

    In the end, GOOG or AMAZ can easily sell a 128GB version of their tablets, e.g. NEXUS 10 with 128GB for $599, or Kindle Fire 8.9HD with 128GB for $499, which can easily undercut the iPad. 

    Apple makes high margins by selling built-in flash memory. It has modest margins on it's lowest capacity devices, which makes it hard for competitors to get into the market by underselling them with a desirable low-end device. Then it has high margin devices with lots of flash memory, so the higher end customers have something to buy. If low end competition ever becomes a real problem, they'll just cut the price of their entry-level devices.

    You can't compete with that strategy by making a cheaper high end device, since that by itself doesn't create the mass market that drives ecosystem and visibility.
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  • Reply 128 of 188
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by NelsonX View Post


    Wow! Amazing, incredible, wonderful! This is what I call true INNOVATION! A BIGGER HARD DRIVE!!! I'm sure nobody in the world would have expected such an earth-shattering move! Apple is MAGIC once again!


    On a different note, I just watched the Blackberry 10 launch. If you want to see true innovation check the Blackberry Hub and real multitasking! Blackberry 10 OS is years more advanced than the primitive iOS



    "Hard drive"? ? ?


     


    Good one.


     


    And how innovative is the "hard drive" on the machine from the company formerly known as RIM?

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  • Reply 129 of 188
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by isaidso View Post


    I guess people who are not technologically sophisticated enough to care about the trade-offs. Removing a "hole" in the side of my tablet that I'll never use, and it's corresponding "empty box" on the inside of my tablet, means more space for battery. Something I use every day.



    That's the direction my decision making went.

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  • Reply 130 of 188
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member


    deleted

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  • Reply 131 of 188
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    gwmac wrote: »
    The iPad will continue to do well and dominate as long as a few things do not radically change.

    1) Keep a far superior ecosystem. By that I mean that there are far more native iPad apps than native Android tablet apps. This is really out of Apple's controls and has more to do with app developers for both platforms. As long as the iPad has far more native apps that is a big advantage, possibly the biggest. 

    2) Hope that no Android tablet is released with equal or superior hardware specs with the ability to reach 256GB of total storage for several hundred dollars cheaper.

    3) Hope that Google doesn't become an MVNO and subsidize a 3G/LTE plan for around  $20 monthly for a 5GB data allowance on their tablets. 

    So I guess this is an official hint from inside Google of what is to come.
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  • Reply 132 of 188

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by NelsonX View Post


    Wow! Amazing, incredible, wonderful! This is what I call true INNOVATION! A BIGGER HARD DRIVE!!! I'm sure nobody in the world would have expected such an earth-shattering move! Apple is MAGIC once again!


    On a different note, I just watched the Blackberry 10 launch. If you want to see true innovation check the Blackberry Hub and real multitasking! Blackberry 10 OS is years more advanced than the primitive iOS.





    Mouse up. Right. Now go to the left of the tab. Perfect.


    See that little cross etched in the pseudometal border that just appeared? Click it, goodbye.

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  • Reply 133 of 188
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    nelsonx wrote: »
    Wow! Amazing, incredible, wonderful! This is what I call true INNOVATION! A BIGGER HARD DRIVE!!! I'm sure nobody in the world would have expected such an earth-shattering move! Apple is MAGIC once again!
    On a different note, I just watched the Blackberry 10 launch. If you want to see true innovation check the Blackberry Hub and real multitasking! Blackberry 10 OS is years more advanced than the primitive iOS.

    iOS has full preemptive multitasking built in. Turned off to save memory, CPU and batteries from errant apps.

    If Apple do ever copy the hub they could call it mission center.

    Back to the article. It seems more and more the mini was a defensive move, and they didn't estimate the demand. Now they decided to differentiate the bigger one as a business device, or for the rich, where money is no object. This will help margins as margins are, after all,an average.
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  • Reply 134 of 188

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Flaneur View Post





    What is the additional cost of sourcing, assembling and tracking new models—the additional logic boards, the actual memory chip(s), and the laying out of different assembly tracks for the different radios and colors? I think that the meme that 'Apple is ripping us off, look how cheap the parts are' is laughably simple-minded, but just how reductionist is it?


    Very true. I mean, Apple's barely making ends meet. Oh, wait... wrong company.

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  • Reply 135 of 188

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by PhilBoogie View Post



    Man, the way this thread is going I'd rather watch the BB10 live blog from RIM


     


    Looks interesting, but pretty unfocused. What's the use of the phone video-editing application for an entreprise user?

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  • Reply 136 of 188


    Paid by the word?

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  • Reply 137 of 188
    irelandireland Posts: 17,801member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacRulez View Post


    Yeah, virtually unlimited storage in a standard form that's cheap and interoperable with a wide range of other devices - who could possibly want that?

     

    Geeks and nerds, a market segment Apple has always sensibly steered clear from. But then, you don't understand Apple, so you telling you this is a waste of time.
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  • Reply 138 of 188
    irelandireland Posts: 17,801member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacRulez View Post


    Yeah, virtually unlimited storage in a standard form that's cheap and interoperable with a wide range of other devices - who could possibly want that?

     

    Geeks and nerds, a market segment Apple has always sensibly steered clear from. But then, you don't understand Apple, so you telling you this is a waste of time.
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  • Reply 139 of 188
    tzeshantzeshan Posts: 2,351member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DaHarder View Post



    ... as nice as it is to have a 128gb (on-board) storage option (at a rather exorbitant cost), merely increasing capacity does not fundamentally change the functionality of the iPad.



    Likely the single biggest obstacle for to having such a large amount of storage on an iPad is that iOS still lacks a user accessible file system, so as to easily acess all of those 'CAD files' etc. one might load on all that new space.



    Note: Several competing mobile devices have reached the 128gb storage level already via having 64gb of built-in storage plus (fully OS integrated) 64gb microSDXC/Class 10 cards (often found for around US 50.00) with 128gb microSDXC cards soon to be released.

    Not Really... at least not until it gets a user accessible file system and the abilty to run apps in individual windows etc.




    How do you back up your valuable files on the external SD cards on an Android based tablets?  With 128 GB of data on it. 

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  • Reply 140 of 188

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Berp View Post





    With the timescale contraction the analogy requires, Apple's development model closely follows nature's evolutionary pathway to self-consciousness.

    Quantum leaps interspersed with consolidation phases.



    Had it progressed under some Samsung/Google/Microsoft/Etc evolutionary dynamics, ...some sort of commoditization of the underlying development process, we would probably be listening to the moaning and groaning of tribal Australopithecus instead of reading through a subtle analysis by a thoughtful, X generational mindset.



    Dilger's perspective on Apple gets its source-code from evolution. Some commenters on this site simply relive through and through some alternate evolutionary model whereby, eons gone-by on the European continent, Neanderthals preempted Homo Sapiens and slung History to a dead-end.



    Apple is no creationist economic agent. It micro-manages evolution's long arch of History and makes it blend locally with an already time-tested curvature. It drives grounded hope, just as nature, left to its own volition, coalesced towards a life-emerging-sustaining point of optimal equilibrium.



    I commend Dilger for steadfastly reminding the readers of this Blog that we've developed into Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Apple emerged as a corollary to this 'life-blooming' denouement; and there lies the comprehensive foundation of his argumentation. That is however way out of bound for either a Neanderthal or an Australopithecus mindset.


    I'm not sure that's the best possible analogy.


    You do realize that HSS is now believed to have genocided Neanderthals, and that we carry genes from Neanderthal origins, proving that there was interbreeding?


    I don't quite see Apple genociding its competitors, much less breeding with them (hmmm, notification center doesn't count).

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