- Oct 9, 2002
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Speculation:
How will Apple price iPad Mini? It makes me think...
Apple is clearly going to release iPad Mini this holiday season to avoid massive market share losses to $200 7-inch tablets like Google Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD.
These popular 7" tablets are about $200. Apple's cheapest iPod Touch 5th-generation is $300 and capacity starts at 32GB.
I doubt the iPad Mini will be $200, because there's always an "Apple Tax" for Apple products. At $200, the iPad Mini would be cheaper than the cheapest current-generation iPod Touch...and I don't think that's going to happen.
If it's $300, then an iPad Mini will be the same price as the current-generation iPod Touch. The iPod Touch 5th-generation is so new, people haven't even received their pre-orders yet...so I doubt there's going to be a price-drop for the iPod Touch. Having the same price would probably make new iTouch owners feel ripped-off. Obviously, the iPod Touch has a MUCH smaller screen (4" versus almost 8"). At $300, the only advantage the iPod Touch would have is that it has 32GB of storage versus the iPad Mini's likely 16GB. That's not compelling because everyone knows storage capacity is cheap for the manufacturer, and Apple gouges consumers on this. Storage capacity doesn't affect performance like memory capacity, and the iPad Mini will probably have 1GB RAM while iPod Touch has only half that (512MB).
I can't imagine it would be *over* $350, because then it wouldn't compete effectively with the 7" tablets out there.
I canceled my iPod Touch 5th-gen preorder today. Thankfully, my order wasn't part of the first-wave of shipments. For future iOS app development, I think I'm better-served by owning an iPhone 5 (1136x640, A6), iPad Mini (1024x768, A5), and iPad 3rd-generation (2048x1536, A5X). I don't plan to buy that expensive iPad 3rd-gen unless I earn some big money developing apps. It's just too damn expensive.
My guess? It will be closer to $300 than $200 and the iPod Touch 5th generation will be a terrible deal by comparison.
How will Apple price iPad Mini? It makes me think...
Apple is clearly going to release iPad Mini this holiday season to avoid massive market share losses to $200 7-inch tablets like Google Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD.
These popular 7" tablets are about $200. Apple's cheapest iPod Touch 5th-generation is $300 and capacity starts at 32GB.
I doubt the iPad Mini will be $200, because there's always an "Apple Tax" for Apple products. At $200, the iPad Mini would be cheaper than the cheapest current-generation iPod Touch...and I don't think that's going to happen.
If it's $300, then an iPad Mini will be the same price as the current-generation iPod Touch. The iPod Touch 5th-generation is so new, people haven't even received their pre-orders yet...so I doubt there's going to be a price-drop for the iPod Touch. Having the same price would probably make new iTouch owners feel ripped-off. Obviously, the iPod Touch has a MUCH smaller screen (4" versus almost 8"). At $300, the only advantage the iPod Touch would have is that it has 32GB of storage versus the iPad Mini's likely 16GB. That's not compelling because everyone knows storage capacity is cheap for the manufacturer, and Apple gouges consumers on this. Storage capacity doesn't affect performance like memory capacity, and the iPad Mini will probably have 1GB RAM while iPod Touch has only half that (512MB).
I can't imagine it would be *over* $350, because then it wouldn't compete effectively with the 7" tablets out there.
I canceled my iPod Touch 5th-gen preorder today. Thankfully, my order wasn't part of the first-wave of shipments. For future iOS app development, I think I'm better-served by owning an iPhone 5 (1136x640, A6), iPad Mini (1024x768, A5), and iPad 3rd-generation (2048x1536, A5X). I don't plan to buy that expensive iPad 3rd-gen unless I earn some big money developing apps. It's just too damn expensive.
My guess? It will be closer to $300 than $200 and the iPod Touch 5th generation will be a terrible deal by comparison.
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