Quote:
Originally Posted by tubemonkey
Astonishingly expensive! It's an outrageous price point!
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Outrageous? I dunno.
First, the price isn't likely to be subsidized: the price isn't terribly than AT&T's plans for iPads on a byte per byte basis.
Second, the tablet's price breakdown is pretty clear: The 32GB WiFi-only runs $369 so the price of the (low-volume, custom) LTE modem is $130.
That simple: you either think $130 is a tolerable price for a 4G LTE modem or you don't.
Note that Apple *also* charges a $130 premium for the LTE modem ($729 vs $599).
The data cap on the entry level data plan is irrelevant because you can always get your 3GB or 4G data plan from AT&T instead of the $50 plan.
Most people will probably go with the WiFi only which makes the LTE version a low volume premium item. But, that "premium" Amazon product is still priced with the 16GB WiFi-only iPad so it is hardly outrageous.
Basically, Amazon decided that FireHD9 should cost $200 less than the nearest iPad competitor across their entire line. What's wrong with that?
(Other than the fact that their line goes all the way up to $599?)