iPad iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina announced

[afv011]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

I don't know about you but I'd rather sell 10 million devices at $150 profit than 20 million devices at just $50 profit.

Amazon disagree with you, for them it is all about volume. And the hardware is only part of the equation, it's more lucrative to make less or even no money upfront if you can get people locked in. Of course this is a game that only Amazon and Google can play at on Android, as they own the respective ecosystems.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by afv011

Amazon disagree with you, for them it is all about volume. And the hardware is only part of the equation, it's more lucrative to make less or even no money upfront if you can get people locked in. Of course this is a game that only Amazon and Google can play at on Android, as they own the respective ecosystems.

As I mentioned, Google primarily makes money from ads so it's in their interest to get devices into people's hands.

As for Amazon...
Businessweek - Same Old Amazon: All Sales, No Profit

Amazon just posted a healthy $17.09 billion in net sales during its third quarter, a 24 percent jump compared with the same period a year ago. But the company lost 9¢ per share. This is what amounts for good news to Amazon shareholders: Analysts had predicted sales of $16.77 billion and accurately predicted that 9¢ loss.

I can understand why they're doing it. Not everyone can do what they do, though.

[Jessica Lares]

It is extremely important for Apple to keep the iPad 2 for the education sector, and it will continue to exist in 2015 most likely.

[Faterson]

I'd say that's a rather humorous assumption. As mentioned earlier, there is condescencion and implicit contempt in assuming that outdated and overpriced tablets is exactly what the doctor ordered for financially struggling schools. What have the kids done to deserve such a treatment? Buying early 2011 tablets in 2014 and 2015, for 2012 prices? Really? I wonder what the corporate environment would say, if a salesman arrived there, trying to sell 3-year-old products to a company, at price levels from 2 years ago. I'm afraid the company's facilities/acquisition manager would send such a salesman flying out the door in record time.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

It is extremely important for Apple to keep the iPad 2 for the education sector, and it will continue to exist in 2015 most likely.

Why?

How about selling them the iPad 4 for $399 instead?

[Faterson]

There's the "30-pin connector" copout; but that doesn't apply to iPad 3!

[Jessica Lares]

Honestly, it has absolutely nothing to do with what teachers, students, or parents want, it's to do with what the district can afford, and technology is one of those bits in the budget that tends to be the smallest.

In fact, it wasn't until 1999 that my school switched from MS-DOS to Windows 95/98/2000 machines. And when I was a freshman in high school, we were using IBM ThinkPads from 1997/8 that could BARELY run Windows XP.

It made us focus more, because we couldn't switch between a game and Microsoft Word without the thing crashing.

Meanwhile in the photo lab, the teacher had all sorts of problems because he had the top of the line, just released G5 Power Macs. Literally had to pull out the ethernet cables to get everyone to do their work and not go on MySpace and other places.

The iPad 2 is good for iBooks and iBooks Author. Plus most other educational apps that would benefit students. It's old tech to us, but it's not like we're talking about a 2003 machine, it's from 2011!

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

Honestly, it has absolutely nothing to do with what teachers, students, or parents want, it's to do with what the district can afford

Precisely for this reason, I'm afraid more and more schools might switch over to the Android ecosystem. If a school can buy 2 or even 3 brand-new Android tablets with better hardware specs for the overblown price of 1 outdated iPad, it's likely they will do so.

I can already see the first signs of this starting to happen here in Europe: some new educational (particularly non-English-speaking) apps are only available for the Android platform, but not for iOS. Which is one reason why I bought the new Nexus 7: I don't wish to miss out on those apps.

It really looks to me that, by overpricing their products so horrendously, Apple may be, once again, moving down the same road they did with Mac OS versus Windows in the 1990s. And we know how that ended.

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

it's not like we're talking about a 2003 machine, it's from 2011!

3 years are an eternity in the world of tablets. Especially, offering the ludicrously inferior 1024 * 768 pixels resolution on a 10-inch screen in 2013-4, at the full 2012 price, defies belief. Such a screen resolution (132 ppi???) is really something that would likely even make a Chinese knock-off manufacturer shiver to the bone.

I'm not saying: if an outdated tablet like iPad 2 were offered to schools at steep, bulk discounts -- that would be different. But all this condescending talk about the "education sector" are only hypotheses at this point. There was no mention of that in Apple's keynote. The outdated and overpriced iPad 2 was, with a straight face, offered as a legitimate item in the most recent line-up of iPads for the upcoming holiday season.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Why?

How about selling them the iPad 4 for $399 instead?

What about giving them away for free :-)

Companies are not charity . At that price there is little or no profit for Apple. I know that because when I was working for HP I knew what was the actual cost for that horrible tablet they made. It later sold like hot cakes at a lower price but we lost money, same that happens with Amazon and Kindle.

Now, If that price is still working for some ( not you, of course ) why drop it?

If someone finds iPad prices high or they can't afford them , there are other options out there. Is that simple .

[afv011]

Originally Posted by jocampo

At that price there is little or no profit for Apple.

Really? That's BS. Apple's iPads command around 40% profit margin for the base model, increasing significantly for models with higher memory.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by afv011

Really? That's BS. Apple's iPads command around 40% profit margin for the base model, increasing significantly for models with higher memory.

I'm curious, how much is the retailers' cut on Apple's products?

[tomsem]

I have noticed the weirdest thing about Apple continuing to offer iPad 2 (and iPad Mini 1 for that matter): apple.com only offers 16GB models of each:

http://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/

There are refurbs with more memory, but apparently only these configurations for 'new' iPads.

[kod]

Here is the Good Comparison. Apple iPad Mini Vs Apple iPad Air Vs Nokia Lumia 2520 Vs Nexus 7

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by tomsem

I have noticed the weirdest thing about Apple continuing to offer iPad 2 (and iPad Mini 1 for that matter): apple.com only offers 16GB models of each:

http://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/

That's not unusual. They've been doing the same with the iPhone and iPod Touch for a few years now.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by kod

Here is the Good Comparison. Apple iPad Mini Vs Apple iPad Air Vs Nokia Lumia 2520 Vs Nexus 7

It's not a good comparison. They should show the basic price of each device, not that for an absurd 32 GB of storage.