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Old 10-30-2013, 09:10 PM   #196
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Washington Post weighs in, arguing similarly to my posts in this thread:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...eneration-ago/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...-niche-status/
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Old 10-30-2013, 09:25 PM   #197
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That second article was especially interesting. It's a good response to those who say "...but APPS!"
I think it's true that in general apps are moving towards the "free to use" model and in that case it doesn't matter how much your users are willing to pay but rather how many users you can reach. And in that regard, Android has the clear advantage (and will continue to for the foreseeable future).
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Old 10-30-2013, 09:34 PM   #198
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The crucial consideration for me is: once the user base shrinks to single percentage digits, it doesn't matter how polished your hardware may be, how easier and cheaper or (for now!) more lucrative it may be to develop for iOS (because of few devices and minimal platform fragmentation).

Single digits are single digits. If they can't reach the bulk (90+%) of their target audience, developers will gnash their teeth and grudgingly move on to the "more difficult/fragmented", seemingly "less lucrative" platform... because, apart from niche dwellers and (snobbish) luxury afficionados, that's where most users and the bulk of their target audience will be.
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Old 10-30-2013, 10:02 PM   #199
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A lot of people still don't have tablets. rarely a week goes by without someone asking me which one is best. I just say I dunno , but if I had to answer I would say IPad.

Not because I think it is better, but because I have never personally heard anyone say theyregretted buying an Ipad. I have heard many people wishing that they had bought an IPad after buying something else. A lot of people I know jumped on the Samsung Galaxy Tabs a few years ago because they were much cheaper. Within 6 months most bought Ipads.

As to pricing and competition, Apple only has one major competitor, which is the whole Android tablet market. Android tablet makers have to compete with Apple and each other.

If Apple can sell a new model every year at slightly higher prices than the year before then they are doing extremely well. I expect a desktop or a laptop and even a tablet to be useable for at least 3 years. Sure I've upgraded sooner but only for tax reasons.

As for greed with the memory, maybe it is. Or maybe the 32G model is the base line and Apple figures they are taking a bath by providing a 16G model $100 cheaper so people can afford one.

I don't own an Apple product and possibly never will. Just saying I have never met anyone who regretted buying one although I am sure they exist, and I have never seen anyone drooling over the latest Android tablet that someone else is showing off, where I have seen plenty of that with Apple products.

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Old 10-30-2013, 10:32 PM   #200
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I don't own an Apple product and possibly never will. Just saying I have never met anyone who regretted buying one
A friend of mine recently got burned by switching from Windows to Mac OS, having bought a new MacBook Pro. He then wrote me a long email, detailing his frustrations. He had been impressed by iPad and iPhone so much he thought he'd be equally impressed by Mac OS. It didn't happen, and he says he prefers Windows in performing practically all the tasks he needs to get done. He intends to give his MacBook away to his wife, and return to Windows.

On the other hand, Helen, you're right that it's rare for folks to regret their Apple purchase, especially an iDevice. I am myself blown away by how well both iPad 1 and iPhone 4 still perform for me to this day, although they're both over 3 years old now. They practically still perform like they always have for me. The quality of Apple's hardware is amazing. My ancient iPad 1 still has better battery life today than my brand-new Nexus 7!

The problem, though, is if you price your products out of the range of what a great majority of users can reasonably afford. Superior hardware quality will then likely no longer be enough to rescue your brand from niche status.
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Old 10-30-2013, 11:06 PM   #201
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A lot of people I know jumped on the Samsung Galaxy Tabs a few years ago because they were much cheaper. Within 6 months most bought Ipads.
Galaxy tabs "a few years ago" were horrible, they ran Froyo or Gingerbread (a phone OS). Things have moved on, especially since the introduction of ICS and JB. A comparison based on experience from "a few years ago", in this kind of business, is meaningless, even a few months bring significant changes.
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Old 10-30-2013, 11:18 PM   #202
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A friend of mine recently got burned by switching from Windows to Mac OS, having bought a new MacBook Pro. He then wrote me a long email, detailing his frustrations. He had been impressed by iPad and iPhone so much he thought he'd be equally impressed by Mac OS. It didn't happen, and he says he prefers Windows in performing practically all the tasks he needs to get done. He intends to give his MacBook away to his wife, and return to Windows.

On the other hand, Helen, you're right that it's rare for folks to regret their Apple purchase, especially an iDevice. I am myself blown away by how well both iPad 1 and iPhone 4 still perform for me to this day, although they're both over 3 years old now. They practically still perform like they always have for me. The quality of Apple's hardware is amazing. My ancient iPad 1 still has better battery life today than my brand-new Nexus 7!

The problem, though, is if you price your products out of the range of what a great majority of users can reasonably afford. Superior hardware quality will then likely no longer be enough to rescue your brand from niche status.
You are right, I was totally forgetting about the Apple desktops and tablets. And I did have an Apple II way back when (1978?) which I happily played Wizardry and Lord British Games on. Mea culpa.

My feeling is that Apple has little to gain by lowering their prices. A significant lowering would require a more significant increase in the number of product sold to break even with what they make now. If they reduce the Mini by 25% would they sell 25% more? Perhaps. But their actual profit would be lower as they would have to manufacture more and ship more and repair more etc.

Say 1 Ipad mini at 499 gives them $200 profit and they spend $299 on parts, labour, sales commission advertising etc. Selling 4 at $499 gives them $800 profit (with my made up figures) Selling 5 at 374.25 gives them $625 profit. Selling 6 gives them $745.50 profit. They would have to sell 7 or 75% more units to come out ahead. Selling them at lower prices just compounds this. Basically if they lowered their profit margin from whatever it is now, say from $200 a unit to $20 a unit, the would have to sell 10 times as many units.

And they would lose a few sales from those that buy Apple because they perceive the most expensive product as the best.

I'm not saying the price shouldn't come down, but I think it would be a stupid move financially on Apple's part at this point in time.

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Old 10-30-2013, 11:25 PM   #203
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With considerably lower margins, you can also expect customer service to go down. No more going to the Apple Store to get an on the spot replacement for a defective product. You'd have to mail it somewhere and then wait 3 months to receive a replacement.
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Old 10-30-2013, 11:57 PM   #204
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Things have moved on, especially since the introduction of ICS and JB.
Very true. I also see considerable improvements in Android 4.3 versus 4.0 from only a year ago or so. For example, the keyboard seems to me much improved. (Let's not even mention you can install 3rd-party keyboards like SwiftKey on Android, whereas you're stuck with whatever Apple gives you as default on iOS, and it's a suboptimal/buggy default.)

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My feeling is that Apple has little to gain by lowering their prices.
But perhaps they have, incrementally, lots to lose (namely, user share) by refusing to lower prices. We've seen a dramatic drop in pricing among Android devices between 2012 and 2013, with no corresponding move by Apple, and with no corresponding drop in quality among Android devices. Whereas it was impossible to get a solid, serviceable Android tablet for $150 a couple of years ago, today this is real. Yet Apple still pretends as if it was 2011.

If the trend from 2012-13 continues into 2014 and 2015, the disparity in pricing between Android and iOS devices may become so dramatic it may lead to a significant reduction in iOS user base. At that point, it may start to hurt Apple, but it may already be too late to rectify the mistake, just as it was no longer possible to launch a counter-attack once Windows established its 90%-ish dominance over Mac OS.
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Old 10-31-2013, 02:25 AM   #205
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The crucial consideration for me is: once the user base shrinks to single percentage digits, it doesn't matter how polished your hardware may be, how easier and cheaper or (for now!) more lucrative it may be to develop for iOS (because of few devices and minimal platform fragmentation).

Single digits are single digits. If they can't reach the bulk (90+%) of their target audience, developers will gnash their teeth and grudgingly move on to the "more difficult/fragmented", seemingly "less lucrative" platform... because, apart from niche dwellers and (snobbish) luxury afficionados, that's where most users and the bulk of their target audience will be.
Very true. Their share has shrank significantly over the past months. This is from Engadget.



Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/30/i...share-q3-2013/
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Old 10-31-2013, 02:33 AM   #206
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Honestly, after spending considerable time with the Nexus 7 (I owned one), 10, and other Android tablets, I'd much rather pay the price premium for the iPad. The tablet experience on Android just isn't there yet in terms of software or hardware.
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Old 10-31-2013, 02:39 AM   #207
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To be fair, Apple changed their iPad release cycle between 2012 and 2013, so it's obvious people were withholding from buying iPads in this most recent quarter, as opposed to the same quarter a year ago, when no one expected the release of an iPad 4 in the fall.

Even so, the overall trend and shift from iOS to Android is unmistakable, quarter after quarter. Holiday performance will be interesting now in the upcoming quarter (the most important quarter of the year in terms of sales), especially regarding the overpriced iPad mini Retina and (what a joke) iPad 2.
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Old 10-31-2013, 02:47 AM   #208
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The year over year growth is pathetic but sales would have been relatively stronger 3Q12 because iPad3 and retina hype was still strong after spring launch. It has been a year now since an ipad launch and people who want iPads are waiting for the new ones at this point, so 3Q13 is weak. YOYG and market share should be up for 4Q. If it isn't, well, that will be interesting.
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Old 10-31-2013, 03:09 AM   #209
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We have two iPads, a 2 and a 3. Both were bought within a few months and are nearly two years old. I can't wait this weekend to upgrade to an Air and sell the 2. I already have a buyer for it, it was literally snapped out of my hand.

That's one thing no one ever mentions, Apple products have a very good second hand value, and that is quite telling. People want to own an iPad.

I would never think about my main tablet, which for me is almost a laptop replacement, being anything but an iPad.

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Old 10-31-2013, 08:03 AM   #210
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That's one thing no one ever mentions, Apple products have a very good second hand value, and that is quite telling. People want to own an iPad.
This has been my experience as well. It's very hard to get rid of even a year old Android tablet without taking a massive hit.
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