Apple 7" mystery tab solved?

[EowynCarter]

That would be good.
One of the reason android is winning market share is because they comes in different size / prices. So people are more likely to find what they want.

[VaporPunk]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

Like you, I like the 7 inch screen for its increased portability. I hope Apple does release a 7" iPad.

Would I seriously consider buying this, my first Apple product in years, because of the size and (hopefully) low price? Nah, probably not. I do wanna get a 7" tab for on the go. I'd probably stick with Android.
But more fuel for the fires of competition/pricing means we all win, hopefully.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by SmokeAndMirrors

ILasting majority appeal has never been what Apple does well. Jobs probably got them as close as they're ever going to get. They need to just accept that and do what they do well. As soon as they start chasing the competition, it'll be the 90's all over again, and this time Jobs can't come back to save them.

Hmm... they seemed to have the MP3 player market pretty much completely last time I looked. And their share of the smartphone market seems to be increasing.

And while it's still small, their share of the personal computer market has been steadily increasing of the past several years.

What almost killed Apple in the 90s, IMO, was a proliferation of undistinguished models and a lack of innovation. Hopefully they'll be able to avoid this, this time.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Hmm... they seemed to have the MP3 player market pretty much completely last time I looked. And their share of the smartphone market seems to be increasing.

You didn't look very close.

Cowon has the audiophile personal media player market and has had for some time (Easy to miss, its a specialty market largely not seen in brick and morter stores) and both Sansa and Samsung have decent market followings in the remaining segment.

The working poor settle for Coby and the like.

Most dedicated MP3 players have, of course, been replaced by convergence devices called smartphones.

[pdurrant]

Cowon: $54m in sales in 2011
Apple iPod: about 38 million units in 2011. Average selling price about $160. So that's a little over $6000m in sales in 2011.

$6000m to $54m. I think my statement stands. Apple have the MP3 player market pretty sewn up.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Hmm... they seemed to have the MP3 player market pretty much completely last time I looked. And their share of the smartphone market seems to be increasing.

There's a big difference. The MP3 player market is stagnating, and the competitors are not that interested in going head to head with Apple in a dying market (dedicated MP3 players are being replaced by phones), the competition is happy to let Apple win the market in that segment. The tablet market, on the other hand, is nascent and predicted to grow at a huge pace over the next years; it's definitively an opportunity nobody wants to miss.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

What almost killed Apple in the 90s, IMO, was a proliferation of undistinguished models and a lack of innovation. Hopefully they'll be able to avoid this, this time.

I'm sure anyone who bought a 610 remembers that- the Centris, Quadra, and Performa 610 computers were all identical except for the stamp on the case. They even had the same ROMs.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by afv011

There's a big difference. The MP3 player market is stagnating, and the competitors are not that interested in going head to head with Apple in a dying market (dedicated MP3 players are being replaced by phones), the competition is happy to let Apple win the market in that segment. The tablet market, on the other hand, is nascent and predicted to grow at a huge pace over the next years; it's definitively an opportunity nobody wants to miss.

It sounds like you're saying that Apple has the mp3 market only because the competition doesn't care...and if they did care they could do something about it.

This is extremely silly.

Apple also had the MP3 market locked up when it was a growing market. They've continuously dominated it since soon after the iPod came out.

And, no, I don't think that San Disk, iRiver, or Cowan are "happy" to let Apple have the mp3 player market.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by teh603

I'm sure anyone who bought a 610 remembers that- the Centris, Quadra, and Performa 610 computers were all identical except for the stamp on the case. They even had the same ROMs.

Yeah, I think they had something like 24 different models, just of desktops. And this, more than any other time, was also when the mac was the most expensive compared to PCs.

[Penforhire]

I don't know about a 7" iPad but iPods took over the market because iTunes took over the market. It was (and is) more about how Joe Public gets their music. The average Joe isn't a geek and doesn't cross-load their music player. So buying and syncing from one source turned out to be a huge winner. Not that iPods were so bad in terms of hardware and interface.

Cowon has always been a cut above for audiophiles. That isn't the bulk of the market. Besides, if you think Cowon is "all that" then you don't know about HiFiMan's players, which kick Cowon to the curb. Never heard of HiFiMan? Exactly my point.

Microsoft might have had a shot at the PMP market but I've never seen a company shoot itself so badly. Anyone remember "Plays For Sure?" So did MS use this same DRM when they started pushing Zune hardware? No, they instantly fractured their media market by creating a new standard. Dumb as a box of rocks!

[volwrath]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

It sounds like you're saying that Apple has the mp3 market only because the competition doesn't care...and if they did care they could do something about it.

This is extremely silly.

Apple also had the MP3 market locked up when it was a growing market. They've continuously dominated it since soon after the iPod came out.

And, no, I don't think that San Disk, iRiver, or Cowan are "happy" to let Apple have the mp3 player market.

No disagreement, but the point is that market is dead and/or dying. Its semi-irrelevant for the future. Well except those ipod owners end up buying an iphone.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

It sounds like you're saying that Apple has the mp3 market only because the competition doesn't care...and if they did care they could do something about it.

This is extremely silly.

Apple also had the MP3 market locked up when it was a growing market. They've continuously dominated it since soon after the iPod came out.

And, no, I don't think that San Disk, iRiver, or Cowan are "happy" to let Apple have the mp3 player market.

Please don't put words in my mouth and don't call me silly. I never said apple got the MP3 because nobody else was interested, I said that now that it is a dying market, nobody is interested in challenging apple - it's very different. Companies prefer to spend their resources where the money is, and that's tablets, not MP3 players.

[Crowl]

The most unlikely thing with that article is that idea that Apple would sell anything at or near to a loss, if they go for a smaller model they will simply throw money at the marketing of it and flog it at a premium compared with other tablets of that size.

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by Crowl

The most unlikely thing with that article is that idea that Apple would sell anything at or near to a loss, if they go for a smaller model they will simply throw money at the marketing of it and flog it at a premium compared with other tablets of that size.

IMHO Apple would have to price it close to the $199 price of the Kindle Fire to make it attractive to the market. As Apple has already earned billions on sales from iTunes, they may just price it low to earn even more billions on content alone and absorb part of the price of the device.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by joehunt

IMHO Apple would have to price it close to the $199 price of the Kindle Fire to make it attractive to the market. As Apple has already earned billions on sales from iTunes, they may just price it low to earn even more billions on content alone and absorb part of the price of the device.

Apple make very little (relatively speaking) from iTunes content.
They make money on hardware, and will not sell at a loss, or even at too low a margin.
The is a natural inclination to compare Apple and Amazon, but their business models are completely different. Apple is a hardware company, who run a content business in order to make their hardware more attractive. Amazon is a retailer, their business is selling content. They make hardware to drive more people to their content.
I'd be very surprised if any 7" iPad was below $299, given that the iPod Touch starts at $199. $249 would be an extremely attractive price. They don't need to price-match the Fire to draw market away from it.