iPad iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina announced

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

I am keeping my Mini too. Gotta start saving for that Mac Pro I'm getting in the next 5 years.

The Mac Pro is a total rip off, one reason I actually started considering migrating to Windows. I would suggest either an iMac or a Macbook Pro instead. Though of course I don't know what you intend to do with it.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you've got $100bn+ in the bank - most of which has come from iPhone and iPad sales - it's a pretty good indication that your sales strategy is being reasonably successful, to my mind.

Yes, for now. Nokia didn't sink from one day to another, either. It's been reported that Android now has an 80% market share among smartphones sold. If that doesn't ring at least the faintest alarm bells, perhaps it should. It's also been reported that 2013 is the first year in which Android tablets have had a bigger market share over iPads in terms of units sold. Just slightly for now -- I think it's 46% to 45% or whatever -- but once again, Android is starting to dominate in a market segment that Apple practically (re)invented.

By pricing the iPad mini Retina at $399, as a luxury product, Apple have done nothing to reverse the trend -- instead, they have reinforced it. It may work out fine for them, or it may not. We'll see.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Yes, for now. Nokia didn't sink from one day to another, either. It's been reported that Android now has an 80% market share among smartphones sold. If that doesn't ring at least the faintest alarm bells, perhaps it should. It's also been reported that 2013 is the first year in which Android tablets have had a bigger market share over iPads in terms of units sold. Just slightly for now -- I think it's 49% to 48% -- but once again, Android is starting to dominate in a market segment that Apple practically (re)invented.

But, on the other hand, Apple have an 80% (or thereabouts) market share of the $400+ Smartphone market, and there's no sign of that changing. That's the market sector in which the serious money is to be made.

By pricing the iPad mini Retina at $399, as a luxury product, Apple have done nothing to reverse the trend -- instead, they have reinforced it. It may work out fine for them, or it may not. We'll see.

Absolutely. Apple are a luxury brand, and it works for them. Why should they change it?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Faterson

By pricing the iPad mini Retina at $399, as a luxury product, Apple have done nothing to reverse the trend -- instead, they have reinforced it. It may work out fine for them, or it may not. We'll see.

With little price difference between the mini 2 and the Air, I'm betting people will flock to the Air.

Apple has another 5C blunder in the making.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

With little price difference between the mini 2 and the Air, I'm betting people will flock to the Air.

Apple has another 5C blunder in the making.

Don't you think that's Apple's plan.

And yes Harry I do have another PC to play with first for upgrading to iTunes 11, just need the time to devote to it.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Absolutely. Apple are a luxury brand, and it works for them. Why should they change it?

Because it nearly drove them to bankruptcy in the 1990s. The only thing that saved Apple was the "decade of Steve Jobs inventions" (iPod, iPhone, iPad). What is going to "save" Apple in the upcoming decade? At least for now, it appears that there are no more revolutionary inventions to be made (not only because Jobs is no longer around).

If the great masses of users abandon your brand, so will most 3rd-party developers, eventually. Or, they will focus their energy on the dominating platform. (Have you ever compared the quality of MS Office on Windows and Mac?) That's what happened to Windows versus Mac OS. (And to this day, I find Windows 7 to be superior over Mac OS, even in its Mavericks iteration.) Android may do to iOS what Windows did to Mac OS (which was, push it to the brink of bankruptcy).

[Stingy]

Originally Posted by meeera

That Retina mini is exactly what I've been waiting for. Fingers crossed for Xmas! I wonder if an original iPad will fetch anything at all on ebay... doubt it.

I sold an iPad 1 16GB WiFi on eBay and was nicely surprised to get UK£165 for it.

I'm looking at getting a mini 2, whilst I continue my hunt for the perfect e-ink reader.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

The Mac Pro is a total rip off, one reason I actually started considering migrating to Windows. I would suggest either an iMac or a Macbook Pro instead. Though of course I don't know what you intend to do with it.

In fairness to Apple, the Mac Pro line uses workstation/server grade hardware which is really pricey. Does Apple enjoy healthy profits? Sure. However, if you build something similar yourself, then it's going to be quite costly. The CPU is around $300 and the same class GPU's alone would cost you $1300 (~$650 a piece). Add the 12GB ECC RAM and PCIe SSD and I can easily imagine the hardware will cost at least $2,000.

Originally Posted by Faterson

If the great masses of users abandon your brand, so will most 3rd-party developers, eventually. Or, they will focus their energy on the dominating platform. (Have you ever compared the quality of MS Office on Windows and Mac?) That's what happened to Windows versus Mac OS. (And to this day, I find Windows 7 to be superior over Mac OS, even in its Mavericks iteration.) Android may do to iOS what Windows did to Mac OS (which was, push it to the brink of bankruptcy).

Except for now, developers making paid apps are concentrating on iOS rather than Android. They make more money from iOS than from Android. Makes sense since if someone's buying a bargain-basement $100-200 tablet, it's unlikely they'd be willing to spend a small fortune on apps.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Except for now, developers making paid apps are concentrating on iOS rather than Android. They make more money from iOS than from Android. Makes sense since if someone's buying a bargain-basement $100-200 tablet, it's unlikely they'd be willing to spend a small fortune on apps.

Even if I bought an iPad, I still wouldn't buy apps

[PatNY]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Except for now, developers making paid apps are concentrating on iOS rather than Android. They make more money from iOS than from Android. Makes sense since if someone's buying a bargain-basement $100-200 tablet, it's unlikely they'd be willing to spend a small fortune on apps.

That may have been true in the past. But I don't think it's true today. There are more android users than iOS users, and the number of Android apps surpasses iOS apps. If Android were not a lucrative platform, it wouldn't have surpassed iOS in terms of numbers being developed. It appears developers are leaning more heavily toward Android.

Today there are apps that are available on Android that are unavailable on iOS and vice versa. For example, Calibre Companion, a most excellent app in every way, is only available on Android.

Reports on which platform developers can make more on vary depending on how the argument is framed. But you can find articles in favor of Android. Here is one that says for developers on staff, senior Android developers make more money than senior iOS developers. Obviously, there is likely market forces behind those pay scales, indicating Android is the more lucrative platform.

http://www.eweek.com/developer/senio...evelopers.html

--Pat

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by PatNY

Reports on which platform developers can make more on vary depending on how the argument is framed. But you can find articles in favor of Android. Here is one that says for developers on staff, senior Android developers make more money than senior iOS developers. Obviously, there is likely market forces behind those pay scales, indicating Android is the more lucrative platform.

http://www.eweek.com/developer/senio...evelopers.html

Nah. That article just says experienced Android developers get paid more than experienced iOS developers. However, it seems more apps are being developed for iOS.

At the senior level, Android developers receive an average of $10,000 more a year in salary than their iOS counterparts, according to CyberCoders, which compiled its research from information from 2011 to 2013.

However, developers who specialize in Apple's mobile operating system saw close to a 20 percent increase in hiring over Android developers, proving senior Android specialists may make more, but the demand for those who work on iOS continues to climb.

[PatNY]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Nah. That article just says experienced Android developers get paid more than experienced iOS developers. However, it seems more apps are being developed for iOS.

The point in my post that you missed is that market forces drive pay scales. There has to be a reason why Android developers make more when on staff. And it's likely market driven -- at least to a large degree.

And it's not true that more apps are currently being developed for iOS than Android. The opposite is true. Which is why the number of apps in the Play store continues to grow faster than those in Apple's store.

--Pat

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by PatNY

The point in my post that you missed is that market forces drive pay scales. There has to be a reason why Android developers make more when on staff. And it's likely market driven -- at least to a large degree.

Perhaps the higher pay is also a matter of skill set? Given the variety of Android devices, I imagine it's harder to develop for Android than it is for iOS.

[PatNY]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Perhaps the higher pay is also a matter of skill set? Given the variety of Android devices, I imagine it's harder to develop for Android than it is for iOS.

It could be skill set ... or it could be simply demand (driven by market forces). I'm guessing the fact that there appears to be more Android developers in sheer numbers than their iOS counterparts (because there are more Android apps than iOS ones) makes me think that skilled Android developers are not in short supply.

As for the difficulty of developing for the different platforms due to the variety of devices, I'm going to guess again and say they are both essentially the same today. Because now iOS has introduced various sizes to the equation that their developers have to account for. Meanwhile, I believe Google has clamped down on its Android OS and how various vendors are implementing it, minimizing variability -- and hence complexity for developers -- for essential overlay functions.

--Pat

[afv011]

Originally Posted by HarryT

(...) Apple have too much reason to change what they are currently doing.

Indeed, overcharging (with profits exceeding 50%) is certainly the surest way to continue to inflate those coffers. As long as people are willing to put up with this pricing scheme, why not? Milk the cow for all it's worth.