Apple to try dumping iPad Mini at a loss?

[harrybarracuda]

Presumably because the Kindle Fire is doing so well.

Apple 'planning to sell £150 iPad Mini AT A LOSS in order to kill off Android tablets'

• Claims suggest Apple will launch iPad Mini this October for between $200-$250
• Dramatic price-point will help Apple compete with cheaper Android tablets
• Apple's $100billion cash reserves may soften blow of loss-making device

By Eddie Wrenn
PUBLISHED: 08:39 GMT, 11 May 2012 | UPDATED: 10:04 GMT, 11 May 2012


Like this, but smaller: Apple has now released three generations of iPad - and rumours suggest a baby brother is on the way



Apple is planning to launch an assault against the burgeoning Android tablet market by releasing an 'iPad Mini' - at a loss-making price of around £150, according to new claims.
The bargain-basement priced tablet will even feature the same 'Retina' display featured on its big brother, bringing the same 3.1million pixels to a smaller 7-8" display.
Sources told Apple fansite iMore that the aggressively-priced tablet will launch in October this year, with Apple potentially selling the sub-$250 tablet at a loss in order to leave no room for competition.
With Apple sitting on cash reserves of $100bn, the tech giant should at least be able to stomach such a move financially.


iMore reported: 'Today's claim says that Apple is going to step-up the pressure on Android tablet manufacturers with an iPad mini that will sell for a surprisingly low $200-250.

'That's a bit hard to accept in the light of the other major claim this rumor makes, that the iPad mini will keep the full-sized iPad's 2048x1536 resolution.

'If this is true, Apple might have to take a serious cut to its margins, if not sell the mini at a loss. Considering the kind of cash Apple has on hand, though, it might be willing to take the hit just to help kill-off competition from Android tablets.'
If the iPad sells for $250 in the States, that would translate to £150 in the UK, although whether Apple would respect currency rates is up for debate.
With the screen as a premium feature, it is likely sacrifices will be made in other parts of the tablet, such as reduced storage space of, for instance, 8GB for your apps, videos and music.
This will likely cause issues for users as that amount of space will be used up quickly, marking this out as very much a budget tablet.


However, it will also appeal to people who want an iPad for casual browsing and occasional use of apps and movies, but who are not willing to shell out £400 for the bigger brother.iMore and another website, Daring Fireball, have separately heard that Apple has already built the seven-inch device, and the only decision left is whether to 'go to market'.
Both iMore and Daring Fireball have proven to be reliable sources of internal Apple discussions in the past.

Something new to the table(t): Previously there has only been two flavours of iPad - black and white


Android tablets can be found at around the £200 mark, including the Android-based Amazon Fire, held here by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos



Steve Jobs hated the thought of a smaller iPad, calling them 'dead on arrival'. He said people did not wish to use smaller tablets for video-playback, and feared a smaller tablet would serve as a bridge between the iPad and the iPhone, resulting in app-makers simply 'stretching' their phone apps for the tablet.
In a 2010 earnings call, he said: 'One naturally thinks that a seven-inch screen would offer 70 percent of the benefits of a ten-inch screen.

'Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. … The reason we won't make a seven-inch tablet isn’t because we don’t want to hit a lower price point, it’s because we think the screen is too small to express the software.'

Steve Jobs' feelings towards seven-inch tablets was reported in his official biography, among other places



Another big problem - which Android is struggling to deal with - would be the resulting fragmentation, with app-makers having to invest more money for coding different versions of their apps for different devices, something Apple has almost entirely succeeded at avoiding so far.
With the Android tablet market maturing, and competitors like Amazon launching their own tablets such as the Kindle Fire at less than $200, it would make sense for Apple to join the burgeoning cheaper market, although the company may be concerned about devaluing their premium brand, which is associated with high prices but also high quality.
However the company has previous form with cheaper models. The iPod music player was released in 2001, and in 2004 and 2005 the iPod Minis and Nanos were released, bringing elements of Apple's flagship device to a cheaper market.
In March, a source from within competitor Samsung made a 'mini' indescretion while talking to the Korea Times.
While discussing Apple and Samsung's $9.7billion deal for Samsung to manufacturer parts of the iPad, an official said: 'The contract is expected to rise to $11billion by the end of this year as Apple is planning to release a smaller iPad, probably with a 7.85-inch screen, and to sell more of its MacBook Air PCs using Samsung’s faster solid state drive storage.'

Read more: Apple 'planning to sell £150 iPad Mini AT A LOSS in order to kill off Android tablets' | Mail Online

[Butterfly]

there will be no shortage of iTards to buy one for sure,

[larvidchr]

"iTards" already have an Ipad, do try to read, this is aimed at the low end cheapskate market to compete with the blue collar cheap devices like Kindle etc., Ipad is not threatened by Kindle fire, that would be like Rolls-Royce fearing a new Fiat Panda would hurt their sales of Phantoms

[Bettyboo]

Ipad like a Rolls Royce... You Danes are strange, maybelike a dodgy old Zenvo...

[harrybarracuda]

^ I was thinking Lada meself.

[larvidchr]

^
^^

I knew that would get bites

[harrybarracuda]

Hey, you bowl a dolly like that....

[Mr Earl]

Looks like the new 7" ipad will be made in part by Samsung anyway. If they keep the price down it will sell gazillions of units.
Seems like Samsung really dominates the whole electronics industry nowawadays. Phones, cameras, tv, puters, tablets, Samsung is the cutting edge.

[ThaiAm]

I don't want an ipad even if free.

[Mr Earl]

I don't want an ipad even if free.

If there anything worse than a ipad itard it would be this kind of stupid. You could always trade the smooth opperating ipad for a glitchy samsung tablet.

[FailSafe]

Of all the tablets I've used, the iPad is the smoothest of the bunch, and has by far the best touch screen- the proprietary Apple market is annoying compared to Android, but I have other tablets for apps, and the iPad is mostly used for displaying images and web surfing (if I had to go with one tablet, though, it would probably be the Asus Transformer Prime)- Apple makes a slick product that works really well (and lives up to its equally slick marketing campaign), you have to give them that.

7" is actually a great size for a tablet- I have a 7" Kindle Fire, and I can slip it into a large pocket without it causing too much of an inconvenience, and it's still large enough to be effective for its purpose.

[Butterfly]

"iTards" already have an Ipad, do try to read, this is aimed at the low end cheapskate market to compete with the blue collar cheap devices like Kindle etc., Ipad is not threatened by Kindle fire, that would be like Rolls-Royce fearing a new Fiat Panda would hurt their sales of Phantoms

spoken like a true delusional apple fan, why I am not surprised

[Marmite the Dog]

the iPad is mostly used for displaying images and web surfing (if I had to go with one tablet, though, it would probably be the Asus Transformer Prime)- Apple makes a slick product that works really well (and lives up to its equally slick marketing campaign), you have to give them that.

The iPad surfs the web terribly seeing as it won't show Flash.

[FailSafe]

the iPad is mostly used for displaying images and web surfing (if I had to go with one tablet, though, it would probably be the Asus Transformer Prime)- Apple makes a slick product that works really well (and lives up to its equally slick marketing campaign), you have to give them that.

The iPad surfs the web terribly seeing as it won't show Flash.

That hasn't been an issue with any websites so far (I haven't watched many videos, though, where the lack of Flash could be a problem).

[The Ghost Of The Moog]

If Apple seeks to sell at a 'loss' then foreign competitors will start screaming in the WTO and may try to apply some import tariffs.

USA itself uses protectionist measures whenever a foreign competitor is perceived as 'dumping' below cost price in order to monopolise a marker.

[harrybarracuda]

^ Microsoft have been doing it with the XBox for years (oh fuck, that will get Buttplug started again).

[The Ghost Of The Moog]

^ Microsoft have been doing it with the XBox for years (oh fuck, that will get Buttplug started again).

Is that so? Well I suppose Japan might have a grouse about that as it competes with Sony products.

Elsewhere, markets would welcome cheaper consoles as they don't make a similar product

So, if Apple were to dump products, one would have to think of what other countries would complain about it given local production (South Korea?) and whether those markets would have a material impact on Apple.

[harrybarracuda]

Well the first thing you have to do is prove it, and of course all of the required information will be well buried.

[The Ghost Of The Moog]

Well the first thing you have to do is prove it, and of course all of the required information will be well buried.

Yes, exactly. So that makes me think that the tone of the original article is a bit OTT. Just from unattrbuted sources.

Oh, it's the Daily Mail.

[jizzybloke]

Can I get an ipad mini and run Android on it?

[harrybarracuda]

No, but you can get an iPhone 3 and run Android on it.

[jizzybloke]

I'll stick with the GS2 for now then.

[Bettyboo]

I went shopping t'other day, looking at all the tablets - wanting to get a present for the missus. I looked at the iTards, Sony, Lennova thinkpad thingy, Samsung stuff (vaious sizes and phones and pads and mixes of), Dell, etc. Absolutely nothing grabbed me, so I went home empty handed.

It seemed to me, for 16,500 or 13,500 for the older unit, the iTard is easy to buy; all the Samsungs next to each other was just confusing, the Lennova was amongst the Laptops, the Sony was on a stand by itself with no info and no salesperson; it was all quite a let down. I'm still not sure what these things are for.

I'm going with a cheap Kindle purely to read books, hope it arrives tomorrow, and help with work/research, but these tablets rather confuse me. I think the missus wanted a phone feature, but doesn't want to spend 20k+, and the 15,900 Galaxy 7 just didn't seem like a phone. I think these devices can be very good when tailored to specific needs (like the insurance guy who game round with the Galaxy 7 and did all his stuff), but playing games and music and surfing on a tablet, all seems a bit Starbucks... I popped into Starbucks after, to do some work on me laptop and have a cofffee and bannoffee pie, and it was full of folks with no drink and no food playing on their tablets...

[Kwang]

Absolutely nothing grabbed me

Not like you mate

I don't believe a word of that bullshit up top, 150 quid my arse, i paid 350 for a 7 inch Galaxy Tab. Why would they want to compete with Kindle, its only a friggin ebook reader

[Kwang]

Why would they give it away with Retina display when the iPad 2 doesnt have it and is on sale still at only 70 pounds cheaper than the i Pad 3

I would be well pissed off if I had bought the 10 inch iPad for 400 quid, and saw this happen and would never buy another Apple product.

It's all bollocks if you ask me. Who are these sources ?