iPad 2

[persia]

@vidarh

Those are 7 inch ARM 11 tablets with minimal specs.  Resistive single touch screens, 256 MB of RAM (which likely means no Honeycomb).

Go out there and find a ten inch capacitive multi-touch dual core ARM8 or ARM9 tablet with 16 GB of storage.  Add a 5 MP rear facing camera and a 1.3 MP front facing one.  The tablet should have a minimum 512 MB of RAM.  Now tell me how much a Chinese knock off is.  We're talking Notion Ink Adam or so.  This is the low end, approx 400 USD.  Don't even ask about name brands.  Apple has set a price point that is aggressive on the iPad 2.  And let's not forget that interface wise Android won't be competitive with iOS until Honeycomb is released.

[vidarh]

@vidarh

Those are 7 inch ARM 11 tablets with minimal specs.  Resistive single touch screens, 256 MB of RAM (which likely means no Honeycomb).

Go out there and find a ten inch capacitive multi-touch dual core ARM8 or ARM9 tablet with 16 GB of storage.  Add a 5 MP rear facing camera and a 1.3 MP front facing one.  The tablet should have a minimum 512 MB of RAM.  

You entirely miss the point. Netbooks outsell Macbooks. Cheap, entry level Windows laptops outsell Macbooks. The bottom fell out of the non-Mac laptop market because most people care more about price than build quality and design, and realize that the cheap goods are *sufficient* even if they're not as great as the iPad.

People buy far more cheap practical cars than expensive sports cars too...

You'll see the same with the iPad vs. exactly the type of cheap, crappy pads I pointed to, that are not in any way comparable to the iPad, but that are cheap enough that the vast majority who don't lightly spend 300 pounds+ for a gadget when many of them don't even have a desktop or laptop might consider buying them.

In fact, these pads will sell in vast quantities just because of people looking for bargains, that finds these pads in heaps at low price outlets as something they can buy on a whim. Some of these pads are in the price range where they might find their way into discount isles in super markets.

Apple will probably make several times as much profit per unit, because high margin products is where they shine, but there's just no way they'll not be massively beaten on number of units given the price level they've put themselves on.

[Orjan]

You entirely miss the point. Netbooks outsell Macbooks. Cheap, entry level Windows laptops outsell Macbooks. The bottom fell out of the non-Mac laptop market because most people care more about price than build quality and design, and realize that the cheap goods are *sufficient* even if they're not as great as the iPad.

People buy far more cheap practical cars than expensive sports cars too...

You'll see the same with the iPad vs. exactly the type of cheap, crappy pads I pointed to, that are not in any way comparable to the iPad, but that are cheap enough that the vast majority who don't lightly spend 300 pounds+ for a gadget when many of them don't even have a desktop or laptop might consider buying them.

In fact, these pads will sell in vast quantities just because of people looking for bargains, that finds these pads in heaps at low price outlets as something they can buy on a whim. Some of these pads are in the price range where they might find their way into discount isles in super markets.

Apple will probably make several times as much profit per unit, because high margin products is where they shine, but there's just no way they'll not be massively beaten on number of units given the price level they've put themselves on.

Still, claiming the iPad isn´t the cheapest option and pointing to a noname slim-spec Android 2.x tablet is like comparing a Ferrari and a Yugo with the motivation that they are both cars.

Compare it to the Xoom instead. It has more or less the exact same specs as the iPad 2, and is more expensive across the board.

I don´t see how anyone can claim the iPad is expensive, really.

[AmigaNG]

I think the main reason Apple can aggressively make it at this price is that they run their business more and more like a game console one, and they make a bit money on every App they sell to you so they can afford to sell the ipad 2 most likely at cost, plus they use Foxconn who is just above slave labor standards help to bring down the cost .

I think a bigger threat to the ipad might be the larger size Phone that are starting to appear with say 5 inch screen space, which is just enough to enjoy the web and are pritty much given away with phone contracts people will just use them as their main mobile device.

Also starting to appear are the Netbook Tablets that are pretty neat, spec wise as example Asus EEE PC T101MT has 1.6Ghz atom, 10.1 inch mulitouch, 320gb hard drive, 2Gb ram, 7 hur battery and more for just £389.99, so they are getting pritty cheap and Windows 7 is not too bad as touch OS need more work in the app support area however.

And then their the Nintendo 3ds and PSP2 both will offer a lot more features than just gaming, like they already have done, camera and full internet ability and both will be a lot cheaper than the ipad2 so I do think the iPad2 has got it a lot tougher this time round.

[nicholas]

plus they use Foxconn who is just above slave labor standards

99% of the components in my A3000 have Foxconn labels on them.

[AmigaNG]

Yes dont get me wrong it common practices for all companies to get cheap labor its not just apple, on the back of my Amiga it says "Made in philippines" and I doubt it was for the weather.

[stefcep2]

iPad sold well last year because it was first to market, and there were no viable competitors until late in the year. Pretty much all analysts I've seen expect Apple's sales to be significantly outnumbered by competitor within a year, though they might remain the largest individual player.

Just like Android is easily overtaking iOS as a larger platform despite Apple's lead.

So to say that other tablets don't sell is misleading.

analysts?  like the ones that told everyone Apple was dead at $12 per share?  Or the ones that didn't see the GFC coming?

Apple's iPad is mimicing the iPod phenomenon: plenty of better quality mp3 players with more features and Apple still got 85% of the market.

[persia]

I heard on the news that in the US, one of the "Big box stores" (Costco?) was going to offer a 16 MB Xoom for 539 USD.  Only 40 USD more than the iPad 2.

[Sandman]

MacBook user = today's yuppie.

OSX is kinda cool, though, I have to admit.  

I'll just continue to use my dual boot xp and OSX 10.5.6 HP Tablet hackintosh with the 'hackintosh' apple and cross-bones sticker on the back..... I get some elistest grimaces at the local coffee shop which makes it all worth while!

Before anyone jumps on my case.... I did purchase OSX leopard even though I guess I am violating the 'only on apple hardware' part.  Makes as much sense to me as a book publisher requiring that you read their books under a certain brand of lightbulb..

[countzero]

motorola xoom

yes it is not cheaper than the i-pad 2, but unlike any i-poo'ed, YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO WITH IT. you dont have to rely on shitty 3rd party software for mundane tasks such as hauling over some mp3s or e-books or whatever ... I believe the flash storage is upgradeable too

http://3anime.com/motorola-xoom-vs-apple-ipad-2-which-is-the-better-tablet/2757

[persia]

You sill have to root it to make it usable.....  

Both Android and iOs lock down the tablet.

motorola xoom

yes it is not cheaper than the i-pad 2, but unlike any i-poo'ed, YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO WITH IT. you dont have to rely on shitty 3rd party software for mundane tasks such as hauling over some mp3s or e-books or whatever ... I believe the flash storage is upgradeable too

http://3anime.com/motorola-xoom-vs-apple-ipad-2-which-is-the-better-tablet/2757

[Karlos]

You sill have to root it to make it usable.....  

Both Android and iOs lock down the tablet.

Correction: the vendor locks down the tablet. Android itself doesn't place any deliberate restrictions on what can be done on the hardware.

[MaDDuck]

well.......
As long as Apple (and others) insist on the walled garden approach to development, there will always be a perceived amount of decent.

The way I see it, it's my device, I bought it, and if I want to open it, jailbreak it, and use it how I want to, it's against the law.

Open source cannot compete with the marketing and hardware innovations.

I remember reading an interview with a Sony developer that was working on netMD. He said that he listed the features that were possible, and the lawyers reduced it down to a barely usable format.

I hope that Apple and others learn from XBOX indie games and make it a little easier to play in their sandbox.

[countzero]

You sill have to root it to make it usable.....  

Both Android and iOs lock down the tablet.

erm, you dont have to root it for any mundane task I mentioned. I can copy over mp3's or whatever as I want.

Only reason I rooted is to use some overclocking software and WiFi tethering. Which is understandable as it may breach the data plan.

Other than that, you can still do lots of stuff not available to iOS even un rooted. I can compile my OWN code on my computer, with a totally free provided IDE and RUN it on my device without asking permissions from anyone. Can you beat that ? :lol:

[vidarh]

Still, claiming the iPad isn´t the cheapest option and pointing to a noname slim-spec Android 2.x tablet is like comparing a Ferrari and a Yugo with the motivation that they are both cars.

Which would be a fair comparison if someone claims that a Ferrari is the cheapest car on the market, when it clearly isn't.

If they claimed it was the cheapest luxury sports car, then maybe, maybe not, I'm not up on prices on luxury sports cars. Similarly if the claim had been that iPad was the cheapest high spec'ed pad, then maybe, but that wasn't the claim I addressed.

[vidarh]

analysts?  like the ones that told everyone Apple was dead at $12 per share?  Or the ones that didn't see the GFC coming?

Apple's iPad is mimicing the iPod phenomenon: plenty of better quality mp3 players with more features and Apple still got 85% of the market.

The big difference is that the iPod is an accessory to iTunes, the iPod itself isn't really the product. People buy an iPod if they want the simplicity of the whole iTunes experience, not for the features of the device itself. It also has price options that are low enough for impulse buys even for people with relatively low income.

iPhone vs. Android has shown that that's very different in a situation where the price is higher and the functionality of the device itself is a bigger deal, even with the iPhone getting that significant head start.

The iPad is far more likely to play out like the iPhone than the iPod, with a massive surge early on but gradually being overtaken simply because the massive number of competitors filling a vast number of niches that matter, whereas in the music player market this is largely uninteresting.