Comments on: Apple’s Tablet: Why They Should Do Better and Why They Won’t

By: castillo

castillo — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:22:26 +0000

Holden is right [for once! ]…you really need to write more often! Great wrap up on what many of us have thought about any possible iTablet-thingamajig. I too am hoping for some “wow”, but preparing for less.

Thank you.

By: castillo

castillo — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:22:26 +0000

Thank you.

By: Tweets that mention Apple’s Tablet: Why They Should Do Better and Why They Won’t — Misanthropic Geek -- Topsy.com

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:44:20 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Henry Webb, LG Shared Items. LG Shared Items said: Apple’s Tablet: Why They Should Do Better and Why They Won’t http://j.mp/5EwXti [...]

By: Christopher Harley

Christopher Harley — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:52:48 +0000

Yes, it's much higher and some of that cost goes to the licensing of the 3G radio and the GPS. But what's the cost to manufacture the iPod Touch? It seems I've heard that Apple sells that device for a price 50% above cost. In iTunes, Apple's tightly controlled marketplace, the carrier subsidy may not exist on the tablet but offsets to cost will still be realized by percentages taken from book, magazine subscription, movie, music, and application purchases over the lifetime of the device. For a hardware manufacturer, that's a very unique source of revenue considering they didn't create any of the properties that will deliver the dollars.

By: Akiva

Akiva — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:28:05 +0000

That's $299 with the subsidy. The actual cost of the phone itself is higher than that.

By: Christopher Harley

Christopher Harley — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:24:53 +0000

I don't think it'll be $800. The iPhone 3GS tops out at $299, the 64GB iPod Touch sells for $399 and MacBook starts at $999. I think Apple will sell the tablet device for somewhere around $600. How they'll do it, without any carrier subsidy, I do not know. But the iPhone is the success that is due, in no small measure, to the fact that it's a phone. The world is not clamoring for an iPod Touch that jumps to twice it's current price.

By: Akiva

Akiva — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:59:29 +0000

And that's all this is, of course: speculation. I just wonder how much risk Apple is willing to put into this. It's certainly the safer option to release the tablet with a modified iPhone OS and then do some significant upgrades to the UI after a year of good sales, though. Boring but safe.

By: Akiva

Akiva — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:54:26 +0000

Even at $800?

By: Akiva

Akiva — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:54:17 +0000

Thanks! Glad you enjoy reading this stuff.

By: Christopher Harley

Christopher Harley — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:23:02 +0000

As much as I'd like to simultaneously cheer and fret along with you, I'm more apt to simply wait and know that I'll be satisfied that Apple understands what I want from this device. First, I never want to buy another piece of print media. If it looks like the printed page, I'll be satisfied. If it has twice the screen size of my iPhone, I'll be satisfied. If I can subscribe to any newspaper or magazine in the world, for a few bucks a week, I'll be satisfied. If it looks like the work being tossed around by The Wonder Factory in their Sports Illustrated tablet, I'll be satisfied. If it carries multimedia content for books like in Nick Cave's Bunny Munro, published by Enhanced Editions, I'll be satisfied. If developers are given the opportunity to create dynamic DVD interaction like they have in the iTunes LP experience, I'll be satisfied. In short, if it's simply Apple's take on an E-reader, I'll be satisfied because I'll know that a year from the day it ships, the marketplace will have so changed that whatever I want the device to accomplish now will pale in comparison to what it will accomplish then. And lastly, if it's true, as many have said, that Amazon really only wants to be in the digital distribution business and not in the hardware manufacturing business then the Kindle is certain to lose the race before Apple’s device even leaves the gates.