iPad 3 Swamped with Competition Posed by Cheap $99 HP TouchPad
With HP giving its TouchPad tablet away for $99 and Amazon talking tablets with its AmazonMP3 offering, Apple must tread carefully lest it prices wrong the iPad 3. The release date of the iPad 3 is still part of speculation, whether it is offered in fall or in spring. Maybe it is time for Apple to consider the dangerous possibility of losing consumers, turned off by tech costing $499 and up.
The only song Apple’s competitors have to play is the price song. In fact, Apple seems to have been affected a bit. Apple ultimately decided to let last year’s iPhone model go for less than fifty dollars, even when the current model costs four times more. Many anticipated the same move regarding the iPad 2. As expected, the same move never happened. The original iPad stuck around for some reduced $399 or even $299 price. That move never happened. The iPad 2 was offered at the same price points as the iPad, which was eventually discontinued.
The iPad 2 is very similar to the original iPad. So it’s not hard to think that Apple must be planning for a totally different new iPad. This new iPad must have been in the works even before the iPad 2 was launched, since the iPad 2 appears to be just a polished iPad. This new revolutionary remaking of the iPad should be ready now, right? As if handling the onslaught of questions of when the iPad 3 is coming out, the pricing is still something for Apple to seriously consider.
One option is to stick to the current price range, which is $499 and up. After all, the iPad is already as inexpensive as the cheapest of desktop computers. It is Apple’s prediction that tablets would soon make desktop PCs obsolete. It has also claimed that its tablet is neatly placed in the value-based category price range. Or Apple can play safe and give the iPad away for $399. This could give a good starting point for upping the price of the iPad 3. Apple could also do something dramatic: reduce the price of the iPad 3, while maintaining the same quality of the parts. Or sell the iPad 3 for less, but with components that are cheaper.
With a new CEO and with more drive from competitors, Apple is facing a new era. Pricing is always decisive, whether that of Apple’s new iPad, the failed tablet computers of competitors or the soon-to-come tablet of would-be competitors.
