Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Rumors
Apple tablet to be surprisingly cheap?
During the latest episode of Diggnation, Digg's Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht interviewed John Hodgman, AKA the "PC" from Apple's "Get a Mac" ad campaign. Rose prodded Hodgman for information on Apple's supposedly forthcoming tablet Mac, but Hodgman claimed to have no inside information on the product.Diggnation co-host Albrecht, however, claimed to know how much the tablet will cost, saying, "I was shocked at how cheap the price point is going to be." He didn't provide any information beyond that.
Price estimates for the Apple tablet have been all over the place, from US$500 on up to US$2,000. Considering no one outside of Apple (and possibly a few privileged people with inside information) even knows if the tablet exists for certain, much less what its features or capabilities are, nailing down a specific price for the fabled product seems as futile as predicting 2010 Olympic gold medal winners.
Personally, I hope Albrecht is right and the tablet Mac does turn out to be surprisingly inexpensive, because I can't see it selling well if Apple prices it as high as or higher than a full-featured, traditional portable like the MacBook.
[Via AppleInsider]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Major4Play said 4:39PM on 12-02-2009
I think Alex Albrecht should realise everyone else can just make shit up too.
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jonnypjh said 4:49PM on 12-02-2009
$499 for a 64GB Solid State Drive iTablet, $599 for a 128GB Solid State Drive iTablet.
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Oliver said 4:49PM on 12-02-2009
Its worth remembering that getting drunk is part of Diggnation; by the tablet point in the episode Hodgman was mixing martinis whilst Alex and Kevin were drinking Duvel Beer.
The "surprisingly cheap" was a running joke throughout the episode. Probably not true.
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Jordan said 4:54PM on 12-02-2009
Well when you keep holding out and holding out on releasing the damn device, yeah that old hardware is going to be cheap.
But yeah, given how many tablet rumors there have been, this is just more, probably made up, crap that should be shoved aside.
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ChrisM70 said 5:00PM on 12-02-2009
Can anyone name ONE TIME that a product from Apple ended up being cheaper that expected?
I give this rumor as much weight as the "Beatles on iTunes" talk that gets tossed around every few months.
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Cy Starkman said 6:17PM on 12-02-2009
Yes I can, from a consumers perspective at least.
The iPhone 3G
oh
and the iPhone3G 8gig when the 3GS came out.
People did not expect that, they expected it to be the same $.
If anyone wants to argue because of the "plan".... i'm not getting into the "plan" cost because it is very arbitrary and you would be referring to one carrier in one country and from the consumers perspective is what I wrote.
Also...
In June, Apple released a refresh of Portable/Desktop range and all the prices dropped, it was all over the interwebs. Unexpected
Also...
With Snow Leopard, people did not expect that... $39AU
Also...
Snow Leopard Server, unlimited users for nearly half the price it was a year ago.
Or how's this now I am on a roll.
When you buy an Apple keyboard, just ask them for the one with the keypad, its the same price as the one without.
Oh and of course....
Many are commenting on the very cheap Mac Mini server which some claim gives you Server for free. I would agree based on AU pricing, only they nearly give you a free hard drive as well.
In all these cases the result was cheaper than what people expected.
Or how about the new 27" iMac, that is also cheaper than expected and more so it is decently cheaper than the 30" Cinema Display and contains an entire computer. (this one is maybe a bit of stretch)
Apple if you observe has been on a steady march toward lower prices. Partly I think from increasing sales, partly from using cash reserves to reduce price for volume purchasing of parts, partly by design.
I suspect we will see more of Apple making a mess of others with pricing drops.
Jordan said 6:35PM on 12-02-2009
Oh you mean that wireless keyboard with no keypad that when I ask for a keypad they give me a wired keyboard since they won't make a wireless one with a keypad?
You mean that Snow Leopard that did...nothing for me?
Those products?
jay said 5:06PM on 12-02-2009
I seriously doubt Alex Albecht has any inside information on the price point of Apples Tablet. He was probably talking about some post he read or something.
I like the guy, but he does annoy me quite a bit sometimes, like when he says "AH MAZING" over and over and over again.
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mph66 said 5:28PM on 12-02-2009
I think this Apple tablet is like Mr. Snuffaluffagus on Sesame Street when I was just a tadpole- Big Bird sees him, but the rest of us don't. We call that an imaginary friend, boys and girls!
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(01) said 5:45PM on 12-02-2009
Yes, I'm sure an actor in Apple's commercials is going to have insider info on an unannounced product...
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p said 5:49PM on 12-02-2009
Vaporware!
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joshua said 6:03PM on 12-02-2009
When has a rumored product of this magnitude not been true in the history of Apple (e.g. Iphone, Iphone 3g, Iphone 3GS). As for the price point being at $500-$600 US, I am not to sure. I mean it sounds competitive for an Apple Tablet/Netbook. I say shrink the Macbook air to an 8in screen and there you go an Apple Netbook. However with that said that would mean it would cost closer to $800-900 if it were to be designed like a Macbook Air.
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robogobo said 6:16PM on 12-02-2009
well, you kind of ruined the surprise then, didn't you.
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Maxx said 8:43PM on 12-02-2009
With a subsidized model it could be quite cheap. The question is where the subsidy comes from. I doubt it comes from wireless carriers because there simply isn't enough of a market for multiple cellular data plans. Let's assume most people interested in a tablet device already have home broadband and a smartphone. Can anyone really justify $150/month to access the Internet on a bunch of different devices? Very few in my opinion.
The other possibility is an iTunes subsidy. Probably in the form of an all-you-can-eat subscription model. With a 2 year contract it would be viable to get the price under $500. Figure the monthly service is in the $30-$50 price range but also includes publishers. That's about $2k for Apple per customer over 2 years. Do they make that today off iTunes? (doubt it) They would need to workout a more reasonable profit sharing model with the movie studios and record labels though unless Apple was willing to sell the tablet at cost or make only a meager profit in the short term. As the cost of producing the tablet goes down they will reap the benefits later.
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Timm said 9:57PM on 12-02-2009
At that price point you can expect the same functionality as the iPhone - one app running at a time. I predict this product will be as interesting as the iPod Shuffle...
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Greg said 10:26PM on 12-02-2009
The best price point would be $400-$600. By doing this, they edge in on the PC manufacturers making netbooks.
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high fivers said 10:37PM on 12-02-2009
Everyone is forgetting that the tablet doesn't exist now and wont exist anytime soon.
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snargledorf said 11:19PM on 12-02-2009
Literally just finished watching this episode and then found this article. Gotta say I'm booing Alex for not sharing any more info, if he actually has it. How can he consider himself a true geek, nerd, etc. If he isn't going to share the awesome inside info he gets!
Also would just like to point out that Hodgeman came off as a bit of a douche at times during the episode IMO.
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nameghino said 12:16AM on 12-03-2009
Just noting, 2010 is a Football World Cup year, not an Olympic year. Next Olympics will be in 2012.
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Chris Rawson said 1:12AM on 12-03-2009
http://www.vancouver2010.com/