What you are about to read is pure speculation – prediction based on rumors (and Apple’s track record over the years). If you are still interested, read on [and let’s face it, if you’ve read this far odds are you ARE interested … after all, as New York Times reported Apple is the most covered tech company in the past year.
Having spent more time inside my Google Reader account than I am willing to publicly admit, following tech trends and gadget rumors across a few dozens of tech-centered RSS feeds on a daily basis, here is what I think will take place with Apple’s iPad in the months to come:
- Apple will drop the price of the device [by at least $100-$200] as a response to the competitors popping up left and right (they did that with the original iPhone a few years ago – see Steve Jobs’ letter to the consumers from 2007. This is a way for Apple to stay competitive/have the edge on Blackberry’s newly announced PlayBook rumored to go for around $300-$350 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab rumored to go for around $200-$400 [Source: Engadget]. If a $200 price-drop of the iPad feels too unreal or too unlikely consider this – the 16GB version sells for $499 today … but a complete device tear-down reveals that it only costs Apple around $230 to produce meaning that even at $299 Apple would still be turning a $70 profit with each sale [Source: iSupply]. The Blackberry and Samsung tablets may have cameras, but the iPad has Apple’s App Store and an already massive (and rapidly expanding) library of over 30,000 iPad-specific apps [Source: PadGadget]
- Apple will thus have another record-breaking holiday season and some impressive stats to throw around about how well their tablet is selling. That sets up the scene perfect for the potential refresh of it as well as the addition of a 7” model that has a camera or two [see Apple’s latest iPod Touch refresh].
- Apple would have 2 choices as far as screen resolution for the smaller tablet – either push that high pixel density/retina display talk and fit 1024×760 on a screen 3” smaller than the current one or else simply match the iPhone 4’s 960×640 resolution enabling iPhone 4-ready apps to instantly look excellent on the 7” tablet.
- The other big push from Apple lately has been gaming. While their strategy is a bit of a reverse of Microsoft’s – namely Microsoft’s Xbox Live arrived on consoles first and is being brought to Windows Phone 7-series later as opposed to Apple’s Game Center originating on iPhone/iPod Touch and eventually iPad, possibly making its way to your big screen via an Apple TV with a future firmware upgrade. There have been rumors confirming that the iPad has the same space for the gyroscope [Source: MacRumors] that the iPhone 4 and the latest iPod Touch has and what that does for any i-device is turn it into a potentially amazing game controller. Add Apple’s Game Center functionality in the mix and suddenly you are looking at a very capable contestant getting ready to take on the big 3 – Microsoft’s Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii and Sony’s PS3 [iPods, iPhones and iPads have already been invading Nintendo DS and Sony PSP territory for some time now] … and while some may think the graphics aren’t nearly where they should be with Apple’s mobile devices to take on the bigger game consoles, a quick look at the Citadel Unreal 3 engine demo may make you have to re-consider your stance on that.
Epic Citadel Tech-demo for iPhone
Take all of the above with a grain (or perhaps a bucket) of salt – after all I am just having some fun speculating how things may play out in the next few months based on what Apple has done in the past and what looks like it might make sense for them to do in the future – then again that company enjoys shocking everybody once in a while by doing the opposite of what everybody expects it to do or not doing anything at all – anybody remember how long people expected a Video iPod for and how many times Steve said “Now is not the time” or “Such a device makes no sense at this time” and then the time came. Some of the stuff written in here may be stuck/delayed for quite some time (if it ever happens) … but that’s what makes it kind of fun to be speculating about these things.
Guest post written by Nikola Ranguelov.
I think, Apple lowered the price as Kindle and Nook are priced below $200. Apple is best with whatever product they launch but the competitors make them lower the price far more than they think they can get from the general public.
Tablet PC market is see a tough competition in the coming days and Apple being the first in the market can easily reduce the price to remain competitive. However ipad will reign the segment for at least the recent month until and unless a miracle alternative turns up.