5by5 | 5by5 Specials #5: Fat Wireless: iPad 3rd Generation

3 comments

1. Pointebasic · 8 March 2012, 14:17

   Horace,

   Just listening to this broadcast.  My thoughts on the iPad name being just "iPad".  Your, Marco and Ben's thoughts are right on. The iPad hardware updates, from now on, will be much more "pc" like.  That is price/battery life/weight/processor/memory...Can't really get a "more retina" display, right? This, of course, is somewhat head in the sand thinking (of course there is some hardware feature we can't imagine that perhaps Apple is working on).

   Realistically, major updates for the near future are in software and integration.  Which makes this change to generic naming "obvious" in hind sight.

   Thanks

2. Richard T · 8 March 2012, 15:29

   Horace,

   Thanks for great analysis as usual. A couple of remarks/questions

   1) I thought naming it “iPad 2S” made sense given similar form factor. I appreciate the simplicity of genericizing, but wonder how it will impact Apple’s strategy of offering discounted pricing on last year’s model? It seems offering the iPhone 4S, 4 and 3GS at the same time will be impossible with future iPads (or will be very confusing naming wise). Surely a company like Apple will have thought this through, so it seems the broad portfolio strategy witnessed in the iPhone will not be used for the iPad?

   2) An alternative scenario might be that Apple will in the future actually come up with different form factors for the iPad and simply refer to it as the iPad 10”, iPad 12” (?) (my guess is that IF Apple does come up with variants it will be larger rather than smaller screens).

   3) As pointed, I was very pleasantly surprised about Apple being able to maintain current price point. I do wonder if it will eat into profit margins, but if it doesn’t, it truly reflects Apple’s astonishing economies of scale wrt display sourcing. I’m amazed at Apple’s engineering capabilities given the relatively minor weight/size penalty given the quadrupling of pixels

3. Terence Chan · 16 March 2012, 14:08

   7" iPad?

   Hi, Horace!

   It's a good discussion that you had on the now new "Resolutionary" iPad. (A teardown on it is now available on the internet. I suppose its cost breakdown will be soon available.) I'm particularly interested in the debate on a smaller, say 7", iPad, as there are always rumors and articles on this.

   To see the likelihood of Apple introducing a 7" iPad, I'd like to ask this question.

   "At what price point(s) will the 7" iPad make profit-sense (or profit-margin-sense) to Apple?"

   If we just look at the Wi-Fi versions only for this purpose, Apple now sells iPad 2 (16GB), iPad (16GB), iPad (32GB), and iPad (64GB) at $400, $500, $600, and $700 respectively (rounding up).

   When the cost breakdown of the new 9.7" iPad comes, we can estimate the cost of a new 7" iPad, as the major savings are from the display and battery. My assumption is such cost savings may translate into $100 less in its retail price. Therefore, the prices of the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB 7" iPad will be $400, $500, and $600 respectively.

   As these price points are covered by the current prices, what are the incentives for Apple to introduce these 7" iPads?

   If Apple sells these 7" iPads at lower prices, what are the incentives for Apple to accept a lower than "normal" iPad profit margin?

   (I just mention the cost savings of the 7" iPad, but its introduction will also increase R&D cost, app configuration cost, inventory cost, marketing cost, etc.)

   The market is now overwhelmed by its amazing Retina Display. With the likely introductions of A6 chip, Siri, iOS 6, and any new killer features in its next generation(s) of iPad, Apple is pretty sure to be the king of tablets. If Apple is to keep the iPad 2 when the next iPad (aka iPad 4) comes, it can price the iPad 2 at $300. Is there a place for a 7" iPad? Oh! I almost forget to bring the LTE 4G back into the picture.

   Do you think this picture is now as clear as it is taken with the new iSight?

   Thanx!

   T  : )