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More on Apple: Though some are unhappy with the iPad Mini's pricing, CFO Peter Oppenheimer...
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Thursday, October 25, 2012, 6:24 PM ETMore on Apple: Though some are unhappy with the iPad Mini's pricing, CFO Peter Oppenheimer claims its gross margin is "significantly below" that of other Apple products. He also calls FQ1 and its expected margin drop "the height of the cost curve" for Apple. Tim Cook calls Microsoft Surface a compromised and confusing product, and promises Apple will never release a 7" tablet - the 7.9" Mini's display is 35% bigger. Apple thinks some iPad purchases were delayed due to iPad Mini rumors. The new iMac is facing supply constraints. AAPL nearly unchanged AH. (live blog)
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This news story has 23 comments:
Who cares, the iCult will buy it regardless:
http://bit.ly/Pu5xwN :-)
Remember the Android community is still toying with the idea of whether their products should have the current OS. Mostly not. I think they just recently crossed over 1.5% of Android products are running Jelly bean [or is it Jelly Donut?] But not to worry there are still NEW Android products coming out with earlier versions of Android.
I find buying a new product with an old OS to be a little odd, but they seem to think having the ability to Answer/Decline/Screen to be a lot more important than having an up to date OS.
Each to their own.
I'd appreciate your insight on the following ....
" An analysis of traffic from tablet computers to more than 1,200 websites found that 98.1 per cent of the traffic came from the Apple iPad.
The second most popular tablet for web browsing was the Samsung Galaxy Tab - in all its models - which accounts for 1.53 per cent of traffic. The Motorola Xoom has 0.21 per cent, ahead of the Amazon Kindle Fire on 0.11 per cent.
The study also found that the iPad has a 54.5 per cent share of all web traffic from mobile devices, ahead of the iPhone, which accounts for 19.05 per cent. "
http://bit.ly/Tj4L4T
In your opinion,
Why don't Android tablets dominate web traffic more than 1.9% of web traffic? Is it because of the user or the platform?
And then there's the Kindle Fire. That's the most puzzling of all. So many Kindle Fires sold and they only account for 0.11% of web traffic! Why is that do you think?
7" tablets (and 8") are too small to be particularly useful, and too big to carry easily -- it's functionally just a bad fit. Yes, you can hold it with one hand, but it's weird, I can hold my iPad 2 with one hand too because it has a bezel the size of Texas and because I have opposable thumbs -- maybe Apple designers don't? I'm not sure.
Regardless, this product is just filling a price niche. It will make Apple money. And it will be upgraded in 6-8 months and the iCult will buy it all over again.
Buy the iDips. :-)
Would you mind answering what I asked you instead of babbling about Saint Steve?
Thanks! :-)
You want an additional comment on your babble?
Re: "I can hold my iPad 2 with one hand too because it has a bezel the size of Texas and because I have opposable thumbs"
You can hold a bowling ball with one hand also. In fact, they made a special design feature to assist in it. Three holes, one for your opposable thumb. So based on holding it with one hand, the ipad mini has no advantage over a bowling ball. I am so thrilled you brought up that particular insight.
Now for another piece of your babble. Re: "And it will be upgraded in 6-8 months and the iCult will buy it all over again."
"iCult" is a fiction of your imagination. You weren't really clever enough to figure out that's where my question was headed. You think a cartoon you referenced has some value on a business thread? You belong on Twitter, not Alpha.
The data says that Apple customers actually use their products; Android users don't. If anything that supports the notion that Android is more a cult than iOS.
If you can't answer the questions than you belong on Twitter, not Alpha.
Mini iPad and all other iPads are being differentiated as a premium product compared to the lower-priced 7" tablet. The 4-gen new-new-iPad with its improvement over the 3-gen old-new-iPad will cost more to make but will ensure people wanting the best get their money worth. (the improvement will also minimize cannibalization)
Lastly, I like what he said about Apple being the one doing tablet 'cannibalizing' and not its competitor.
We have looked at full size Android tablet before settling on the 64 gig Blackberry Playbook with OS2. It is small enough to carry around.
We have used it now for almost 3 months now. It is very easy to use and serves us well. We surf the net while watching TV, check e-mail, watch youtube, listen to internet radio and loaded music from my collections of CD, read newspaper, take pictures, video chat, etc. We even play the included games and a few of the board games that we downloaded.
Overall, we are very happy with Blackberry Playbook. It meets all our needs. The price is also right. I bought the first one for $300 and second one for $220.
I haven't seen anyone say a 7 inch tablet is useless. And if you can find someone who did .. why should I even care? In other words don't make up straw men.
This is what's important and measurable ...
" An analysis of traffic from tablet computers to more than 1,200 websites found that 98.1 per cent of the traffic came from the Apple iPad.
The second most popular tablet for web browsing was the Samsung Galaxy Tab - in all its models - which accounts for 1.53 per cent of traffic. The Motorola Xoom has 0.21 per cent, ahead of the Amazon Kindle Fire on 0.11 per cent.
The study also found that the iPad has a 54.5 per cent share of all web traffic from mobile devices, ahead of the iPhone, which accounts for 19.05 per cent. "
http://bit.ly/Tj4L4T
Explain why iPads capture 98.1% of the web traffic.
Virginia tried to dodge the question by pulling some Saint Steve BS. And then Sheep BS.
Are you up to answering the question or just putting up some BS about how happy you are with your playbook, from a company that's going down the toilet. The amount of web traffic from playbooks is so low it doesn't even register above 0.11%. Perhaps you call that a success, I don't.
You can buy a Mercedes or you can buy a Mini. The mini is a lot cheaper and still quite usable. It gets you where you want to go. Are you interested in making that comparison? Are you going to tell us that a Mini is just as good as a Mercedes?
"While one could increase the resolution to make up some of the difference, it is meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one-quarter of their present size. Apple has done expensive user testing on touch interfaces over many years, and we really understand this stuff."
"There are clear limits of how close you can place physical elements on a touch screen, before users cannot reliably tap, flick or pinch them. This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps."
- Steve Jobs
:-)
iPad users spend more time screwing around on the web than doing real work? Just a hunch. ;-)
There's a no question that Apple has
1) The best ecosystem (for users and developers)
2) First-mover advantage (in tablet apps and hardware)
3) The best marketing
Buy the iDips, no question. (And I mean the dips in the stock price, not the fanboy users. ;-) )
However, given a long-term scenario (10 years?), open ecosystems invariably win over closed, controlled systems. It happened with PCs vs. Macs and it will happen with tablets too.
Alternatively, Apple could become more open in its platforms; now that Saint Steve has passed, this may start to happen, we'll see.
Also, this doesn't mean Apple's not going to make a heck of a lot of money on their closed ecosystem for a while longer. Buy the iDips. But from a market share perspective (which doesn't necessarily map to earnings), they will ultimately lose out if they don't change course.
When I buy something, I do my research and look for the product that best meets my need at the right price. This does not mean the cheapest product on the market. Sometimes they are close to the most expensive. For example, for stereo, TV and camera, these are usually near the very top end. Even so, I looked for sale.
BTW, I find it hard to believe that iPad has 98.1% of the web traffic. Anyway, I don't care. This number may mean something to some people, if they are stupid enough to believe it. It is easy to stomp on Blackberry now that they are in a hell hole.
For more meaningful comparisin, it may be better to track a sample of how each individual owner of smartphone and tablet uses the devices. This will take out the influence of traffic due to market share and will provide better insight into how owners of different brand use their devices.
You won't be missed.
I checked it out at Future Shop and bought two from them and one bluetooth keyboard.
Well, Blackberry can use some better marketing.
Let's put our heads together [or at least you and Virginia] and see if we can figure out, what's different about the new product release of the iPad mini vs. the product refreshes of all the other products they releases. I dunno. You and Virginia sort it out.