For all of the merits of Apple’s new iPad, and maybe even the iPad 2, being economical isn’t one of them. Apple has always maintained a policy of selling great devices, and charging a premium for the Apple experience that were part and parcel of those devices. It single handedly explains the niche that the $199 Amazon Kindle Fire created for itself – there was simply no other tablet as cheap, and with a comparable set of features.
In a step that probably has more to do with clearing of inventory than a change in Apple’s pricing policy, the Cupertino company will now be selling the original (2010) avatar of the iPad at $299.
Even though that version of the Apple tablet is 2 years old, it still allows access to the incomparable Apple content catalog. Absolutely no Android tablet, new or old, can provide the same range of quality apps found in the Apple App Store, or the same number of licensed music and videos as the iTunes Store.
Apple did surprise a lot of people with its new iPad, as it had been expected to be far more expensive than the iPad 2 (owing to the upgraded features all round). It even chose to cut the price of the 16 GB WiFi model of the iPad 2 by $100. However, despite the price cut, Apple’s cheapest iPad 2 was still double the price of the popular Kindle Fire.
The new price of the original iPad gives it Apple a chance to compete in a category it has avoided so far – budget tablets. Even though it may be a little long in the tooth, there is little that it lacks in terms of actual accessible content for it to be inferior in any way to any tablet in a remotely similar price range.
[via Apple Insider]
