Why Nobody Can Match the iPad’s Price • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Nobody Can Match the iPad’s Price

#41

Post by martythemaniak » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 7:44 AM UTC

nika wrote: post #37

martythemaniak wrote: post #32

Somehow, having a crapload more hardware hasn't entered the author's analysis anywhere. Why would you expect 1GB of RAM to cost the same as 256mb? I can't believe people are buying this tripe. I'm willing to put down $20 that by the holidays, you'll see cheaper android tablets (same specs, not this bullshit), any takers?

I don't see what will change between now and christmas. Many of the android tablets are vaporware at this point so there is nothing to stop them from advertising that they'll be cheaper... yet they seem to be more expensive for the most part.

Well, you should go ahead and take my money then - I wasn't kidding about the bet.

What will change? First of all, the Xoom isn't spec-comparable to the iPad and second, other manufacturers will start shipping their tablets, bringing prices down.

Re: Why Nobody Can Match the iPad’s Price

#42

Post by wisty » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 8:08 AM UTC

netcan wrote: post #8

"That’s (Apple stores) advantageous, because if the iPad were primarily sold at third-party retail stores, a big chunk of profit would go to those retailers, Hiner reasons." "Designing in-house means Apple doesn’t have to pay licensing fees to third parties to use their intellectual property. For instance, the A4 chip" This is silly. Software development, retail, chip design etc. all cost money. Apple isn't just taki…

iOS development was already paid for by the iPhone and iPod teams, as was chip design.

And the App store and iTunes are a benefit, not a cost.

However I agree, there are other reasons - their outsourcing of components has a very good reputation.

Re: Why Nobody Can Match the iPad’s Price

#43

Post by jan_g » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 8:23 AM UTC

haribilalic wrote: post #11

drhodes wrote: post #6

From the mouth of the CEO of motorola, the wifi-only Xoom to be priced at $600, he announced Wednesday. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/02/motorola-xoom-ta...

That's still $100 more expensive than the cheapest WiFi iPad and only $29 cheaper than the cheapest WiFi + 3G iPad.

Yes, but ipad is at least a generation behind hardware-wise. If I were to buy a tablet now, I'd rather pay $100 more for last generation hardware. The same as with PCs, mobile phones ... why pay premium price for old stuff?

Re: Why Nobody Can Match the iPad’s Price

#44

Post by iwwr » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 8:37 AM UTC

jrbj wrote: post #31

danilocampos wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A hundred upvotes, really. Tim Cook turned Apple from a sloppy, cluttered mess to a perfectly tuned and calibrated machine. He designs business processes like Ive designs hardware enclosures. He's still at it, too, telling investors during the last earnings call that Apple once again snapped up a boatload of supply on an unnamed type of component . I bet he'd be amazing at Starcraft, once he learned the ropes.

I believe it. In Starcraft, Macro beats Micro.

Tell that to those tanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3IbwjeCx6U

Re: Why Nobody Can Match the iPad’s Price

#45

Post by buro9 » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 8:39 AM UTC

gabrielroth wrote: post #7

One factor that the author doesn't mention is Apple's success at lining up deals with component manufacturers. A couple years ago (before anyone had heard of the iPad) they locked in great prices on flash memory and LCD displays. They could do that because they were about to invent a huge market, and they knew it. Anyone trying to get into the tablet business in 2010 had to pay much, much more. Steve Jobs and Johnny…

I know this is going to burn my karma, but having watched the personality cult of Jobs grow to dominance, and now observing the mantle being handed over to Cook in a way that the cult appears just to have adapted to follow the new leader... it's a very disturbing sight.

Apple are a great company for sure, but I'm extremely uneasy reading things that make any individual such an icon, let alone with Apple where it's happened before.

Tim does appear to be a strong leader and sound COO, but please can we let this personality cult dissipate and not just replace the head that is worshipped. It's weird.

Re: Why Nobody Can Match the iPad’s Price

#46

Post by iwwr » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 9:01 AM UTC

markszcz wrote: post #25

fuzzmeister wrote: post #4

"Apple is the most vertically integrated company in the world." I struggle to see how that statement could be true for a company that outsources all of its manufacturing.

The wording here is "most" There was an article written in 2006 saying "Designed By Apple in California. Made in a sweat-shop in China." ( http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2006/06/designed_by_app.... ) Architecturally wise they are vertically integreated with all their in house hardware and software but I dont think anyone can argue that their manufacturing practices dont help that statement.

There used to be a time when Left-leaning people knew some history. Terrible as the worker conditions might have been at the dawn of the Industrial Age, they were a vast improvement compared to the past.

Equally so, unpleasant as Chinese factories may look to a Westerner, they are an improvement over the past. Have people actually asked those workers if they were willing to quit or had better prospects elsewhere?

Re: Why Nobody Can Match the iPad’s Price

#47

Post by regularfry » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 9:01 AM UTC

nika wrote: post #36

gabrielroth wrote: post #7

One factor that the author doesn't mention is Apple's success at lining up deals with component manufacturers. A couple years ago (before anyone had heard of the iPad) they locked in great prices on flash memory and LCD displays. They could do that because they were about to invent a huge market, and they knew it. Anyone trying to get into the tablet business in 2010 had to pay much, much more. Steve Jobs and Johnny…

This makes Time Cook my dream date. Seriously, and I hear he swings my way too. There are many ways to innovate in business and technology and design get a lot of time in the spotlight. Operations, especially of a very large enterprise, with thousands of suppliers which also demands highly precise manufacturing and quality control, while having operations spread around the globe, and a public awareness factor that ma…

I'd be tempted to say that automotive just-in-time processes are, if anything, more impressive in terms of the industry integration. There you'll have hundreds of suppliers coordinating so that custom builds roll off the production line in an arbitrary order, with no more stock in hand than there are builds in the system for the next shift or so. I've seen it at work at BMW, and it is frankly terrifying to consider what the supplier contract terms must be like; if any one of them has a screwup as simple as packing their parts onto a transport in the wrong order, it has major cost implications.

Re: Why Nobody Can Match the iPad’s Price

#48

Post by gtech » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 9:02 AM UTC

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #39

nook color is $250 (sold at a loss, but available nontheless) xoom is $600 Archos 70 and 101 are $300 notion ink is $425 I call shenaningans

This. I call bullshit as well, apple didn't invent a new market; they used fantastic marketing and took advantage of a gigantic fanboy base.

Re: Why Nobody Can Match the iPad’s Price

#49

Post by ZeroGravitas » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 9:18 AM UTC

gabrielroth wrote: post #7

One factor that the author doesn't mention is Apple's success at lining up deals with component manufacturers. A couple years ago (before anyone had heard of the iPad) they locked in great prices on flash memory and LCD displays. They could do that because they were about to invent a huge market, and they knew it. Anyone trying to get into the tablet business in 2010 had to pay much, much more. Steve Jobs and Johnny…

So is it buying in bulk or planning ahead that make Tim Cook the greatest COO in history? Because neither seem particularly amazing to me. Is it just the fact that the sums of money involved are quite large? Or is it the subtle undertones of sticking it to the competition so they can't compete fairly that makes this story (and the ones about patents) resonate so strongly with Apple fans?

Re: Why Nobody Can Match the iPad’s Price

#50

Post by ZeroGravitas » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 9:35 AM UTC

flyt wrote: post #19

staunch wrote: post #15

> "Designing in-house means Apple doesn’t have to pay licensing fees to third parties to use their intellectual property. For instance, the A4 chip" Isn't the A4 an ARM + PowerVR and doesn't Apple pay design licenses on both those?

yes, and they pay Samsung to make them too

It's not just manufacturing, Samsung co-designed them too (with the company that Apple later bought, which apparently retro-actively made this chip a great example of how Apple does everything "in-house").