Forget The Subsidy – Apple Could Lower iPad Price

Normally we take all of the Analyst comments about Apple with a massive pinch of salt. These guys are looking at the potential market for products and making assumptions based on their own information – not on what’s actually happening in the Cupertino Batcave. We’ve all read these stories: Apple will sell 20 billion iPhones or revenue will be up 99%. It’s a vehicle to drive stock purchases and influence the markets. This time, however the story is a little more interesting but only because its happened before.

When the iPhone was released it was very expensive. So expensive that Apple decided to drop the price and give out a rebate to customers who paid the first price. The analysts are saying that Apple could do the same thing again with the iPad, if the uptake isn’t that great. The difference in this scenario is that the iPad isn’t overly expensive – or at least that’s what we’ve been led to believe.

According to a report on the Wall Street Journal the word about pricing came directly from Apple Executives. If this really is the strategy coming from Cupertino, we could see an incredibly uptake of the iPad. We’re guessing it depends largely what Apple sees as success or failure. Do they want this product to be as big as the iPod? Do they expect to make the iPad the tool of choice for those people who want basic computing? Will they be happy to let iPad sales tick over? I think we all know the answer to these questions. If the Apple website front page is any indication, (the iPad has proudly sat on it since the announcement, despite pricing and availability for much of the world still being discussed) then it really is clear that Steve Jobs has massive plans for this device.

We personally think that the iPad has the potential to go even further than the iPod and the iPhone. Its appeal is broader, encompassing, music, books, apps and the web and, as a tool for non-technical consumers, its pretty much idiot proof – you load an an app, use it, then load another. No virus protection, no disc drives, no file management. Pure simplicity.