Apple Defends iPad Mini's $329 Price

Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller points to 9-inch iPad's commercial success.

Due to the tablet apparently offering higher quality, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller believes the iPad Mini warrants a higher price tag than its rivals.

Rival 7-inch tablets cost as little as $199, but the iPad Mini will set consumers back $329. However, during an interview with Reuters, Schiller defended the price of the recently unveiled 7.9-inch tablet by saying customers have been shelling out more cash for the 9.7-inch iPad over its competition.

"The iPad is far and away the most successful product in its category. The most affordable product we've made so far was $399 and people were choosing that over those devices," Schiller said. "And now you can get a device that's even more affordable at $329 in this great new form, and I think a lot of customers are going to be very excited about that."

"Others have tried to make tablets smaller than the iPad and they've failed miserably," Schiller said regarding the iPad Mini's thin and light design. "These are not great experiences."

The iPad Mini least-expensive variant is $329 for the 16GB W-Fi version. Rival 7-inch tablets such as Google's Nexus 7, Amazon's Kindle Fire HD and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.0 sell for $199. While Google's Nexus 7 only comes with 8GB of storage, the Kindle Fire HD sells for the same $199 price and matches the iPad mini's 16GB of storage.

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There are 50 Comments.

Top Comments

29

nbelote , October 25, 2012 4:35 AM

It's still way too overpriced like all of Apple's stuff.
20

brushrop03 , October 25, 2012 4:38 AM

LoL. What world does this guy live on? You have a more inferior product and price it $130 more?

Now if this thing had the same specs (or even similar) as the iPad 3 (not the one they just announced), I would say sure. But fairly underpowered CPU and Screen that is way lacking? Come on...
41

AsTheDeath , October 25, 2012 4:39 AM

In other words: "We know it's overpriced, but people still buy it, so what would you do?"
20

bryonhowley , October 25, 2012 4:41 AM

And most of the other tablets allow to expand the storage space with SD cards the Ipad does not!
34

ddpruitt , October 25, 2012 4:43 AM

"Others have tried to make tablets smaller than the iPad and they've failed miserably,"

Really, has no one clued this man in on the Nexus 7, Kindle Fire, Galaxy Tab....

You know the tablets that Apple is copying.
25

BigMack70 , October 25, 2012 4:44 AM

Apple is an overpriced joke
17

arcticfury , October 25, 2012 4:44 AM

Sounds like a repugnant politically correct defense for a high price; Apple has to maintain its image as a status-symbol product.

Too bad the crazy profit margin is unusable since Apple files their profits away overseas.
24

Markon101 , October 25, 2012 4:46 AM

It doesn't have a GPS, it has a lower resolution screen than the nexus 7, and it costs more. (Not to mention it's bigger, which may be an up for some people; but not me.)
10

brushrop03 , October 25, 2012 4:47 AM

tramitDepends, if that product does what you need it to do and if it brings a little happiness to your short time on this planet. Who are we to judge people by how they spend their own hard earned money. Unless someone on welfare is buying this stuff....

True. But I still feel it's overpriced when you compare it to the regular iPad.
13

bak0n , October 25, 2012 5:05 AM

I bought 3 kindle fire HD's right before the sales tax slap here in CA. Works perfect for everything I need it for. Plus we got book sharing across them and I don't have to ever see Itunes.
15

sivaseemakurthi , October 25, 2012 5:47 AM

" customers have been shelling out more cash for the 9.7-inch iPad over its competition".
Looks like apple knows that consumers are ready to pay more money for their products. No wonder they are overcharging them.
21

anonymous@guest , October 25, 2012 5:49 AM

The iSheep will buy it regardless of reality.
20

spartanmk2 , October 25, 2012 5:51 AM

Who cares... only the informed people know to stay away from apple and their 50% profit margin mandate.

Other Comments

41

AsTheDeath , October 25, 2012 4:39 AM

In other words: "We know it's overpriced, but people still buy it, so what would you do?"
34

ddpruitt , October 25, 2012 4:43 AM

"Others have tried to make tablets smaller than the iPad and they've failed miserably,"

Really, has no one clued this man in on the Nexus 7, Kindle Fire, Galaxy Tab....

You know the tablets that Apple is copying.
29

nbelote , October 25, 2012 4:35 AM

It's still way too overpriced like all of Apple's stuff.

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