Apple Defends iPad Mini's $329 Price

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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Top Comments

AsTheDeath 5 years ago

In other words: "We know it's overpriced, but people still buy it, so what would you do?"
ddpruitt 5 years ago

"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.
nbelote 5 years ago

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

Other Comments

nbelote 5 years ago

It's still way too overpriced like all of Apple's stuff.
brushrop03 5 years ago

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...
tramit 5 years ago

Depends, 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....
AsTheDeath 5 years ago

In other words: "We know it's overpriced, but people still buy it, so what would you do?"
bryonhowley 5 years ago

And most of the other tablets allow to expand the storage space with SD cards the Ipad does not!
ddpruitt 5 years ago

"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.
arcticfury 5 years ago

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.
classzero 5 years ago

I was excited over the iPad mini but at 329 I don't think so. For a measly 70 I can get the full iPad. So it looks like Nexus 7 and full size iPad. I may not get the nexus and wait to see what microsoft offers. I have two android devices that are just Meh.
Markon101 5 years ago

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.)
brushrop03 5 years ago

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.
bak0n 5 years ago

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.
acadia11 5 years ago

They couldn't give me an ipad mini. I don't know what they were thinking with that price point.
rohitbaran 5 years ago

It's magical, beautiful, incredible. Enough said.
fonzy 5 years ago

Patent 7.9 inches Apple, I dare ya!
sivaseemakurthi 5 years ago

" 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.
Anonymous 5 years ago

The iSheep will buy it regardless of reality.
spartanmk2 5 years ago

Who cares... only the informed people know to stay away from apple and their 50% profit margin mandate.
john_4 5 years ago

With the price of memory now days I would think they would start out with a minimum of 32 Gb of storage. These companies should advertise their free storage, not what it has then they use up half of it. I'm am Apple fan but this is too pricy for 16Gb. I will stick with my 13" Macbook Pro.
boiler1990 5 years ago

I was interested since I'd like something a little less rectangular like my N7, but $329 killed it for me.
house70 5 years ago

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

Poor ba$tard, he must have tried really hard to say that with a straight face. Either that, or the part of his brain that ever heard of Amazon's tablets and Nexus 7 was lobotomized before this speech.

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