Print
The late Steve Jobs was adamantly opposed to the idea of a 7-inch slate and called them "tweeners: too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with the iPad." Due to his untimely death, Jobs never had a chance to see Amazon's 7-inch Kindle Fire device rapidly rise in ranks to become the world's second best selling tablet behind the iPad, but if he was alive today, would he change his stance?
Not likely. Apple hasn't skipped a beat since Jobs passed away, and while there have been rumors of a smaller sized iPad device (insert iPod touch joke here), the Cupertino company may have found another way to compete with lower cost (and physically smaller) tablets. According to DigiTimes, Apple is expected to unveil an 8GB version of its iPad 2, which is half the amount of memory found on its entry-level 16GB iPad 2. It's expected to sell for between $350 and $400, which is still significantly more than Amazon's Kindle Fire ($199) and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet ($199 and $249), but it's also a full-sized slate.
As for the iPad 3, DigiTimes claims Apple will unveil 16GB and 32GB models during its scheduled press event on March 7, 2012. There are tons of rumors related to the iPad 3, but one that seems the most likely is that it will sport a higher resolution screen, possibly a Full HD QXGA panel with a 2048x1536 resolution.
Comments are closed on this article
TechLarry
March 02, 2012 at 1:14pm
I love iPads, but Apple really needs to quit treating inexpensive, commodity RAM like it's gold dust.
There is ZERO excuse for these devices not having 128G options available at less than $100.
A company that charges $100 for a 4G upgrade in a Mac Mini has a lot to learn about RAM pricing.
Wingzero_x
March 02, 2012 at 8:22pm
It's not the price of the RAM, but the labor they are charging those people for. Same as some of these companies that charge customers $120 to come in and set up their new HDTV, which only includes taking out of the box, placing it on a stand and connecting the components, antenna and power. (or Best buy charging $30 to update the Playstation 3) there are plenty of people out the that are to scared, too lazy, too stupid to do things so they seek out people and businesses that provide those services. And then it becomes a question of how much are they willing to pay.
Also there is a huge difference between the price of DDR RAM (system) and NAND-Flash (storage).
win7fanboi
March 02, 2012 at 1:37pm
Company doesn't need to be schooled it is them who are schooling you (the user). Why do you think iPhone is the only popular phone without a micro sd card option? Once you max out the space on your 16gb iPhone you can justify getting a new one with 32gb. While an android user will get a 30$ 32gb micro sd card and call it a day.
I like apple though, they are very good at separating simpletons from their money.
Wingzero_x
March 02, 2012 at 8:05pm
Apple is just like every other company, if someone was so stupid not realize that beyond the 16gb on the iPhone there are a host of other options, they would probably be too stupid to figure out how to transfer files to/from that microSD card. After all they are the ones you see carrying their Dell desktops or laptops into Best Buy to over pay them to install an additional 4gb of RAM. Apple is just doing the same thing. However given that with Apple you get a quality made product that works, it's still a lot better than Microsoft which has repeatedly made defective, malware prone , bloated products that they have repeatedly pushed upon and over charged consumers for.
TheMiddleman
March 01, 2012 at 9:56pm
Unless they plan on selling it for no more than 299, why bother?
Wingzero_x
March 02, 2012 at 8:09pm
+1
You have a good mind for business. For some reason whenever something is below 300 it seems that much if a bigger deal to people.
OCFRED
March 01, 2012 at 9:26pm
Not worth building another shitty tablet, markets are flooding with them already; maybe a ARM netbook but it would have to be at least $400-600 and stylish to maintain status quo above "entry level".
AntonioGarrison
March 01, 2012 at 4:00pm
NOOOOOOO!!!!!! Not MaximumPC. I know the occasional Apple article, but not some stupid rumors on MaximumPC. This is the only place I can go without having actual tech news being the 12000 Apple rumors flowing on a daily basis.
rrecine
March 01, 2012 at 11:50am
So instead of keeping up specs just lower them and the price. Thank you Apple for making my Transformer Prime look even better.
Wingzero_x
March 01, 2012 at 10:11pm
Don't really think changing the amount of storage really changes performance.After all both 8gb iPhone and iPod touch perform just as well as their larger capacity brethren. And even an 8gb storage limitation is moot with a bit of ingenuity.
j_j_montez
March 01, 2012 at 10:24am
I doubt it. The consumer cost of flash memory being around $1/GB, dropping about 8GB isn't enough to make it that much less expensive. I do have hopes (futile as this one is) that Apple will now start putting SD slots in their devices. But then they couldn't sell the 32GB model for $100 more than the 16GB when it costs them less than $30 to make it. Buy a 32GB card for $32 or less and you're good to go. This is the reason I'm looking at the Nook.
Wingzero_x
March 01, 2012 at 9:54pm
SD cards don't fit in with the no filesystem OS. However if you had a tablet, i think you would soon discover those worries were unfounded. Belive me I been there, and I think one of our problems is us. After all we are the ones that have enough RAM in 1 slot to plot a mission to the Ort cloud and back, and that includes tracking comet trajectories, and enough storage to document every particle on the journey. So offering us 8,16,32,64 seems a bit underwelming.
I would also add; at least on my experience with the Acer Iconia which has both microSD and USB ports. They are useless without addition software to transfer files back in forth. Also the whole USB drive sticking out the side...But I will concede there or other things USB slots are good for. And both iPad and Android have pretty good games, shame those onscreen controllers suck so bad. If there was but a way....
Its kind of hard to explain it, but a lot of those concerns become moot once you get a tablet and you start to discover new ways to overcome the inherited limitations. With cloud drives, Splashtop, the Goflex HDD,...
bling581
March 01, 2012 at 10:32am
I was going to ask the question "how can it cost so much for them to add more memory", but as you point out it doesn't. I'm guessing they figure that a lot of people want more memory so they jack up the price to suck more out of people.
bloodgain
March 01, 2012 at 8:36am
This might help them sell more if it had a memory card slot for expandable storage. Heck, I might even buy one then.
