Apple does not make most of its profits on the add on services. The integration of software and hardware is where the extra value comes from. Only one company is responsible for the whole product. No falling between the cracks of its a hardware issue, no its a software bug, It doesn't work? We will replace it or give you your money back. I just returned an iPad 2 after 25 days of trying it out. It worked fine but I didn't need it. I will get an iPad 3 after it comes out and keep it. I love the way people always talk about how capitalism works and yet when a product becomes popular its just marketing and stupid people. There couldn't be any reason except stupidity that someone wants a product that works.
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To me, the iPad is not a very interesting tablet (I own one, I can judge): no connectivity, no SD slot, no personalization and soo many limitations compared to android based systems,... but those limitations have a good side: the system is simple, uses few resources and battery life is better than average.
I don't buy all those negative comments regarding the pricing, Foxconn and all the rest:
- Any well managed company HAS to sell a a price close to the maximum that enough customers accept to pay. Given the volumes of iPad Apple manages to sell without having to discount it, I'd say they were quite correct in their assumptions when they defined their pricing.
- I would not like to work in a big factory, but Foxconn has so many workers that from a statistical point of view, suicide rate inside their company is probably much lower than on average outside the company. (I can imagine that there are more persons out there committing suicide or becoming junkies because they don't find a job or have no money?).
I don't buy all those negative comments regarding the pricing, Foxconn and all the rest:
- Any well managed company HAS to sell a a price close to the maximum that enough customers accept to pay. Given the volumes of iPad Apple manages to sell without having to discount it, I'd say they were quite correct in their assumptions when they defined their pricing.
- I would not like to work in a big factory, but Foxconn has so many workers that from a statistical point of view, suicide rate inside their company is probably much lower than on average outside the company. (I can imagine that there are more persons out there committing suicide or becoming junkies because they don't find a job or have no money?).
walter87
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- Jun 28, 2011
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[citation][nom]Haserath[/nom]Back to tablets: Has anyone compared Apple's ipad 2 to the competition? The chip has the same 1ghz processor as the Galaxy Tab 10.1(uses Tegra 2), but is 2-3 times more powerful in the graphics department. [/citation]
Did you just say that the iPad and Tab 10.1 share the same processor?
Did you just say that the iPad and Tab 10.1 share the same processor?
TEAMSWITCHER
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- Aug 7, 2008
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Apple's fanboys are not ill-deserved. Have you seen the new MacBook Air? That thing is sweet! For years Apple has been leveraging it's design savvy to entice users, but they have also delivered in quality and usability, and price. I used to think Apple was more expensive, and then I started selling my old Apple Hardware on craigslist and the resale value made up the difference with a comparable PC. Factor in the need for less software,and hours saved, you came out ahead. It's a total-cost-of-ownership thing that PC fanboys just don't understand. I was skeptical too until I made the switch, now I'm a true believer.
Having complete control over the OS is a bad idea. They could pass that $14 to the consumers. Instead of $399 or $499 or whatever they sell for in the US, they could be $413 and $513. Except, I think it's called a "psychological price" (399 sounds better than 400). Hmmm... Then maybe they could slash some of that 40% profit margin the cosumer's way, eh ? Kinda like a free $14 gift card. But no... This is Apple we're talking about here.
I own an iPod touch 2G and because Apple decided it's old (Pff yeah, 2 years old...) and doesn't have enough RAM for multitasking and such, they cut support for it. It can't go further than 4.2.1. Same happened with 1st gen, but I can understand why (it was a first generation product, the first of its kind and there had to be some kind of flaws, there always are - like the home button getting stuck inside the case, power button caving in, audio jack problems, etc).
Hmph. Mark my words current iPad owners, the day will come when they decide to stop supporting it and that you *should* get another one. All for a stupid $14... Then you'll remember this article and how $14 from their profit margin could've added a few extra years of life to the thing. Mark my words.
I own an iPod touch 2G and because Apple decided it's old (Pff yeah, 2 years old...) and doesn't have enough RAM for multitasking and such, they cut support for it. It can't go further than 4.2.1. Same happened with 1st gen, but I can understand why (it was a first generation product, the first of its kind and there had to be some kind of flaws, there always are - like the home button getting stuck inside the case, power button caving in, audio jack problems, etc).
Hmph. Mark my words current iPad owners, the day will come when they decide to stop supporting it and that you *should* get another one. All for a stupid $14... Then you'll remember this article and how $14 from their profit margin could've added a few extra years of life to the thing. Mark my words.
But anyway, getting back to why having complete control over the OS is a bad idea, think of Linux (and Android, respectively). If your decade-old computer can't handle Windows 7 "Aero" effects, I'm almost positive it will handle Compiz-Fusion. I know. I tried it last year or so on Geforce 4 MX 440 (64 MB), 512 MB SDRAM and an old Athlon XP 2200+ CPU (1.8 GHz).
The point is you could add a lightweight interface, fewer processes, etc. But not when only one vendor handles the OS exclusively.
Sorry for the double post.
The point is you could add a lightweight interface, fewer processes, etc. But not when only one vendor handles the OS exclusively.
Sorry for the double post.
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[citation][nom]Haserath[/nom]Have you even checked the suicide rates of cities the size of the Foxconn factory? I believe there are ~800,000 people working there, which is bigger than the city I live in, and I'm sure there are more suicides here than the ones there. People have real life problems; it might not have anything to do with Foxconn... They did handle the situation poorly though.Back to tablets: Has anyone compared Apple's ipad 2 to the competition? The chip has the same 1ghz processor as the Galaxy Tab 10.1(uses Tegra 2), but is 2-3 times more powerful in the graphics department. The Galaxy Tab does have 1GB of memory though, which can be useful. But the ipad 2 also has a longer lasting battery, this is really nice for long trips away from a plug. You can check it out.http://www.anandtech.com/show/4445 [...] 1-review/7[/citation]
I second that, the whole suicide myth has been thoroughly debunked many times over and only gets regurgitated by the tin-foil hat brigade when they want a good trolling session.
Pick any demographic you like, age range, sex, geography, anything - the suicide rate is less than the rest of China and indeed the USA.
I second that, the whole suicide myth has been thoroughly debunked many times over and only gets regurgitated by the tin-foil hat brigade when they want a good trolling session.
Pick any demographic you like, age range, sex, geography, anything - the suicide rate is less than the rest of China and indeed the USA.
You have a misunderstanding of the Apple consumer. Apple consumers pay for value. They don't look for cost savings. If they did, they would buy a generic, cheap PC. There's no greed here. It's value. And in exchange for that value the customer pays what he believes is fair. Otherwise they wouldn't pay for the product at all. You rarely hear of an Apple consumer complain about price...lol
gammaraptor
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- Nov 19, 2009
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jojesa
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[citation][nom]assmar[/nom]Not a single mention of Foxconn? They're replacing their employees with robots soon, because robots haven't yet learned how to commit suicide.[/citation]
At Foxconn even the robots commit suicide but they just get re-assembled
.
At Foxconn even the robots commit suicide but they just get re-assembled
.[citation][nom]johntwan[/nom]You rarely hear of an Apple consumer complain about price...lol[/citation]
I own an Apple product (an iPod touch) and I think their whole line of products are over priced for what they do. Take, for instance, their headphones. They're complete crap. I would not buy them EVER. Why? Because there are much much better alternatives (like the Sennheiser street line) that offer much better value. I own an old pair of Sennheiser CX300, 2007 model, that sound comparatively better than the crap that came with the iPod. In fact, the grey rubber band on the Apple headphones decomposed to the point that they look like Swiss cheese. They're that bad. And more expensive than the Sennheisers! This is their build quality, but the audio quality is also very weak. No respectable music critic or audiophile would use such headphones. Too bad they came bundled... I would've rather have bought a cheaper iPod than use those.
Never again!
I own an Apple product (an iPod touch) and I think their whole line of products are over priced for what they do. Take, for instance, their headphones. They're complete crap. I would not buy them EVER. Why? Because there are much much better alternatives (like the Sennheiser street line) that offer much better value. I own an old pair of Sennheiser CX300, 2007 model, that sound comparatively better than the crap that came with the iPod. In fact, the grey rubber band on the Apple headphones decomposed to the point that they look like Swiss cheese. They're that bad. And more expensive than the Sennheisers! This is their build quality, but the audio quality is also very weak. No respectable music critic or audiophile would use such headphones. Too bad they came bundled... I would've rather have bought a cheaper iPod than use those.
Never again!
legacy7955
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- May 16, 2011
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[citation][nom]belardo[/nom]To make fun of FOXCONN with dealing with Apple is silly.... Since they make computers for the likes of Lenovo (ThinkPads), HP, Dell, etc, etc.[/citation]
EXCEPT....EXCEPT.....Apple sells their products at a price that should exist ONLY if they were built in the USA by well paid workers, not slave labor!
EXCEPT....EXCEPT.....Apple sells their products at a price that should exist ONLY if they were built in the USA by well paid workers, not slave labor!
The idea that you raise the unit production costs by $14 by bumping memory from 512 MB to 1 GB bothers me. Wikipedia says the iPad 2 uses DDR2 1066. Newegg currently doesn't have any laptop-sized sticks above 800 in stock, but a 512 MB stick of DDR2 667 is the same price ($13-14) as a 1 GB stick of DDR2 800. DDR2 is a mature technology, and the total memory has little effect on the cost per stick - I could accept that a normal laptop stick might not fit, so some consideration for a custom form factor is needed, but the price of each chip going into that form is almost nonexistent - retail prices vary according to production costs and the cost of doubling the number of chips is almost a rounding error.
Furthermore - maybe not at the time the iPad 2 was in development, but this is definitely the case today - a 1GB stick of DDR3 1333 (which uses smaller, more power efficient chips) for a laptop costs as little as $9 and 2GB costs $13, matching the cost of that 512MB DDR2 stick above.
I can accept there being reasons to go with the configuration they ultimately went with other than raising profit margins and keeping the specs low so they can spring forward if ever threatened (which are my default assumptions about Apple's specs), but I plainly cannot accept that it would cost Apple $14 to bump an iPad 2 up to a full GB of RAM when $14 is on par with the retail price of RAM in the first place and the retail price of either size is the same.
Furthermore - maybe not at the time the iPad 2 was in development, but this is definitely the case today - a 1GB stick of DDR3 1333 (which uses smaller, more power efficient chips) for a laptop costs as little as $9 and 2GB costs $13, matching the cost of that 512MB DDR2 stick above.
I can accept there being reasons to go with the configuration they ultimately went with other than raising profit margins and keeping the specs low so they can spring forward if ever threatened (which are my default assumptions about Apple's specs), but I plainly cannot accept that it would cost Apple $14 to bump an iPad 2 up to a full GB of RAM when $14 is on par with the retail price of RAM in the first place and the retail price of either size is the same.
belardo
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ancsik:
DIMM memory used in desktop and notebook computers are not the same a those on a tablet or iPad device. And when it comes to building devices, each screw, each SMT, each trace costs money. If it takes one memory chip vs two memory chips, it means a savings of money and space and heat.
They sold 20 million iPads... x $15~30 in savings, is a lot of extra profit.
DIMM memory used in desktop and notebook computers are not the same a those on a tablet or iPad device. And when it comes to building devices, each screw, each SMT, each trace costs money. If it takes one memory chip vs two memory chips, it means a savings of money and space and heat.
They sold 20 million iPads... x $15~30 in savings, is a lot of extra profit.
belardo
Splendid
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[citation][nom]legacy7955[/nom]EXCEPT....EXCEPT.....Apple sells their products at a price that should exist ONLY if they were built in the USA by well paid workers, not slave labor![/citation]
Oh I agree with you. Back in the OLD days, Apple II and commodore 64s were built in the USA. But this is capitalism at its best. As a stock holder, you want to get the most for the least amount of money for highest profits.
Contact your congressman... tell them to remove tax-breaks for companies who move our jobs overseas. Did you know there was a bill on the floor to do this? Guess who killed it?
Oh I agree with you. Back in the OLD days, Apple II and commodore 64s were built in the USA. But this is capitalism at its best. As a stock holder, you want to get the most for the least amount of money for highest profits.
Contact your congressman... tell them to remove tax-breaks for companies who move our jobs overseas. Did you know there was a bill on the floor to do this? Guess who killed it?
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