Now that the new iPad has been announced, all of the attention of gadget lovers will be on this newest of Apple’s offerings, anticipating when it will finally be made available for sale. But while all of the attention is on the new kid on the block, the iPad 2 is still very much alive and at a new price point that may actually turn more than a few heads.
Apple has announced that it is not totally discontinuing the iPad 2 but will instead offer it a budget price. The iPad 2 will now only come in two variants the 16GB WiFi only version and the 16GB WiFi/3G version. The former will cost $399 and the latter will sell for $529.
The price point puts it at a tantalizingly close distance to the $199 Amazon Kindle Fire. You might say that the $200 difference is a huge deal breaker but if you look at the benefits the extra money will bring you – a larger screen, better resolution, a camera, longer battery life, a faster processor and a market leading App Store then that $200 price discrepancy doesn’t seem too huge anymore. Android may be a good and worthy competitor to Apple’s dominance of the tablet market but the truth is, Apple is the dominant player and if they have a choice, tablet owners will go for an Apple product if not for the high price that turns some people off. Offering an iPad at near budget prices is a great move for Apple because it will allow them to increase their market share for a product that still has a lot of legs to it.
Originally posted on March 8, 2012 @ 6:25 am
