16GB iPad Shortage

[Zepaw]

16Gb works fine for me. I have very few videos I wanted to add, I use my NetFlix with 3G most of the time. The price helps a lot to, i don't want to tack on $100-200 for some space. I did that with my second iPod touch and regretted it, always had so much more space than I needed.

 

[Battlestar]

Well by "consensus" you mean sheer guess because no one except the inner circle at Infinity Loop would have any privy to that kind of information. If you are hanging your hat on "analysts" their closets are stuffed to the rafters with bad guesses. Who is included in your "general consensus"?

What solid info do you have that the 16GB is going to be "phased out?" The fact it's in short supply, as others have pointed out, can mean a number of things having zero to do with Apple canceling it.

Now maybe people are thinking back to the early killing of the 4GB iPhone. But that was a different story. 4GBs was never adequate for the iPhone, and that was way before the concept of the App Store. OTOH 16GB is quite comfortable for most, and frankly I can't even imagine why someone would need or want 128GB on an iPad, though I'm sure Apple will make one some day if the can get enough sizable NAND chips on the cheap.

All reports for the 3G release stated that their were hardly any 16G 3Gs available. In the evolution of the product people will want to store more video as it is better used on a larger screen than an iPod Touch or iPhone. This will pave the way for greater storage requirements.

Besides I wonder how cost effective it is for Apple to make 6 models?
Why not lose the WiFi only models all together and have 128GB 256GB and 512GB 3G models.

 

[emaja]

Why not lose the WiFi only models all together and have 128GB 256GB and 512GB 3G models.

Are you actually asking why? Price, silly. No way would Apple be selling as many as they are if the prices started at $899 which would probably be the base price for the 128GB model.

 

[notjustjay]

My guess is the 16 gig WiFi only iPad will eventually be the super-cheap model, like how Apple has a $99 "we want to get it in the hands of as many people as possible" 8 gig iPhone. Maybe it'll be as low as, say, $299.

The first price drop will be to remove the rest of the WiFi models altogether, so you'd have WiFi+3G iPads at $499/$599/$699 for 16/32/64.

The next round will double the memory on each, so $499/$599/$699 would buy you the 32/64/128 gig iPads. Maybe they'll still have 16 gig WiFi only entry model for $299.

 

[dacreativeguy]

The day the 3g went on sale Best Buy in Greensboro, NC had 15 iPads. 6 32 gig and 9 64 gig. Not a 16 gig in the store.

It shouldn't be surprising that Apple keeps the best supply of stock for the Apple Stores. They did the same thing with the iphones and AT&T.

 

[dacreativeguy]

All reports for the 3G release stated that their were hardly any 16G 3Gs available. In the evolution of the product people will want to store more video as it is better used on a larger screen than an iPod Touch or iPhone. This will pave the way for greater storage requirements.

Besides I wonder how cost effective it is for Apple to make 6 models?
Why not lose the WiFi only models all together and have 128GB 256GB and 512GB 3G models.

Apple's margin on a 16GB flash chip is huge compared to 64GB. They also likely make more money on the Wi-fi versions per unit than the 3G because they don't have to deal with AT&T at all. Add in the fact that if the only model were 3G that it would price a lot of people out of the market, or alienate AT&T haters and you see why it is valuable to sell a varied range of models.

 

[3N16MA]

My guess is the 16 gig WiFi only iPad will eventually be the super-cheap model, like how Apple has a $99 "we want to get it in the hands of as many people as possible" 8 gig iPhone. Maybe it'll be as low as, say, $299.

The first price drop will be to remove the rest of the WiFi models altogether, so you'd have WiFi+3G iPads at $499/$599/$699 for 16/32/64.

The next round will double the memory on each, so $499/$599/$699 would buy you the 32/64/128 gig iPads. Maybe they'll still have 16 gig WiFi only entry model for $299.

I doubt Apple will remove the wifi only models. No point in introducing the line and then removing them so quickly, not everyone needs 3G. It may happen years from now but no so quickly. I see the prices remaining the same but features being added along with storage increasing. Perhaps a price drop will be introduced after a few revisions. The iPhone saw such a drastic drop because it went from unsubsidized to subsidizes. Apple is pushing the "unbelievable price" with the iPad. They never did that with the intro of the iPhone

 

[Battlestar]

Are you actually asking why? Price, silly. No way would Apple be selling as many as they are if the prices started at $899 which would probably be the base price for the 128GB model.

That is the here and now, but as demand grows for solid state drives the price will come down. By this time next year the 64GB should have the same cost as the 16GB if not less.