There have been a bunch of theories about why Apple decided to put a $329 price tag on the iPad Mini when well-reviewed competitive tablets from Amazon and Google are priced at $199. (In the accompanying video, TechCrunch East Coast editor John Biggs and I discuss Tuesday's Apple event which he says lacked the shock and awe of previous product announcements.)
The theories include:
- Because Apple can charge this much--its fans are either so brainwashed or so locked-in to Apple's ecosystem that they'll pay anything
- Because Apple wants to protect its extraordinarily high profit margin
- Because Apple's "mini" is better than the Google and Amazon tablets
All of those theories probably factored into the decision.
And now there's a new report out of Asia that adds a fourth theory, one that also makes sense: Apple's iPad mini production, at least for the time-being, is supply-constrained.
According to Siu Han and Alex Wolfgram at DigiTimes, Apple can't get enough of the screens for the new iPad
Read More »from Why Apple decided to overcharge for the iPad Mini