Despite the pending iPad 3, a used 1st gen iPad will continue to cost more than a new Kindle Fire
I’m always in the market for potential cheap tablets between my kids (who I hope use it for education without breaking too many devices) and family (who love Angry Birds to a ridiculous amount). Suffice it to say that my requirements aren’t too high when you consider why I’m looking for a relatively cheap tablet but I do keep an eye on prices to see if I can grab a good deal. And with the pending release of the iPad 3 it’s inevitable that the iPad 1st gen and iPad 2 come down in price. If you’re wondering, the current trading price (and by that I mean competitive Craigslists price if you’re hunting daily) for a 16gb iPad 1 in decent condition is about $250 – $275. That’s not a bad price and I think it gets a small hit when the iPad 3 comes out but I don’t think we’re talking about a $100 hit. Why? Well the iPad 1 is still pretty solid. The upgrades in the iPad 2 (like the camera and speed) are nice and all but really, the original iPad still holds its own as a simple to use tablet with tons of apps and it’s more than capable of handling tasks whether they’re casual or business in nature. As much as I despise Apple, it’s hard to knock the iPad for what they’ve made of it. So even assuming a $100 price cut (which I think is a bit extreme at least for a few months) we’ll be looking at an iPad 1 which is used between $150-$175.
Here’s the curious thing though – the current Craigslist price for a new Kindle Fire is between $150-$175. These are in new in box to opened but lightly used. And based on the age of the Kindle Fire you know it will have less use than an iPad 1. We also know that a Kindle Fire 2 isn’t too far off and I’d expect that original Kindle Fire to take a similar hit in price. With a list price of $200 but already selling at $150 I’d expect Amazon to discount the 1st gen to about $150 and that will push the Craigslist price to nearly the $100 range.
Bottom line is, it doesn’t matter if the Kindle is discounted or not. The original iPad is still selling for a higher price than a new Kindle Fire and I don’t see that changing any time soon. This speaks to the quality of the iPad and the lack of quality of the Fire. And these aren’t my words – you’re the consumer and this is what you’re pricing it at. And when the Kindle Fires hit TouchPad prices I can get one to play Angry Birds for my family and when the iPad 1 hits the Kindle Fire range my kids can get one to learn…
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Even though I would agree the ipad is no doubt of better build quality than the fire, the notion that one fact is the one determination of price is quite narrow sighted. I don’t think it’s even one of the most defining determinations of price. Other possible influences are tablet size, apple sheepol effect, apple app enviornment, ui prefrence, supply etc. Don’t forget apple’s plastic crapmacs cost more used than many laptops far better build/spec wise new. I don’t think build quality factors in the average ipad purchaser. Most of my friends bought an apple product solely on wanting an apple product, and the ones that went against my advice of paying a ridiculous premium on their plastic ibooks now have different laptops. My i7 packing HP dv8t I bought over 3 years ago and cost 500 less than the ibooks and nearly 1700 less than the macbooks is still running perfectly and my main design computer. I bet if I looked, most far lesser spec’d macbooks are far more than what I could sell my laptop for simply because the ammount of uninformed people who want to buy apple because all their friends have apple or are loyal to apple far outnumber the people who are looking for the best bang for their buck.